Paul Daigle is a member of a generation of Cajuns who
growing up in the sixties and
seventies recognized the beauty and passion of the music of their
culture and decided they
wanted to carry on a tradition that a few years earlier had seemed
in danger of dying out.
Born in 1958, Daigle is a native of
Point Noir near Church
Point. While he was a teenager, he won accordion contests in
Church Point. He
teamed with Robert Elkins of Church Point, a rhythm guitarist, to
form Cajun Gold, one of
the premier Cajun bands from the mid-eighties until 1990. Daigle
finally tired of what
became a grind playing regularly in clubs while also, like most
Cajun musicians,
continuing his day, and the band became relatively inactive.
Today, he performs only when he wants to. When
he is on stage at the
Liberty Theater in Eunice, at area festivals, or at small clubs like
one in Lewisburg, he
clearly enjoys playing, and he continues to display the virtuosity
on the accordion that
led to his acclaim.For many years, Ken Smith has played fiddle with
Cajun Gold, and, in a
recent Liberty performance Mark Latiolais was on rhythm guitar and,
along with Daigle,
sang lead vocals.
Daigle has now also joined a Baton Rouge-based
Cajun group, Savoir
Faire. The band's first album, Savoir Faire avec Paul Daigle,
was released by
Swallow Records of Ville Platte in 1999. They were nominated to
receive a Cajun French
Music Association Le Cajun Award as Band of the Year for 1999, and
Paul Daigle received a
nomination as accordionist of the year. On the album, Daigle
demonstrates both his
technical artistry and his ability to blend in nicely with other
members of the band who
are dedicated to traditional music without the flash that Daigle
sometimes exhibits in his
Pure Gold performances. Other members of the group are Dennis
Boudreaux, fiddle and
vocals; Walt Farr, acoustic guitar; Mark Edmonson, drums.
The album, which was recorded at Acadiana
Sounds Studio in Eunice,
includes Cajun songs that are part of the standard repertoire like
"The Eunice
Two-Step" and Iry LeJeune's "Lacassine Special," as well as "J'suis
condamner a t'aimer," a song by Pierre V. Daigle of
Church Point, who wrote many of the songs for Cajun Gold like "La
Lumière dans ton
Chassis" and who served as the group's record producer.
Among the Cajun Gold albums released by
Swallow are The Cajun
Experience (1985), Cajun Gold (1986), La Lumière
dans Ton Chassis (1987),
Coeur Farouche (1988), Est-Ce Que Tu Pleur?
(1990), and The
Essential Collection (1996).
2010 Honoree - Mr. Paul Daigle
