Article appeared in Derbyshire Now.

written by Ashley Franklin

 

Scour the previous millennium and you reach the painful conclusion that while Derbyshire has chipped in the odd contribution to this nation's musical culture, no one has left an indelible mark.

 

Well, just hang on a moment - there IS one musician who has made this county unique. Arise, Chris Hall of R Cajun & the Zydeco Brothers.

A few years ago, some astute soul hailed Chris Hall as "Britain's Mr Cajun". Actually, it was me. This virtuoso accordionist has established the city as the hub of Cajun music in the UK. Furthermore, Cajun is due for a fresh revival, having rubbed off on a Beatle - thanks again to Chris.

 

For the joy of Cajun, we have to say "mercie". Ostracised French settlers in the America of the late 18th Century were forced to inhabit the swamps of South West Louisiana. As a culture grew, French traditional folk tunes merged with the indigenous music of the area, and mixed in German, Spanish, Scottish, Irish, Anglo-American, American Indian and Afro-Caribbean influences. It is no wonder an idiosyncratic sound was born, based around fiddle and guitar and, eventually, accordion.

 

Cajun, along with Zydeco (a more blues-orientated Cajun) came out of isolation in the post-war period when recordings began to filter through. Here in the UK it wasn't until the growth of World Music in the late 70s that the French Louisiana sound found a few interested ears.

Enter Chris Hall, then a lecturer at Wilmorton College, a non-musician suddenly drawn to the sound of the accordion as played by Ambergate folkie Tufty Swift. Tufty then played Chris a Cajun record, and he was captivated: "I was already into blues and soul, which are combined in Cajun. But I was also enthralled by the infectious dance beat. This was music born of hardship and oppression, yet I found it joyous and uplifting."

 

So, aged 26, Chris threw himself into the Cajun way of playing, and assiduously sought out recordings - "a challenge in itself" - says Chris, discovering that the UK supply of Cajun vinyl was confined to a couple of dusty racks in specialist London blues stores.

 

Chris Hall's destiny change occurred in another shop in 1979 - Tony Dark's second-hand store in Derby's Abbey Street - where Chris had espied an accordion in the window. He fell into conversation with Tony, who issued forth with his knowledge of accordions - "I knew then I wouldn't get it cheap" recalls Chris with as mile, "but I realised I had found one of the few souls in this country who actually liked Cajun, never mind played it."

 

Tony had a stack of Cajun 78s and also played the violin. He and Chris got together with local blues guitarist Arthur Billington, learnt three Cajun numbers and played them as floor spot at the Station Inn on Midland Road. R Cajun was born.

 

Further gigs at the RAOB Club - Gumbo Nights - drew increasingly inquisitive audiences. The gathering conversion to Cajun called for a bigger venue, so Chris and partner John Elliott set up the Swamp Club at Derby's old Railway Institute Club. Devotees came from far and wide, and even went away to form their own Cajun bands. The nation's press ran articles, the Daily Telegraph referring to The Swamp as "the Cajun equivalent of the Beatles at the Cavern Club".

R Cajun became a full-time UK Cajun industry, establishing its own record label, publishing a magazine and promoting tours by French Louisiana legends. Swamp 2 brought in World Music acts.

Chris Hall promoted the Cajun cause further through hosting three Cajun music series on BBC Radio Two and R Cajun continue to cultivate the music's across-the-ages appeal. They've just released their seventh album Get Up Get Down, another jambalaya of compulsive Cajun cover versions - including Springsteen's I'm On Fire and Creedence Clearwater's Bad Moon Rising - all given a spicy Cajun and Zydeco twist.

 

 

Chris also plays in the Bearcats, who convey an authentic, traditional Cajun spirit and Zydecomotion, whose latest album Shed Music is raw and arousing, with Chris's accordion a fat, rasping delight. That accordion also meets Big Beats in Interphase, and Chris somehow finds time to gig with Rattlers' singer/guitarist Alan Woollley. He's also gigged with some bloke called Paul McCartney.

 

Having booked R Cajun for two private parties in recent years, Macca called Chris down to Abbey Road to add a Cajun flavour to Brown-Eyed Handsome Man for his rock and roll album Run Devil Run. What's Chris's abiding memory of playing with the most famous popster of all? "The fear," he confessed. It turned out fine, though. For me, his Cajun colouring makes Handsome Man the best track on the album. A great single, too, which led to numerous TV appearances for Chris.

Will McCartney now embrace Cajun even more? How about a recording with R Cajun?

 

"Anything's possible," said Chris. Too right. Who would have thought Chris would go on to play live with the ex-Mop Top at the famous Cavern Club? Remember The Cavern? It was the pop equivalent of R Cajun at the Swamp!!!