Balfa Toujours, a Cajun band comprised of Christine Balfa Powell (vocals, guitar), Dirk Powell (vocals, bass, fiddle, accordion), Courtney Granger (vocals, fiddle, triangle), and Kevin Wimmer (fiddle, vocals), gave a high-spirited and edgy performance of traditional and contemporary Cajun music at the ’Sco on Saturday November 13. They sang in French and English and introduced their tunes with comfort and humor, creating a gleeful atmosphere that transported us to a place where music functions as communication that can transcend difference.

The accordionist, Dirk Powell, came back to Oberlin where he grew up and spent time visiting old haunts. He was incredibly versatile, playing the accordion with surprising ease, the fiddle with unmatched vigor, and singing with a deep and raspy blues voice. Kevin Whimmer was a seasoned performer who played his fiddle with subtlety of tone and virtuosity, his ornaments imbued with confidence and care. When Powell and Whimmer played fiddle duets accompanied by rhythm guitar and brassy triangle, their musical union was almost perfect and brought about a silent awe in the crowd.

Powell had great stage presence and was a gutsy singer, but had little variation in dynamic and timbre. Granger looked sixteen in his cartoon shirt and was clearly the novice of the group. He played fiddle with hesitation and his delivery was less nuanced than his older counterparts. However, he had a strong, clear voice and sang from the heart.

The musicians infused their performance with stories about their Cajun ancestry, discussing how the Acadians settled in Nova Scotia and how their expulsion by the British brought them to Louisiana. Acadian and Creole cultures fused to create what we know today as Cajun music. Balfa Toujours created an authentically intimate atmosphere much like a campfire musical jam. Although their songs were almost entirely in major keys and in 4/4, moments of complicated polyphony and their cheerful anecdotes kept things interesting. Their supple voices offered songs about jolly love, wailing jail stories, and they even played a traditional lesbian song where a man howls, “Bernadette, she threw me out on account of another woman.” The lyrics offered humor and a working class aesthetic without being forced. The instruments took the main stage with dynamic syncopated rhythmic variation and astounding cohesion.

One song was introduced by Powell with a feminist disclaimer about gratitude for women’s changing social positions. It was a dialogue between a husband and wife: “Where are you going my dear husband who is known to be the biggest drunk of the countryside, when are you coming back?/Oh, tomorrow or another day/Well if you come back what would you like me to cook for you?/ A gallon of corn mush – too much, I may as well die/ Where would you like me to bury you? Doesn’t matter as long as you pass me that bottle of whiskey.”

Band members shouted with whoops of delight throughout the night and enjoyed their own musical interactions onstage to such an extent that I was compelled to get up and dance. A great number of students danced – contra style, swing, and even romantic groping in the former tent of consent. Balfa Toujours are real folk performers, bringing traditional and original music of the people to a varied audience. When asked what their musical intent was, Powell answered, “I want to share our Cajun music with everybody, but I also hope it offers a space for people not to be slaves to corporate America, especially in this day and age...that’s part of our message.”