The Dance Hall Era

In a time when dance halls are fading out over Louisiana and the rest of the world, local bands try hard to encourage the growth of new dance halls that feature Cajun and Zydeco music (such as on Sunday afternoons or Thursday nights) as well as support the old dance halls that struggle to pay the bills.

Dance halls do not pull in 400 people for a band that plays traditional folk music. The more traditional the music, the less people will you find on the dance floor or on the side lines, drinking a beer and enjoying the music. The energy spent on musical talent and technique is at a toss with lack of musical talent compensated by explicit lyrics and idiotic repetition of nonsense, with each song more mundane than the last.

As bands become more popular and more in demand, it is their duty to support dance halls by playing for far lower rates than which they are accustomed. It is the responsibility of these bands to fill the dance halls of southwest Louisiana once again as Dewey, Nathan, Lawrence, Iry, Aldus, Felix, Wayne, Austin, Milton and Steve have done, and bring out the young people to the dance floors and make them know that it is cool to dance and support the music of their culture.

It is by this that our music will continue to survive.

Wilson Savoy
March 23, 2007

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