‘Arts in the Prairie’ held at Maison Daboval

RAYNE - The Rayne Historical District Association hosted a special day-long event on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014, where the arts in the prairie were celebrated at Maison Daboval.
Special guest for the afternoon session was Darrell Bourque, two-time Louisiana Poet Laureate and recipient of the 2014 Louisiana Writer Award. Monsieur Bourque provided a 1 p.m. poetry reading of his newest work in celebration of the lives of Amede Ardoin, Cleoma Falcon and Iry LeJeune.
Cleoma and Joe Falcon accompanied Amede on his 1934 recordings for Decca Records in New York City and Iry learned nearly everything he knew about the accordian by listening to recordings of Amede’s music. Each one met a tragic and sad end; yet, their contributions to Cajun and Creole culture are indelible.
In addition to the peotry readings, the documentary, “The Mervine Kahn Legacy,” was shown at 3 p.m. and again at 4 p.m. for all in attendance. “The Mervine Kahn Legacy” began as an oral history project with interviews of former Mervine Kahn Company employees with the help of students from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Over 30 hours of interviews have been collected so far, as well as photos and artifacts from the store as commented by director Bart Wild with Wild Productions.
The Mervine Kahn Store had a unique place in the development of local Cajun music since it was where many early musicians bought their accordians. A new documentery, “Histoire des Cajun et Creole Accordians,” relating this story is now in development.
During the morning hours at Maison Daboval, sweet dough pie making was demonstrated and enjoyed by the general public by Chaire Domingue.
A pork rib jambalaya was prepared by Gene Royer (provided by Martha and Gene Royer), which was served to guests for lunch.
Coffee and dessert were served in the afternoon during the film showing.