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2019 Caesar Vincent's Legacy
001-2019-007
42:43 Master Camera files on Hard Drive, Mp4
Fri Apr 26 2019
With Steve Riley, Sam Broussard, Chris Stafford, and Anna Laura Edmiston. Interviewer - Barry Ancelet
00:15 Barry Ancelet plays snippets of various versions of “Travailler C’est Trop Dur” 03:04 Ancelet describes his research into Caesar Vincent, and the archival project born from it 07:53 Ancelet introduces the panelists 08:02 Steve Riley explains his initial hesitation with the proposed project, and how with time, deeply listening to Vincent’s songs, he came around to the melodies and lyrics 11:02 Ancelet plays a snippet of Vincent’s “Mon Aimable Catin,” one of the songs Riley recorded for the album 11:51 Riley explains how he had to come up with a workable rhythm for his band 12:15 Performers demonstrate a stripped-down version of “Mon Aimable Catin” 14:02 Ancelet plays an excerpt of the Mamou Playboys’ recorded “Mon Aimable Catin” 14:58 Ancelet explains the benefits of modern versions/interpretations, keeping older songs alive for new generations 16:00 Ancelet describes the plot of the song he asked Anna Laura Edmiston to do for the album, and the unusual circumstances of her recording 19:08 Ancelet plays a snippet of Vincent’s version of “Les Anneaux de Marianson” 20:11 Edmiston explains not having known the breadth of the ballad when she agreed to it 22:01 Group plays “Les Anneaux de Marianson” 23:40 Ancelet plays recorded “Les Anneaux de Marianson” to illustrate sound design 25:08 Ancelet plays another excerpt to sample the tragic lyrics 26:54 Ancelet reveals the drone sound in the song was accomplished with masking tape on a B3’s keys 27:45 Chris Stafford explains his role in the production, emphasizing how he let artists’ visions guide his contributions and input as engineer 30:50 Ancelet plays a snippet of Vincent’s version of “L’Ecole du Roi” 31:20 Ancelet plays an excerpt from Feufollet’s version of “L’Ecole du Roi” 32:50 Edmiston explains that she grew up singing “L’Ecole du Roi,” and now sings it to her daughter at bedtime 33:43 Riley tells how his boys went from a deep skepticism of Vincent to requesting and singing along to “L’Ecole du Roi” 34:44 Ancelet plays excerpt of Vincent’s “La Bas Oh Dans Ces Bois” 35:18 Sam Broussard explains how he “chopped up” Vincent’s voice and re-arranged the rhythm for his interpretation, seeing the challenge as keeping such long songs interesting 36:25 Ancelet plays excerpts of Broussard’s “La Bas Oh Dans Ces Bois,” and Ancelet relates Vincent’s descendents being blown away by the project 38:10 Ancelet plays a bit from the end of Broussard’s “La Bas Oh Dans Ces Bois” 40:36 Ancelet answers an audience question about children understanding the lyrics, explaining that there is not such a deep difference between Cajun and standard French, and that the age of the lyrics helped. Ancelet relays his delight at the opportunity to work with young musicians who didn’t have a linguistic barrier with French 41:38 Ancelet responds to a question on the origins of the songs, explaining that they came from France but represent the type of song that Louisianans used to listen to (rather than dance to) 42:44 Interview ends
video recording
Public Access is available in the Archive due to copyright restrictions. Copyrights are retained by the participants. The video is available for viewing at the archive.
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation Archive