Deep in the heart of Cajun country, just a few miles up the road from New Orleans, Lafayette has hosted its own international music festival for seventeen years now. But the 17th edition, which kicked off on 23 April, threatened to be a major headache for organisers. Over the past few weeks music fans could have been forgiven for wondering whether, given the Iraqi crisis and the ensuing geo-political and diplomatic upheavals, Francophone music and American patriotic sentiment would prove a wise mix.

Reading local newspapers (c.f. Le Point, 18 April 2003) and listening to Louisiana’s politicians, one was left with the over-riding feeling that Franco-American relations were at an all-time low. Given that Louisiana is the state which harbours the most Francophiles – not to mention the only state with native French-speakers! – one was left wondering whether Lafayette’s annual music fest would suffer the consequences of current cross-Atlantic tensions.

This year’s festival line-up certainly suffered a few casualties. In a context where Senegalese world star Youssou N’Dour had already cancelled his American tour dates as a protest against the U.S., Ceux qui marchent debout - the French brass outfit who have proved a firm favourite with Lafayette festival-goers in recent years - markedly declined to head down to Louisiana this year. Meanwhile, zouk stars Kassav (who had been due to appear at music festivals in Houston and New Orleans as well as Lafayette) preferred to decline the invitation to the land of George W. Bush.

‘’We did ask Kassav to leave politics out of the equation,’’ says Lisa Stafford, director of the International Festival of Lafayette, ‘’After all, the festival is principally a musical and cultural event which revolves around people coming together in harmony. But feelings were running high amongst the Kassav musicians and they decided not to come. That's the only major repercussion we had on the line-up, though – although, having said that, Kassav were the headlining group on Saturday night and they were also due to appear as part of the finale on Sunday. We got the Haitian singer Emeline Michel and Los Angeles band Los Lobos to play in their place.’’

One thing’s for sure and that’s that the Lafayette festival organisers refused to let recent international events affect their programme, extending their usual warm welcome to artists from all nations. Ligui Chauveau from Marabi Productions has provided an essential link between the Lafayette Festival and French performers over the past seven years. Working in close collaboration with Lisa Stafford and French associations such as SACEM, Ligui scouts out French and Francophone acts to perform in Lafayette. And recently this cross-Atlantic collaboration has extended to local music festivals in Houston and New Orleans too.

‘’We took advantage of the fact that there are such good relations between the different festivals and their organisers,’’ he says, ‘’and this gives the artists we bring over an opening onto the south-east of the U.S. This process of exchange has had major consequences for certain French acts who played their first U.S concert at Lafayette. This has been flagrantly obvious, for example, with acts like Paris Combo and Sergent Garcia. The idea now is to put a real system of exchange in place, but the international situation has rather complicated things of late. The reaction’s been from the artists not the festivals though. People here have extended a warm welcome to everyone as usual and I haven’t seen the least sign of anti-French feeling. OK, so this year we’re working within a tricky international context but it’s in everyone’s interest, the festivals’ and ours, to maintain the exchange process we’ve managed to put in place.’’

Strolling through the streets of Lafayette we noticed the usual sprinkling of ‘’We speak French" signs in shop windows, although there were also a fair number of cars proudly flying the stars and stripes. But national and linguistic sentiment aside, Lafayette was treating its festival as it usually did – as a celebration of music and culture and an annual excuse to party! Extended families thronged the streets, trailing kids, grandparents and bumper ice-boxes. Couples skipped through the fray, eager to dance to zydeco while young entrepreneurs set up mixing-decks beneath the magnolias and organised impromptu dancefloors. A reassuring sight for the French and Francophone artists who had ignored the vicissitudes of international politics and turned up in Lafayette to perform! Bratsch filled the streets with their infectious Gypsy rhythms, and Belgiansinger Marka, Salem Tradition from Réunion and French trio La Rue Ketanou also did their share to get the crowd grooving. As every year, all the acts who had performed at the festival came together for a resounding jam session on Sunday night, turning the Grant Street Dance Hall into a beer-swilling saloon-dancing frenzy.

