BeauSoleil

Of all the groups that have played a role in reinvigorating Cajun music over the course of the last 25 years or so, BeauSoleil is indubitably the most important. The band's musical output encompasses the full gamut of Louisiana's Cajun repertoire, including ballads, blues, zydeco, country, swamp pop and, of course, the perennial waltzes and two-steps. Michael Doucet, the fiddler and leader of the group, has deep historic knowledge of the region's music and he plays with a passion and a technical proficiency that is remarkable. Just as important, over the years Doucet and his group have brought a level of innovation and creativity to Cajun music that is second to none. Furthermore, David Doucet, Michael's brother, was the first to give the guitar a prominent place in Cajun music.

The group's name, BeauSoleil, is a tribute of sorts to Beausoleil Broussard, an Acadian rebel leader at the time of the Acadian deportation in 1755. The way the group pushes the limits of the genre isn't controversial but the approach certainly is bold, especially considering that Cajun musicians and fans haven't always been known for being too receptive to musical experimentation. The fact that the term "beau soleil" translates literally as "beautiful sun" can be seen as reflecting the intense exuberance of some of the group's music. When Doucet started BeauSoleil in the 1970s he was also part of a Cajun-rock band called Coteau but that group broke up in 1977. BeauSoleil recorded its first album in France in 1976 and went on to record many more. Doucet also participated in numerous side projects such as the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band. Nine BeauSoleil albums have garnered Grammy nominations and one of them, L'Amour ou la Folie from 1995, was a winner.

When BeauSoleil arrived on the Cajun scene it didn't take them long to get to the head of the class but several factors later brought the group to another level of national recognition. One was the group's invitation to appear on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion on National Public Radio in 1984, the first of many such appearances. The group's profile was also raised when BeauSoleil's music appeared in several movies, most notably Bélizaire The Cajun and The Big Easy. —Paul-Emile Comeau