We had a great Cajun & Zydeco Festival this weekend in Raamsdonksveer. Excellent weather. Great jam sessions with friends Ron, Will and Ed of the Downtown Cajun Band. For me, the most memorable performance was Zydecane. Chis Miller was replacing their regular accordion player. He did a great job, on Cajun accordion, fiddle, Zydeco (piano) accordion, and not to forget vocals. Great to listen to, and even better to dance to. Also Sarah Savoy and the Francadians were doing fine.
Good inspiration to start doing some new songs.

You are completely right, Kees.
I had also an excellent weekend and you also thanks for the jams.
Dwayne Dopsie is a very good player and his band has very good musicians in it. The washboard and the bass player were great. The music they play was very energetic and there was a lot of movement on the stage. But I like the music of Zydecane more, but the crowd on the festival like both styles.
Does anyone of the braves know how it comes that the accordion from Dwayne Dopsie sounds so high.

Yes, we had a great time too,the lesson from Chris was exellent!

We had a great weekend, seeing old friends, making new ones, and enjoying great music.
Dwayne Dopsie's band were really stunning. Probably the best live band I've ever seen, they all put so much into it. Especially the rub board. I didn't buy a CD, though. To me, Zydeco has to be live and loud. I don't get so much enjoyment from CDs.

Ron - I wonder if Dwayne's accordion is an e-accordion. It sounded more like a hammond organ or something ( that's not a criticism in this case).

Sarah's band were excellent. I love the choice of songs and adaptation of Hank Williams and the like.
Sarah is a terrific bandleader/frontsperson. She has a huge personality and charisma in spades.

Looking forward to Saulieu, now.

BJ

I just wanted to say that I had a GREAT time and really enjoyed meeting everyone and putting faces to names! There is a great community of Cajun music there--I felt like I was at home among friends and family. I enjoyed it all, but the backstage jam with Boss, Monique, David Roland, Pierre-Henri Pichot, Sarah Savoy, and others of Zydecane and other bands playing at the festival will remain as a treasured memory of the trip. Wow, what a great time!

I would second the opinion that Sarah has a huge personality and stage presence and she does an awesome job singing and leading the Francadians. I can't stop singing the song "hello baby!" What great memories!

Dwayne Dopsie and his band had unbelievable stamina and energy. Wow! Regarding questions about his accordion: Saturday the sound was not correct and was too high and shrill--he was not happy about that, but it was an equipment and sound tech issue. On Sunday I thought it was much better in tone, but you are all right about it being a different kind of tone. He uses a Roland Chorus amp and he really is trying to get that Hammond organ kind of tone. It is not an e-accordion or midi. It is am acoustic accordion weighing 30 lbs. He has a new larger one weighing 36 pounds. Maybe this is why he arms are so big!

There is more I could say but I'll stop there. Thanks to everone who came out. I sure had a great time!

I know, that this is an accordion side. But all sessions on the camping area could be an accordion orchestra - we had only one fiddler ( Will from the Down Town Cajun Band ) and a lot of accordion players - nearly all who wrote before and more. Let's talk too about the problem "how to find a fiddler"?! I needed about 4 years and now I'm happy to have a very good one. But all the others accordion players have the same problems. And I believe, that an accordion without a fiddle in only the half of our music!
All the other mails said all about this wonderfull festival! See you all in Saulieu - it has a very better charm.
Klaus

i'll bring me ole fiddle too .......... nout

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Replying to:

I know, that this is an accordion side. But all sessions on the camping area could be an accordion orchestra - we had only one fiddler ( Will from the Down Town Cajun Band ) and a lot of accordion players - nearly all who wrote before and more. Let's talk too about the problem "how to find a fiddler"?! I needed about 4 years and now I'm happy to have a very good one. But all the others accordion players have the same problems. And I believe, that an accordion without a fiddle in only the half of our music!
All the other mails said all about this wonderfull festival! See you all in Saulieu - it has a very better charm.
Klaus

Welcome on the board Klaus !!!
Keep writing.

Glad you came home in one piece. It was a great jam indeed. Glad I could be there to listen. Next time I hope to contribute . ('tit fer?)

I think the whole festival showed good musicians and bands, too.
Gus

hi gus!

It was great meeting you! Yes, you have to get in on the jam next time!

RAAMS WAS FRIGGIN AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a BLAST that was! Chris, the jam was super--probably one of the highlights of the trip. It was rough, since that fiddle player and bass player had never played with us before, but I'm proud of my guys and feel that they did incredibly well having just learned the songs in the hotel room an hour before we played the first day!! Thanks for all you guys' comments, by the way. I hope to go back next year. The festival marquis was so well done, so beautiful with the wooden dance floors, the barn facade, the stages... And everything was so well ORGANIZED!! I don't know if you guys have played festivals in Ireland, but I think the Irish need to go check out the Dutch. I was totally impressed by all of it. Even though they didn't have the bass for us when we got there, they had it within about 15 minutes, delivered right to the stage and put in Thierry's hands. Awesome, awesome, awesome. I only regret that I hadn't brought more CDs. We sold out before our second performance! Dang. Okay, I gotta go finish my cookbook. It's almost done!!!!

Cheers, y'all, and take care. Hope to see you guys around again sometime real soon...maybe some of you in Germany for the 5-day Cajun/Zydeco tour with us and Cory Ledet!!!!!

Sarah