Before "Nashville" got a hold of it, Cajun music was a foot-stomping, unadorned yet energetic, bluesy kind of music that went particularly well with blackened redfish and dirty rice. Of course, you can still find true Cajun music, but it takes a little looking. Cajun Visits/Les Blues de Balfa, by filmmaker Yasha Aginsky, is a pair of short films about the Balfa Brothers (Dewey, Rodne, and Will; the latter two tragically killed in a car accident at the time this documentary was being filmed) and six masters of traditional Cajun music. The opener--Les Blues de Balfa--features clips of Balfa Brothers performances, and follows Dewey into the Louisiana classrooms where he teaches Cajun history and music to young students. In Cajun Visits, Balfa is one of six artists profiled (the others are Wallace "Cheese" Read, Leopold Francais, Dennis McGee, Robert Jardell, and Canray Fontenot--whose first violin was made out of a cigar box). While not as in-depth or entertaining as Les Blank's documentary on Cajun music, J'ai Ete du Bal (VL-11/90), Cajun Visits/Les Blues de Balfa offers some fine Cajun music and would be a welcome addition to larger music video collections.Deep Blues, on the other hand, looks at Mississippi blues through the eyes and ears of noted critic Robert Palmer and filmmaker Robert Mugge. For some reason, the Eurythmics' Dave Stewart tags along for the first half of the musical trek, serving more as sounding board to Palmer's reflections on the development of the blues than anything else. But the film belongs not to Palmer nor Stewart nor Mugge (whose incidental shots are well-chosen: a sign which reads "God Hates Adultery," a bluesman barber keeping time while stropping a razor, dirty-faced urchins smiling at the camera); the film belongs to the practitioners of traditional blues who have kept the music alive in the Mississippi backwaters. People like Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes and the Playboys, or "Big" Jack Johnson (whose "Daddy, When Is Mama Comin' Home?" is worth the price of the video all by itself), or Jessie Mae Hemphill--solo, on "You Can Talk About Me," or accompanied by her Fife and Drum Band. The filmmakers decision to emphasize the music over the commentary was a wise one (although Palmer is an expert on the blues, and offers some interesting background on the links with voodoo, among other insights). True blues aficionados will enjoy this immensely.Cajun Visits/Les Blues de Balfa is recommended. Deep Blues is highly recommended. (R. Pitman)
Cajun Visits/Les Blues De Balfa; Deep Blues
(1981) 60 min. $22.50. Vestapol Videos (dist. by Rounder Records). PPR. Color cover. Vol. 9, Issue 5
Cajun Visits/Les Blues De Balfa; Deep Blues
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