"La Valse La Prison" - Douglas Bellard & Kirby Riley

Douglas Bellard is said to be the first black Cajun/Creole to record, just before Amede Ardoin, thus making him arguably the spiritual father of Zydeco music. His records are rarely heard, but for all their roughness, they are deep American roots music of the highest order.  They became the first rural Afro-Creoles from southwest Louisiana to record the earthy, raw music of the black Creoles. This stark masterpiece of fiddle, accordion and vocal emphasizes the rhythm and beat while understating the melodic line.7  Vocalion released four Bellard-Riley sides, including the classic la-la lament "La Valse La Prison" (#15847).  This would become only one of four songs recorded by Bellard (misspelled Bellar). Most listings correct the phrase writing "La Valse De La Prison".  Around 1974, during an interview with producer Jean-Pierre Bruneau, Bee Fontenot explains the song was based on Douglas' time in prison due to killing a man in his coop he caught stealing his chickens.8

Oh toi cher 'tite fille quoi ça t'es après faire.

T'auras jamais de bonheur dans ta vie.

Oh te'm'fait t'aimer, jamais toujours, chere, 

Te tourne ton doux d'moi.

Oh te fais mal, la pauv' vieille maman, à la porte de prison, 

Ses deux mains sur sa tête en pleurant pour moi.

Bonsoir chère maman, 

Bonsoir pour tous tes jours, c'est tous mes tiens.

J'ai fini de te voir, maman,

J'ai fini de te voir sur la terre du bon dieu.

Oh toi, chère maman, pleure pas pour moi. 

'Mande à tes amis pour t'aider.

Pars prier pour moi, 

Pars des prières pour sauver moi nom des flammes de l'enfer.

Oh, quand jai dit ça à ma maman, 

Elle a fait "mmmmmmm, hmmmmmmm"

Ville Platte Gazette
Oct 5, 1929

Douglas Bellard played with Creole accordionist Amede Ardoin and taught this tune to a younger Canray Fontenot who popularized the song as "Barres De La Prison".7 Author Barry Ancelet states:

"Les Barres De La Prison", Canray Fontenot's classic blues waltz based on Bellard's original recording of "La Valse de la Prison", for example, is a traditional gallows blues lament or prisoner's farewell which recalls the old French "Chanson de Mandrin".

It was recorded in New Orleans in 1929 and afterwards, Douglas would spend alot of time traveling to play music.   At some point Douglas separated from his wife and moved near the Fontenot family.  Canray and Adam Fontenot recall Bellard leaving to record and play:

I used to go fool with [his] fiddle.  I had learned how to tune it and everything from him.  He started getting kind of popular and most of the time that doggone Douglas was gone.  I didn't have nothing to practice.  I was just getting in the groove to learn something, no he keeps taking the fiddle.1

Douglas Bellard
By Robert Crumb

Not much is known about the Afro-Creole accordionist Kirby Riley.  It's believed he was born in St. Landry parish in 1904 to Thomas and Cora Riley.  When not playing music, he worked on cars in a garage, greasing and cleaning engines. By the time he entered WWII in 1942, he was still single. 

On tunes like "La Valse De La Prison", we’re able to easily discern the dark, rolling rumble of Riley’s accordion behind Bellard’s lively fiddling.  Bellard would go on to influence other musicians around the area including Canray Fontenot and Wade Fruge.   Canray recalls Douglas playing with Amede Ardoin:

They played together; they played good music together.  They both wanted to start the tune and if one would start the other one couldn't catch up.  And they both liked to sing; they were always in a big brawl about that.5

Wade Fruge recalls:

 He was really good.  His bow looked like a rainbow.  I've seen him play with some number eight sewing thread.5  

Oh you, dear little girl, what have you done?

You are never happy in life.

Oh you made me love you, forever always, dear,

You turned sweet to me,

Oh, it hurts you, poor old mother, at the prison door,

Her hands at her face, weeping for me.

Good night, dear mom, 

Good night forever, that's my wish.

