So you won't tell how you came to know this song eh Jum? Taking all the credit and not acknowledging the hard work and success of the original artist is pretty low and manipulative of you. You're keeping helpful information from the other accordion players and hiding your source secretly if seems. But I could be wrong.... But don't feel singled out here Jum, Iry Lejeune literally stole about 10 songs from the Amede recordings, renamed them, changed the lyrics, and the world thought Iry was the uncontested master on accordion of all time. So don't feel bad about it Jum.
Here let me remove all the mystery for the sake of knowing the secret. Oh, and by the way, Amede Ardoin only ever recorded on a "D" accordion. He plays that "D" in different positions, but it's always on a "D" accordion. Who says the first accordion you buy should be a "C" accordion. Not necessarily true if you go to the source of Amede to build your mysterious and secretive repertoire that can be used whenever you want to "wow" the crowd and make them think you're the greatest new accordion player. But don't worry about it man, Marc Savoy, Steve Riley, and many others have done the very same thing to poor ole Amede and their "wowed" audiences. I wonder why? No real authentic talent perhaps and the willingness to pull a fast one on their would be fans to make a buck or gain unearned praise perhaps? But, like you, they did such a good job with Amede's work!
No doubt much of today's "Cajun" repertoire are songs first recorded by Amede, but first recordings don't necessarily mean he originated the song. He very well may have learned it from some long forgotten never recorded porch player. One thing that no one has duplicated is the "feel" of Amede's music, and why I listen to him so much, especially on songs like his "Amede Two Step".
You are correct Bryan. I just heard that both Bois Sec and Amede Ardoin were taught by the same accordion player on this video called "The Death of Amede Ardoin. But the one who posted the video cut the man's name out! I have been thinking on this for a while. WHO TAUGHT AMEDE ARDOIN TO PLAY ACCORDION?? Surely he didn't get handed a bran new accordion as a child and all of a sudden he composed the roots of our Cajun Music Repertoire. Surely he was not the first accordion player ever. Which begs the question, how long has the accordion been around in Cajun Land? Joe Falcon and Cleoma brought Amede Ardoin with them to New York and the first recordings of Cajun music were cut. I just learned that too.
Been a curiosity for me also, who taught the old guys. According to popular legend, the accordion didn't make it to SW La til around the turn of the century, but by the 20's, we guys playing incredibly, just from recordings, and no telling how many unrecorded. So how did they learn to do all that cool stuff that I still can't do after studying them on electronic playback over and over and with youtube.
The April 2011 Dewey Balfa Cajun & Creole Heritage Week
