Most strands of American music have an iconic instrument. Horns for jazz, banjos for bluegrass, and electric guitars for rock and roll.
But few are as essential and unmistakable as the diatonic accordion and its role in the music of south Louisiana. And few know the instrument as intimately as world-renowned accordion player, builder, and author, Marc Savoy.
Upon seeing a Louisiana-handmade diatonic accordion for the first time in 1957, a teenage Marc Savoy began his life quest: to build the perfect Cajun accordion.
For Savoy, the story of his favorite instrument 小蝌蚪APP and longtime livelihood 小蝌蚪APP was one that deserved to be told, and so he has.
The will release Savoy小蝌蚪APP檚 new book, Made in Louisiana: The Story of the Acadian Accordion on Nov. 15.
Told in Savoy小蝌蚪APP檚 own words, Made in Louisiana is the story of the evolution of his Acadian brand accordions 小蝌蚪APP from being a young prodigy to a self-made businessman to a music store owner to a definitive figure in Cajun music 小蝌蚪APP but it is also the story of how an instrument once known as the 小蝌蚪APP淕erman-style小蝌蚪APP accordion became the iconic image of Louisiana小蝌蚪APP檚 Cajun culture.
小蝌蚪APP淢arc Savoy, in his own inimitable way as a crusty, creative perfectionist, has given us a book that is at once a history of the accordion globally as well as in French Louisiana in his and his ancestors小蝌蚪APP lives,小蝌蚪APP said Nick Spitzer, a professor of anthropology at Tulane 小蝌蚪APP and producer of American Routes, a nationally syndicated radio show.
小蝌蚪APP淎 master accordion-maker and Cajun music virtuoso, Savoy engages the complex evolution in Cajun culture from a lived point of view 小蝌蚪APP family, touring, and running a small, but influential business from Eunice, Louisiana. He forcefully asserts that Cajun and Creole music is the 小蝌蚪APP榞lue小蝌蚪APP that will hold French Louisiana culture and communities together into the future. The Savoy family of musicians, producers, writers, and educators are living proof.小蝌蚪APP
Born in 1940, Savoy grew up in a rural French-speaking community outside Eunice. He started playing the accordion at age 12.
By 20, he was building and selling his own Acadian-brand Cajun accordions. In 1966, he opened the doors to the iconic Savoy Music Center in his hometown.
Today, he is considered one of the finest builders and players of the instrument in the world.
To date, UL Press has produced over 300 titles pertaining to all facets of Louisiana小蝌蚪APP檚 history, culture, art, society, politics, religion, ethnicities, and environment. It also welcomes works of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction.
To pre-order Made in Louisiana or explore other UL Press titles, visit .
Photo caption: The 小蝌蚪APP Press will release Marc Savoy小蝌蚪APP檚 Made in Louisiana: The Story of the Acadian Accordion on Nov. 15. (Photo courtesy of UL Press)