I'll finally see you, momma,

I'll finally see you in heaven.

Oh you, dear mother, weep not for me,

Ask your friends for help.

Go pray for me, go pray to save me my name from the fires of hell,

Oh, when I said that to my mom, she was like "mmmmmmm, hmmmmmmm".

Outside of Geeshie Wiley’s "Last Kind Word Blues", it is hard to imagine a more dark, moody, and backwoods-y performance from this time period.7 

1. The Kingdom of Zydeco By Michael Tisserand
2. Louisiana Fiddlers By Ron Yule
3. Cajun Breakdown : The Emergence of an American-Made Music: By Ryan Andre Brasseaux
4. Creoles of Color in the Bayou Country By Carl A Brasseaux
5. Cajun Music: Reflection of a People by Ann Savoy
6. Photo by RS
7. http://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/stream-tracks-from-the-tompkins-square-aimer-et-perdre-compilation
8. Les Haricots Sont Pas Salés.  Cinq Planètes ‎– CP01 934.
9. Lyrics by Stephane F

Find:

Aimer Et Perdre: To Love & To Lose Songs, 1917-1934 (Tompkins Square, 2012)

"Mon Camon La Case Que Je Suis Cordane" - Douglas Bellard

Ask anyone who the first African Creole musician to record creole french music in Louisiana and you'll most likely get the answer of Amede Ardoin.   However, it would be his friend Douglas Bellard who actually recorded before him.   One of Bellard's tunes, "Mon Camon La Case Que Je Suis Cordane", would become one of the most widely covered songs in the Cajun music repertoire: "Les Flammes d'Enfer".

Cajun and zydeco music developed from two distinct musical traditions drawn respectively from France and West Africa, but as neighboring Cajun and black Creole sharecroppers began to play music together in the early part of the 20th century, each began to borrow tunes and musical styles from the other. 

Oh Mama,

Qui c'est la cause,

J'suis condamné,

Pour les flammes d'enfer 

Oh Maman,

Comment j'va faire?

Qui c'est la cause

J'suis condamné 

Pour ci, pour ça,

C'est mon canon la cause.

J'ai fait le chemin,

T'étais là-bas,

Quo c'est 'tite tante,

Cogner à la porte.

Qui c'est qu'est là ?

C'est ton neveu.

Mais mon neveu, 

Qui c'est tu veux ?

Mon chère 'tite tante,

J'suis v'nu pour t'dire,

J'suis condamné,

Mais pour ma vie.

Oh………

Priez pour moi,

Mais moi partir,

Pour les flammes d'enfer.

Ma chère 'tite tante,

Priez pour moi.

Author and historian Dr. Barry Ancelet explains:

European song tradition tended to be textually oriented.  Ballads and folksongs were traditionally unaccompanied and sung for their content.  In African tradition, music, singing and dancing were all inextricably related and this may have influenced the combination of singing and instrumental traditions.  The result of this process was the development of new songs which combined the two traditions.  

Douglas Bellard and his wife

Douglas Bellard, a black fiddler from Bellaire Cove, was the playing partner of the great Amédé Ardoin before Ardoin decided to go with fiddler Dennis McGee, a white man who could offer him more protection when playing before crowds in those racially segregated days. In this song, Douglas is accompanied by Kirby Riley on accordion.  On October 2, 1929, the duo became the first rural Afro-Creoles from southwest Louisiana to record and Vocalion released 4 of their songs including "Mon Camon La Case Que Je Suis Cordane" (#15847).  Two months later, Amede Ardoin got his opportunity.   

Moise Robin, who was there recording with Leo Soileau on the same day, recalls:

When I weet over there, the last time I made a record in New Orleans with Leo Soileau, Angelas Lejeune, he made Bayou Pon Pon and I was there when he made Bayou Pon Pon. And there was a black [man], he made a record, Les Flammes D'enfer. I remember all these players.11

Oh Mama, 

This is the reason why, 

I'm doomed, 

To be in the flames of hell

Oh Mom, 

How am I going to do this? 

