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Edius Naquin Interview, 1985

I had become fascinated with the ballads recorded by Mr. Naquin and wanted to meet him. He lived on a tiny farm in the town of Reddell, Louisiana, near Mamou. I had heard many of his recorded ballads on field recordings made by friends and colleagues. Unlike the usual Cajun dancehall fare, the stories/texts of his songs were complex and beautiful stories, dating from very early French ballads. There was so much variety in the styles and melodies he did, sort of a portrait of the times..his times..I made a date with his lovely daughter, Mildred Brignac, to go to his house and visit him and interview him.

Mildred also had a home recorded cassette of many previously unrecorded songs by him which were a treasure trove to a ballad lover like myself. I did a nice interview with him and with Mildred and recorded some songs there in his living room. Later, with a grant from the Jazz Fest, I put out a cassette and very big booklet of many of his songs and their lyrics. This project is still available on my website.

– Ann Savoy

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  • Edius Naquin, 1985 00:00
Interviewee: Edius Naquin
Interviewer: Ann savoy
Date: January 30, 1985
Location: Lafayette, LA
Language: French / français

This is an interview originally recorded for research purposes. It is presented here in its raw state, unedited except to remove some irrelevant sections and blank spaces. All rights to the interview are reserved by the Arhoolie Foundation. Please do not use anything from this website without permission. info@arhoolie.org