The Streets Belong to Them!

Parisian trio La Rue Ketanou were a particularly big hit with festival-goers in Lafayette, Florent, Mourad and Olivier proving their extraordinary ability to win hearts and minds within minutes of arriving on stage. It’s difficult to resist the sheer avalanche of verve, energy and artistic generosity exuding from the trio as they whip up their joyous mix of music, poetry, theatre and humour – and the Lafayette audience were subjected to the La Rue Ketanou effect, not once but twice!

The threesome, young protégés of reggae group Tryo, made an impact on the French music scene last year with an album entitled Y’a des cigales dans la fourmilière (Cicadas in the Ant-Hill) released on the Yelen label. And it just so happened that the trio had just returned from a tour of Quebec in March. ‘’We had such a great time,’’ says Olivier Leite, the group’s singer, guitarist, drummer and loquacious spokesperson, ‘’So we were dying to go back there with La Rue Ketanou but also do other projects we’d already started like Mon côté Punk with Dikes and Karim, the guitarist from Padam. We got such a fantastic welcome – we were really bowled over by it! What we enjoy most about all this is getting about everywhere. Music really is the best ticket to travel the world!’’

Given their passion for globe-trotting, La Rue Ketanou were not the kind of band to have qualms about cross-Atlantic travel - even in the current climate! Mourad Musset, the group’s singer and guitarist, declared, ‘’Our album’s called Cicadas in the Ant-hill – and this is our ant-hill! We were invited to come and play out here and there was no way we were going to turn the invitation down. We're not into the idea of retreating in life – the aim is to go forward, so we’re here and we’re going to play! Personally, I wasn’t at all worried about coming out here. The only thing I was bothered about was getting on the plane ‘cos I don’t like flying!’’

Impressed by the warm welcome extended to all artists in Lafayette, La Rue Ketanou were also thoroughly impressed by the rich mix of cultures. ‘’Since we arrived here we’ve met an amazing number of people just within the festival organisation and the hotel,’’ says Olivier, ‘’We’ve hooked up with Nigerians (Lagbadja), musicians from Réunion (Salem Tradition) and Canadians (Dobacaracol). It’s been brilliant getting together and comparing our individual paths to date.’’

Meanwhile, Mourad had been busy announcing the group’s upcoming concert at the Olympia on 27 May. ‘’I’ve been telling everyone it’s the equivalent of playing at Carnegie Hall in New York!’’ he declared proudly, conscious of the impression he was making. But it was the French trio’s turn to feel overwhelmed when Cajun star David Greely (Steve Riley’s violinist) invited them to team up on stage with him at Lafayette on Saturday night. Earlier that evening watching Bratsch’s concert from the wings, there was no mistaking the impression written all over LRK’s third member Florent Vintrigner’s face as he watched the Gypsy group’s accordionist put on a virtuoso performance. There was no doubt about it, La Rue Ketanou have the power to impress and be impressed!

As for LRK’s dream of conquering America, there just may have been a hint of premonition on their last album on a track called Rap’n’roll. ‘’Des chansons qui se rap’n’rollent/ ça alors qui aurait pu croire/ qu’avec un chapeau rempli d’espoir/ tu te retrouves jusqu’en Amérique/ en troubadours de place publique?’’ (Rappin’n’rolling your songs/ Who'd ever have believed / That one day, with a hat full of hope/ You’d make it to America/ and become the troubadours of the public square?’’)

Rapping and rolling on stage at Lafayette as they spouted their joyous mix of French spiced with a dash of English, Spanish, Arabic and Portuguese, the Parisian trio belted out their upbeat anthem (a playful play on their punning name The Street Belongs To Us): ‘’C’est pas nous qui sommes à la rue, c’est la rue qu’est à nous!’’ (‘’We’re not down and out in the streets; the streets belong to us!’’) And, judging by the reaction to the Parisian trio’s performance at Lafayette, the town’s streets certainly belonged to La Rue Ketanou for one night at least!