Posted by Werd on December 8, 2007, 6:13 pm, in reply to "Cajun UK - the future"
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I'm afraid Steve is missing the point here. He says that in Louisiana, the dances take place in halls where couples dance under strip lights, drink beer sold in cans from a table, eat Cajun food sold in polystyrene containers and that the Cajun UK experience is pretty accurate.
Accurate!! Audiences are more sophisticated and there are plenty of good quality events competing for their attention. Replicating a poor environment just because its authentic is madness. You should be aware that many of the old wooden dancehalls in Lousianna are closing and even they are struggling to make a buck.
Steve has met C/Z friends at Salsa amd C&W events. Yes, these ex-C/Z afficianados and new people are potential audiences for C/Z gigs, but you should ask why they attend these other activities instead. What makes them more attractive?
Go back to Andy Watson's observations and star to understand where success will come from.
As for volunteers for CajunUK, a few well meaning amateurs can do enourmaous damage. C/Z musicians need to be out there driving this and do more to promte themselves to the wider music-loving public. Just re-cycling the same few dozen Zydeco dancers at every event will take things nowhere.
As it stands, live music is everywhere and very few muscians make any sort of money from it. Dancing is also everywhere - I can get my fix at Salsa, Ceroc, Jive etc almost every day of the week in most areas of the country (and most of these occur regularly, in nice venues - and start and finish on time)
The future doesn't have to be bleak - but people like Steve have to wake up and see the reality.
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