This is the reason why, 

I'm condemmed 

For this, for that, 

It's because of my gun.

I took this path

You were out there, 

It's my little aunt

I'll knock on the door. 

Who's here?

It's your nephew.

My nephew, 

What do you want? 

My dear little aunt, 

I'm going to tell you the honest truth, 

I'm condemmed, 

For the rest of my life. 

Oh ......... 

Pray for me 

I'm leaving, 

For the flames of hell. 

My dear lil aunt 

Pray for me.

Ville Platte Gazette
Oct 5, 1929

Author Ryan Brasseaux states:

These Afro-Creole recording artists extensive use of blue notes, highly syncopated melodic phrasing, crying vocal, and repertoire diversified the Cajun portfolio by generating a sort of race record subgenre under the auspices of the commercial Cajun umbrella. 

Also known as "The Flames of Hell", the tune has plenty of different spellings. The title is a corrupted form of the phrase "mon canon la cause que je suis condamné" (or "my gun is the reason i am convicted").   In their recordings, you can easily discern the dark, rolling rumble of Riley’s accordion behind Bellard’s lively fiddling.  The accordion seems to be dissonant, almost off key, between the treble and bass sections.  Vocalion did not issue Bellard and Riley's discs in its 5000 hillbilly series but rather assigned them to its 15000 popular series.  Allegedly, only a few copies of this 78 have survived and the two remaining songs from the 1929 session have never been found on any compilation.  Author Tony Russell has determined these recordings, however, do exist.  That same year, Bixy Guidry and Percy Babineaux would rewrite the tune for their recording of "Ella A Plurer Pour Revenir" and Joe Falcon would use it for his "Acadian One Step".   Musician Wade Fruge, influenced by Bellard, discusses the song's origin and a story:

I learned what they call "Les Flammes d'Enfer" from a black fiddle player [Douglas Bellard].  It's a copy of another song called "Adieu, Rosa".  He'd play it in a one step, not a two step like people play it today. Today, it's played faster. He played with Bijoux [Arteman Fruge] a lot and Enos Fontenot and Lloyd Thibodeaux.  We played for Enos once.  He had a store.  Well, Douglas had had too much to drink too early because they had an old sugar mill over there and they'd make whiskey from it.  So he came in the store and he said "Ya'll have some hot ketchup?"  The bottle was real big and it had a cap on it in a a glass and he drank it all!  Talk about sober up.

During this same session, Leo Soileau and Moise Robin walked into the New Orleans makeshift studio and recorded a similarly inspired tune called "Demain C'Est Pas Dimanche", also based on "Adieu Rosa".  Angelas Lejeune and Ernest Fruge would do the same, recording the tune as "Madame Donnez Moi Les".  Leo would rework the song in the 1930s as "Petit Ou Gros", made famous by Joe Bonsall in the 1960s.   By the mid 50s, Marie Solange Falcon and Shuk Richard converted the song into their "Madame Entelle Two Step".  In 1959, Austin Pitre would take the song and add a "turn" which he conjured up while at mass one Sunday, officially giving it the title "Flum De Faire (Les Flammes d'Enfer)" for Swallow Records.  

1. Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Volume 2 By Steve Sullivan
2. Cajun Breakdown : The Emergence of an American-Made Music By Ryan Andre Brasseaux
3. All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues edited by Vladimir Bogdanov
4. Creoles of Color in the Bayou Country By Carl A. Brasseaux
5. The Accordion in the Americas: Klezmer, Polka, Tango, Zydeco, and More! edited by Helena Simonett
6. Hidden in the Mix: The African American Presence in Country Music edited by Diane Pecknold
7. Louisiana Cajun and Creole Music: The Newport Field Recordings Recorded 1964-1967.  Interview with Fay Stanford.  Posted by Neal Pomea.
8. Photo by RS
9. Lyrics by Marc C
10. Tony Russell, "The First Recording of Black French Music?", Old Time Music 29 (Summer 1978), p. 20.
11. http://arhoolie.org/moise-robin/