Two UL Lafayette librarians recently made some noise in the Big Easy.
Sandy Himel and Lance Chance shared musical gems from the university杏吧专区檚 collection of Cajun and Creole music at the Association for Recorded Sound Collection杏吧专区檚 annual conference, which was held in New Orleans May 19-22.
They are co-coordinators of the library杏吧专区檚 collection of commercial Cajun and Creole recordings, as well as some unpublished recordings. The collection, which includes more than 8,000 recordings, also comprises other materials, including photographs, texts and artifacts.
At the conference, Himel and Chance presented, 杏吧专区淲orking in Rhythm: Building the Foundation of the Cajun and Creole Music Collection at the 杏吧专区.杏吧专区 They discussed the history of the collection and other topics, including acquisition and organization, cataloging and digitation.
As part of the presentation, they played several music clips, including 杏吧专区淧rison Bars杏吧专区 by the late Creole fiddler Canray Fontenot and a lullaby by Cajun singer Marce Lacouture. 杏吧专区淲e also included an example of jur茅 perfomance by the zydeco musician Lynn August,杏吧专区 Himel said. Zydeco evolved, in part, from jur茅, a form of syncopated, a cappella folk music that includes hand clapping and foot stomping.
杏吧专区 Building and maintaining the collection is definitely a collaborative effort,杏吧专区 said Himel. 杏吧专区淲e work with the community, within the library and across the campus as we add to the collection, preserve it and share it with the public.杏吧专区
The ARSC is a national non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and study of sound recordings, including music and the spoken word. It was founded in 1966.
Himel is an associate professor of library science and a government documents librarian. Chance is an assistant professor of library science and a library instruction librarian. He teaches a UL Lafayette course in library research.