Interview with and musical performance by Dennis McGee

Accession No.: 
AN1-019

Dennis McGee:

0:00 - Bayou Pon Pon - Angélas LeJeune and Ernest Frugé recorded that
-big/long notes (bows?) in older music as compared to shorter notes (bows?) in newer music
-La valse de Guilbeau Pelloquin
-From Civil war, he played that on his coffin before he was shot and killed. Hard bowing on the turn

4:01 - La valse de Napoléon; Dennis is the only one who plays these tunes with that type bowing
-The bowing is what makes it hard. Barry notices he uses a lot more of the bow than other fiddlers
-Dennis says it's because you need a lot of bow to follow the note; La reel des Frugé

7:33 - La valse du bambocheur (La valse de Rebot) (Dennis' version); La valse à Pop

10:40 - Mardi Gras Song. Dennis doesn't care for it. Mardi Gras run in Mamou and Tasso, not in Eunice
-Arkansas Traveler (learned from his father-in-law, Eraste Courville)
-Dennis' father, John McGee, and his uncle, Ulysse McGee played fiddle. Ulysse played left-handed

14:15 - La danse du crapaud; Oscar and Valsin Aguillard were brothers from Port Arthur
-Will McGee. Oscar McGee, Joseph McGee's son were all good fiddlers. They all played old tunes; Tuning

16:57 - La reel des Deshotels; La reel des Courville (Contradance?). Turn reminds Barry of a certain song
-People quit dancing reels when Dennis was no longer a kid
-Contradances were still danced when Dennis was young, but people had forgotten how to dance reels
-Reels were hard to dance to and took good legs, had to jump
-Contradances were easier since you'd just turn around and dance to the beat

22:56 - La danse carrée (contradance)

Media Type: 
Audio
Collection: 
Ancelet
Subject: 
Louisiana; Cajun; Folk music; violin; French; fiddle; Dennis McGee Personal narrative
Creator: 
Barry Jean Ancelet
Informants: 
Dennis McGee
Recording date: 
Sunday, April 3, 1977
Coverage Spatial: 
Eunice, LA
Publisher: 
Center for Louisiana Studies
Rights Usage: 
All Rights Reserved
Language: 
French
Meta Information
Duration: 
23:41
Cataloged Date: 
Monday, June 5, 2017
Digitized Date: 
Tuesday, January 1, 2002
Original Format: 
Audio--Reel--5"
Digital Format: 
WAV
Bit Depth: 
24 bit
Sampling Rate: 
96 kHz
Storage Location: 
Archives of Cajun and Creole Folklore - Cabinet 1 Shelf 2