It’s back to duking it out with the polka guys. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences — the folks behind the Grammy Awards — announced today that it is paring down the number of categories in which it awards prizes from 109 to 108, and one of the victims of that downsizing is the Best Zydeco or Cajun Album.
The Cajun/zydeco category has been in place for four years following several years of lobbying by Acadiana musicians, notably zydeco band leader Terrance Simien, who took home the first award in 2008.. The most recent winner, in 2011, was zydeco musician Chubby Carrier. NARAS is moving Louisiana’s indigenous music back into a broader category — Best Regional Roots Music Album — in which Cajun and zydeco bands will compete against Hawaiian, native American and polka music. This is essentially a return to how Cajun and zydeco music were categorized in years past. Only Beausoleil has taken home a gramophone trophy when Louisiana roots music was competing against Tejano, polka and the like.
The Grammys require a genre to release 40 albums per year in order to have its own category, a rare feat for Cajun and zydeco music.
... written by Dave in Broussard , April 06, 2011 - 10:48 pm
As much as I'm in favor of wider exposure for our local culture, the truth is there aren't award-worthy releases every year. When the field is populated by live releases from Jazz Fest, some no more than modern day field recordings by Munck Music (no disrespect intended), it doesn't represent anything well - our culture, our music scene, the artists, or the award. What I'm curious about is how the number of awards was thinned from 109 to 108 and our award ranks as "one" of the casualties. Typo?
... written by Megan Romer , April 07, 2011 - 01:29 am
Quick correction: Queen Ida Guillory (CA-based, but certainly authentic Zydeco) won a Grammy once as well, in what was called the "Best Ethnic/Folk" category, and which encompassed basically all folk and world music. I certainly hate to see the C/Z category go, but at least the Regional Roots category isn't THAT big.
... written by Megan Romer , April 07, 2011 - 01:30 am
... oh, and the number of awards was slimmed from 109 to 78, not 108. It's a substantial cut and all main category umbrellas took a hit. R&B actually took the worst blow, losing 50% of its awards.
... written by slackjoe , April 07, 2011 - 02:42 pm
By the time our local favorites reach the grammys, most have already lost their local flavor and sound more like "world stage" groups, i.e. Terrance Semien and Beausoleil. And when they do perform locally, they don't sound anything like what they use to back when their stars were rising.
... written by Walter Pierce , April 07, 2011 - 04:55 pm
Thanks, Joshua. It's fixed!
... written by Marmoset , April 07, 2011 - 06:05 pm
I thought the whole zydeco-Cajun grammy award category was a bad idea anyway: As one other person in this thread noted, there simply aren't enough Grammy-quality Cajun/zydeco performers out there, and they certainly wouldn't give them to the workaday Cajun musicians who play down at the corner bar. Anyway, the Grammies are dumb to begin with, just like the Oscars.
... written by roughbeast , April 08, 2011 - 05:07 pm
Even rat feces has biological and ecological significance. The Grammy's have no significance.
... written by monkeyman , April 09, 2011 - 02:08 pm
Beausoleil, Queen Ida and Clifton Chenier all won Grammys in the broader folk category
... written by Neal , April 12, 2011 - 11:33 am
I would say that already this year these are three VERY Grammy-worthy releases in Cajun/Creole music: Amede Ardoin complete recordings on Tompkins Square, Jesse Lege-Joel Savoy and Country Revival on Valcour, and Acadian All-Star Special (French recordings by J.D. Miller) on Bear Family. One of them may even win the Grammy when pitted against the other genres we are now lumped together with.
... written by Mark DeWitt , April 25, 2011 - 10:16 am
Another Grammy winner was Rockin' Sidney for "Toot Toot." Here is the full list as far as I know: Queen Ida (1982), Clifton Chenier (1984), Rockin' Sidney (1985), BeauSoleil (1997). The Cajun/zydeco Grammy category provided some external validation for French music here in Louisiana, as well as a venue for recognizing individual artists that transcended local politics. Even with some inherent problems with the Grammy process, it was better to have the category than not. I am sure the Simiens are beyond frustrated at this point.
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