Aprés Faire le Boogie Woogie
With their third release, this female Louisiana quartet renews its commitment to traditional Cajun music as a vital part of contemporary culture rather than a musty museum piece. The musical (though not familial) sisters--founders fiddler Jane Vidrine and accordionist Ann Savoy, bassist Lisa Trahan Reed, and second fiddler Anya Schoenegge (the quartet's newest recruit)--share vocal leads and contribute harmony vocals and other instrumentation as well. Their spirited interplay turns both the traditional two-step of "Les Flammes d'Enfer (The Flames of Hell)" and Savoy's original "Magnolia Hop" into dance-floor romps, while the range of the selections extends from the balladry of "La Valse de la Vie (The Waltz of Life)" to the exquisitely a cappella "Ma Petite et Mignonne (My Little and Cute One)." Most of the lyrics are sung in Cajun French patios (with English translations in the liner booklet), until a Cajun-style revival ofLittle Richard's "Keep a Knockin'" brings the collection to a bilingual climax. The results sound like a cross between a bayouFairport Conventionand a feistier, femaleBeausoleil.--Don McLeese