'Crafting the Louisiana Sound,' an exhibit on innovation

Double key accordion by Randy Falcon

Necessity is the mother of invention, but in Cajun Country, the necessity to perform spurs the need to create.

Craftsmen have building musical instruments  in South Louisiana for decades, with some instruments invented from items around the house and workplace and others works of art. It’s the reason why Anya Burgess and Chris Segura, both violin crafters and musicians, pulled together the exhibit, “Crafting the South Louisiana Sound” as part of this weekend’s Festivals Acadiens et Créoles in Lafayette, Louisiana. The exhibit of instruments and photos are on display at the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Diamond lapel pins

Take Milton Guilbeau for instance. The 90-year-old has been crafting guitars for years while working for Coburns, a supply company that sells plumbing parts. On display is a steel guitar Guilbeau created from items such as toilet flushers and sink parts — even the diamond lapel pins Guilbeau received from the company (see photo, right).

Nearby, a lap steel guitar consists of a simple 2 X 4 board. “All of the markers on the fingerboard are nails,” Segura said. 

Norman Curtis of Arnaudville, Louisiana, crafted a guitar from sinker cypress, wood derived from bald cypress trees that have sat dormant and preserved for years underwater. Curtis accented the instrument’s front panel with the image of an armadillo, a cut-out from a serving tray. The guitar rests on tree limbs.

Norma Curtis guitar

“The best part of putting together this exhibit is that most of these instruments were built using materials found at home,” said Segura, who works as an archivist at the university’s Center for Louisiana Studies.

A vital part of the Cajun sound is the diatonic accordion, a small, three-key little brother to the larger Lawrence Welk variety. These accordions sprung up in Germany around 1850, Segura explained.

“They quickly became popular because they were portable,” he said. “Around 1870, 1880s they came to Louisiana and became popular here.”

During World War II, Louisiana musicians couldn’t send diatonic accordions to Germany to be repaired, so folks began repairing the instruments themselves. In Lake Charles, Sidney Brown started making his own.

“What he did was open up one of those German accordions and reversed engineered it,” Segura explained, adding that Brown used shipping pallets and Purex bottles for materials. “Another situation where he used what he had around the house.”

Violins created by Milton Vanicor

Violins take up one half of a museum floor, instruments that range from a one-string fiddle over a Prince Albert can by Milton Vanicor to sophisticated pieces crafted by Segura and Burgess. There’s even a work station and a display case of violin parts and tools used by Lionel Leleux to give visitors an inside look at the endless hours that go into building these violins.

Other instruments on display include triangles, spoons, amplifiers, drumsticks and drums.

“Crafting the South Louisiana Sound” will run through Sunday, Oct. 15, at the conclusion of Festivals Acadiens et Creole.

Segura will moderate the panel, “Luthiers Playing Their Own Instruments: Matthew Doucet, Anya Burgess and Ed Poulard,” at 3:15 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017, on the festival's Atelier Stage.

Want a taste? Check out the impromptu performance Segura offered a recent tour through the exhibit on our Weird South Facebook page.

Cheré Coen is a Louisiana food and travel writer who loves Cajun and zydeco music.