EDDIE LEJEUNE 1951-2001 
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| THIS OBITUARY APPEARED IN "THE INDEPENDENT" NEWSPAPER, LONDON, ENGLAND | |
| EDDIE LEJEUNE was among the most
important Cajun accordionists of his generation. The son
of another great Cajun musician, Iry LeJeune, he
successfully emerged from his father's shadow to forge a
raw and powerful style that echoed with the sounds of the
genre's pioneers. Fronting his own
accordion-fiddle-guitar trio, he took the lead in setting
the rhythm and timing of his music: "Everybody can
distinctly hear each instrument. It's so much purer and
cleaner and more original." His powerful vocals
stemmed from a lifetime of performance in unamplified
dance-halls. As he later noted, "I am really pushing
from the heart when I sing." Eddie LeJeune was only
four years old when his father died as the result of a
roadside accident in 1955 and he learnt much of what he
was to know about the accordion from his grandmother. A
seasoned performer by his early teens, he became much in
demand at local bals de maisons (house dances), barbecues
and weddings and eventually progressed to Saturday- night
dance-halls. Music was not only a vigorous expression of
his cultural identity, but also a means of supplementing
his wages. Despite the acclaim with which his work was
greeted, he rarely made much money from his music and
worked successively as a tenant farmer, a mill hand and
an oil worker; he was labouring on a construction site at
the time of his death. He cut his first and somewhat
belated album, Cajun Soul, in 1988, on which he joined
forces with the fiddle player Ken Smith and a fellow
Cajun legend, D.L. Menard. Three years later it was
followed by It's in the Blood on which the trio of
LeJeune, Lionel Leleux (fiddle) and Hubert Maitre
(guitar) was augmented by the Cajun triangle of his son
Eddie junior. The Grammy-nominated Le Trio Cadien, again
with Smith and Menard, was released in 1992 and in 1998
Rounder Records issued Cajun Spirit with its fine
versions of "Opelousas Waltz", "Cadjin De
Church Point" and "Johnny Can't Dance". A
regular visitor to Britain, he proved a generous teacher
to aspiring "Cajuns" who sought his advice. Eddie LeJeune, accordionist: born Lascasin (sic), Louisiana 1951; married; died Eunice, Louisiana 9 January 2001. Paul Wadey, England. Reproduced by permission from The Independent, Obituaries, 26 January 2001. |
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Issued 26 June 2001 E&OE
Eddie LeJeune,
the Cajun accordion player and vocalist, died of a heart
attack at work on Tuesday 9 January 2001. He was 49. The
son of the legendary Iry LeJeune, Eddie had continued the
family tradition of playing what he called the pure
traditional Cajun music. His unique style of accordion
playing and powerful vocals made him world famous. The
warmth he communicated to audiences won their hearts as
much as his music, to which he always gave one hundred
and ten percent. He was a wonderful family man, his home
in Morse was filled with love rather than material
things. As a friend he was generous and kind. Although he
always referred to the music he played as "my
music", he never held any of it back from other
musicians like myself who also loved the music. He always
found time to teach and demonstrate how what he called
the pure Cajun music should be played. He visited England
many times to play and he will be sadly missed by the
many friends he made here. This site is being continually
updated with photos, reminiscences and news.