This year’s festival celebrates 90 years of “Jolie Blonde” and other female characters and performers.

LAFAYETTE, La. – An iconic symbol of the female influence on Cajun and Creole music, what we know today as “Jolie Blonde” was first recorded as “Ma blonde est partie” in 1929 by the Breaux Brothers.

Ninety years later, this “pretty blonde” has led to other female characters in songs, like Joline, Colinda, Madeleine, Chère Alice, Chère Mam, Chère Bassette, Bernadette, Tante Adèle, Marie, Rosa, la Fille de la Veuve and les Filles à Nonc Hilaire, among many others.

For 2019, Festivals Acadiens et Créoles is celebrating the role of women in Cajun and Creole music—and the 90th anniversary of “Jolie Blonde.” Female performers from Cléoma Breaux Falcon to the current generation who have taken the stage, such as the members of Bonsoir, Catin, T’Monde, Babineaux Sisters, The Daiquiri Queens and many others, have helped to carry on these musical traditions.

(Festivals Acadiens et Créoles )

“We would be remiss not to also mention the women who have preserved our venerable ballad traditions by singing for their families and friends at home, such as Alma Barthélémy, Lula Landry, Inez Catalon, Odile Falcon, Agnes Bourque and Marie Pellerin,” says Board President Barry Jean Ancelet.

“And then, there are also women who helped to document and preserve our musical and cultural heritage, like Irene Whitfield, Corinne Saucier, Catherine Blanchet, Marce Lacouture and Kristi Guillory. This year, we are celebrating all of these women, real and fictional, and their contributions to our musical history both on and off the stage.”

(Festivals Acadiens et Créoles)

The festival’s 2019 music lineup opens on Friday, Oct. 11, with female supergroup Bonsoir, Catin and special guests. Several other female-fronted bands will be playing this year’s festival, including Magnolia Sisters, Feufollet, Babineaux Sisters, T’Monde, Yvette Landry & the Jukes, The Daiquiri Queens, Soul Creole and Sweet Crude.

(The Advertiser)

The weekend event will also be celebrating the evolution of Cajun and Creole musicians like Jeffery Broussard, who will follow Bonsoir, Catin with his Creole Cowboys on opening night; Joel Sonnier, celebrating his 60th anniversary in music, and Horace Trahan and the Ossun Express, both playing sets on Oct. 12; and Feufollet, which has featured a female singer since its origins, on Oct. 13.

Festivals Acadiens et Créoles 2019 Music Lineup

Scène Ma Louisiane Presented by LUS Fiber

Fri., Oct. 11

5:30-6:45 p.m. Bonsoir, Catin with Special Guests

7-8:30 p.m. Jeffery Broussard: Zydeco Force to Creole Cowboys

Sat., Oct. 12

10:30-11:30 a.m. Lafayette Rhythm Devils

11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Ervin Frey and Cajun Prairie

1:15-2:15 p.m. Cameron Dupuy & The Cajun Troubadours

2:30-3:30 p.m. Wayne & Same Ol 2 Step

3:45-4:45 p.m. Kevin Naquin and the Ossun Playboys

5-6:15 p.m. Joel Sonnier 60th Anniversary

6:30-7:45 p.m. Horace Trahan and the Ossun Express Through the Years

Sun., Oct. 13

10:30-11:30 a.m. The Pot Luck Band

11:45-12:45 p.m. Jambalaya with John Trahan

1-2 p.m. Jesse Lége and Bayou Brew

2:15-3:15 p.m. Magnolia Sisters with Special Guests

3:30-4:30 p.m. Jourdan Thibodeaux et les Rôdailleurs

4:45-6 p.m. Feufollet Through the Years

6:15-7:45 p.m. Wayne Toups & ZydeCajun

Scène Mon Heritage

Sat., Oct. 12

10:45-11:45 a.m. Huval-Fuselier Cajun Band

Noon-1 p.m. Leroy Thomas and the Zydeco Roadrunners

1:15-2:15 p.m. Babineaux Sisters

2:30-3:30 p.m. TBA

3:45-4:45 p.m. Roddie Romero and the Hub City All-Stars

5-6:30 p.m. Pine Leaf Boys

Sun., Oct. 13

10:45-11:45 a.m. Terry & the Zydeco Bad Boys

Noon-1 p.m. T’Monde

1:15-2:15 p.m. Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie

2:30-3:30 p.m. Lost Bayou Ramblers

3:45-5 p.m. Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble

5:15-6:30 p.m. Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys

Salle De Danse

Sat., Oct. 12

10:30-11:30 a.m. Forest Huval & Friends

11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Chris Miller & Bayou Roots featuring Jimmy Breaux

1-2 p.m. Yvette Landry & the Jukes

2:15-3:15 p.m. Travis Matte and the Kingpins

3:30-4:45 p.m. Cedric Watson & Bijou Créole

5-6:30 p.m. Warren Storm and Willie T with T.K. Hulin

Sun., Oct. 13

9-10:30 a.m. French Mass

10:45-11:45 a.m. Kegan Navarre & Louisiana Traditions

Noon-1 p.m. The Daiquiri Queens

1:15-2:15 p.m. Kyle Huval and the Dixie Club Ramblers

2:30-3:30 Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas

3:45-5 p.m. Gregg Martinez with Charlene Howard and Steve Adams

Scène D’Anniversaire

Sat., Oct. 12

11 a.m.-noon Paul Daigle and Cajun Gold

12:15-1:15 p.m. Rusty Metoyer and the Zydeco Krush

1:30-2:30 p.m. Ruben Moreno

2:45-3:45 p.m. The Revelers

4-5 p.m. Corey Ledet & his Zydeco Band

5:15-6:30 p.m. Chris Ardoin & NuStep

Sun., Oct. 13

12:15-1:15 p.m. Quatre Coin Throwdown

1:30-2:30 p.m. Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band

2:45-3:45 p.m. Blake Miller and the Old-Fashioned Aces

4-5 p.m. Soul Creole

5:15-6:30 p.m. Sweet Crude

Scène Atelier

Sat., Oct. 12

11:15-11:45 a.m. 2019 Tradition Bearer Award Presentation: Elaine Bourque

Noon-12:45 p.m. The True Story of Jolie Blonde with Wade Falcon

1-1:45 p.m. B … Pour Bayou: The Making of a Cajun French Alphabet Book

2-3 p.m. Joel Savoy and Linzay Young

3:15-4:15 p.m. The Savoy Family Band

4:45-5:45 p.m. Femme: A Celebration of Louisiana Women Musicians

Sun., Oct. 13

11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Juré with the Broussard Sisters and Jeffery Broussard

12:45-1:45 p.m. The Singing Drummers of South Louisiana with Warren

Storm, Glenn Fields, Callie Huval & Vernon Bergeron, moderated by Yvette Landry

2-3 p.m. Cory and Lisa McCauley with Clint Ward

3:15-4:15 p.m. Brazos Huval School of Music

4:30-5:30 p.m. Sheryl Cormier & Cajun Sounds

Jam Ca! (Jam That!) Presented by Dr. Tommy Comeaux Endowed Chair for Traditional Music

Sat., Oct. 12

Noon-1:15 p.m. Gina Forsyth

1:30-2:45 p.m. Corey Ledet

3-4:15 p.m. Drew Simon

Sun., Oct. 13

Noon-1:15 p.m. Angelle Aces with Blake Miller

1:30-2:45 p.m. Sheryl Cormier

3-4:15 p.m. Jeffery Broussard

For more information about the festival, click here.