Dewey Balfa

Dewey Balfa was born in Grand Louis, Louisiana, a small community west of Mamou.Savoy 1984, p. 236.{{cite web|title=Dewey Balfa and the Balfa Brothers|url=http://www.balfatoujours.com/brothers.html|access-date=2009-10-16|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221131105/http://balfatoujours.com/brothers.html|archive-date=2009-02-21}} He was the son of Amay (née Ardoin) and Charles Balfa who were sharecroppers.Savoy 1984, p. 237. Balfa had learned most of his songs from his grandmother and father who was a fiddle player.

During World War II, Balfa worked in a shipyard in Orange, Texas.Savoy 1984, p. 239. After returning in 1948, he and his brothers Will and Rodney formed the Musical Brothers. In 1965, he formed The Balfa Brothers after an enthusiastic response from a performance at the Newport Folk Festival. This led to their first LP, produced by Swallow Records.

Balfa married Hilda Frugé when he was 22 in 1949. They had five children together: Nelda, Roberta, Norma, Dewey Jr., and Christine,Savoy 1984, p. 241. many of whom became musicians. Christine founded the band Balfa Toujours to continue the family tradition.

Balfa appears in a documentary film entitled Les Blues de Balfa produced by Yasha Aginsky. In one scene, Balfa is shown with Nathan Abshire entertaining a group of school children. Balfa gives a short lecture concerning the origins of Cajun music:

{{Blockquote

|text=We are here to tell you a little bit about what a Cajun is. A Cajun is a person who his homeland was France. Went into Nova Scotia, at the time Acadia, and settled there and was there for about a hundred years, and afterwards the British took over the territory and then the French-speaking people, the French descendants, known as the Acadians, came down to the South-Western part of Louisiana, and that was back in 1755. So over all of these years, your language, and your music has been preserved from daddy to son or daddy to daughter or momma to daughter.}}

• J'ai Passé devant ta Porte [http://npmusic.org/Balfas_Jai_Passe_devant_ta_Porte.mp3 Listen]
• Jolie Blonde [http://npmusic.org/Balfa_Brothers_with_Ray_Abshire_Jolie_Blonde.mp3 Listen]

• 1976: [http://folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=1432 Traditional Cajun Fiddle: Instruction] (Smithsonian Folkways)
• 1977: [http://folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=1433 Cajun Fiddle, Old and New: Instruction] (Smithsonian Folkways)
• 1984: [http://folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=411 Les Quatre Vieux Garçons] (Smithsonian Folkways)
• 1986: Dewey Balfa and Friends Fait A La Main! (Handmade Records)
• 1986: Spicy Traditional Instrumental Cajun Classics! (Swallow Records LP-6063)
• 1993: [http://folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=2282 Folk Masters: Great Performances Recorded Live at the Barns of Wolf Trap] (Smithsonian Folkways)
• 2012: The Balfa Family: A Retrospective - Festivals Acadiens et Créoles 1977-2010 (2012, Valcour Records){{cite web |url=http://www.valcourrecords.com/ |publisher=Valcour Records |title=Valcour Records |access-date=2019-11-21}}

• 1972: Spend It All by Les Blank
• 1974: Dedans le sud de la Louisiane by Jean-Pierre Bruneau
• 1983: Les Blues de Balfa by Yasha Aginsky

Balfa was a recipient of a 1982 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.{{cite web |url=https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/year/1982|title=NEA National Heritage Fellowships 1982 |author= |website=www.arts.gov |publisher=National Endowment for the Arts |access-date=November 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929133224/https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/year/1982 | archive-date=September 29, 2020 |url-status=dead}} That year's fellowships were the first bestowed by the NEA.

• The Balfa Brothers
• List of Cajun musicians
• History of Cajun music

{{cite book|last1=Savoy|first1=Ann|author-link1=Ann Savoy|title=Cajun Music a Reflection of a People|year=1986|orig-year=1984|publisher=Bluebird Press|location=Eunice, Louisiana|isbn=978-0-930169-00-8|ref=Savoy84|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/cajunmusicreflec00slbl}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090221131105/http://balfatoujours.com/brothers.html Biography, Balfa Toujours website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20041022150949/http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/balfa_dewey/bio.jhtml VH1.com profile]
• [http://folkways.si.edu/searchresults.aspx?sPhrase=dewey%20balfa&sType='phrase'/ Balfa Discography]{{Dead link|date=November 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at Smithsonian Folkways
• [http://www.folkstreams.net/film,152 Documentary film about Balfa and Cajun music] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109012515/http://www.folkstreams.net/film,152 |date=January 9, 2010 }}
• [http://www.umbc.edu/eol/nom NPR:Commerce]

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Category:National Heritage Fellowship winners

Category:1927 births

Category:1992 deaths

Category:People from Evangeline Parish, Louisiana

Category:Cajun fiddlers

Category:20th-century American violinists

Category:Arhoolie Records artists

Category:Folkways Records artists

Category:Rounder Records artists

Category:Sonet Records artists