Program Notes

Cajun Folk Songs II

Frank Ticheli, composer

Cajun Folk Songs II continues and expands the style of Frank Ticheli's first set of Cajun Folk Songs. "Ballad," the first of two contrasting movements, is a melancholy song fleshed out with starkly beautiful textures and harmonies. This beautiful movement gives way to a brash and energetic cowboy hoedown. Ticheli writes, "Cajuns are descendents of the Acadians, a group of early French colonists who began settling in Acadia (now Nova Scotia) around 1604. In 1755, they were driven out by the British, eventually resettling in South Louisiana. Today there are nearly a million French-speaking descendants of the Acadians living in Louisiana and parts of Texas, preserving many of the customs, traditions, stories, and songs of their ancestors."

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