Clifton Chenier believed his music could heal. “A lot of old people come to my dance,” the founding father of zydeco once said with a laugh. “They be having a walking stick and when they leave the dance, they can’t find the stick. They throwed it outside ’cause they don’t need it no more!”
Dr. Tommy Comeaux, another South Louisiana musician, was also a healer – though, as a pathologist, in a more exact sense. A new scholarship at UL Lafayette, funded through proceeds from the all-star Tribute to the King of Zydeco, is joining the legacies of both men.
The will support students studying zydeco accordion in the Dr. Tommy Comeaux Endowed Chair in Traditional Music. The fund was created by Valcour Records, which released the album, in collaboration with Chenier’s estate. “A goal of this project was to give back to the community that this music came from,” said Joel Savoy, Valcour’s founder and one of the tribute’s co-producers.
“Clifton Chenier brought the sound of South Louisiana to the world,” added Dr. Gwendolen von Einsiedel, the second holder of the Comeaux Endowed Chair and an associate professor in the . “This scholarship ensures that his legacy lives on in the lives of young musicians learning to carry that sound forward.”
When Comeaux died in November 1997 in a cycling accident at age 45, his friends – a group of musicians, physicians, artists, lawyers, writers, chefs and cultural advocates who dubbed themselves “the Comeauxtians” – set out to honor him through the endowed chair’s creation. To secure the $1 million endowment, they had to raise $600,000. The Louisiana Board of Regents then would contribute the remainder.
Seven weeks after Comeaux’s death, friends staged the first “Medicine Show.” Ten more would follow each year until 2007 when proceeds from the concerts, combined with monies raised through other fundraisers, propelled the Comeauxtians over the finish line.
The Board of Regents approved a bachelor of arts concentration in traditional music at UL Lafayette in 2010. Now in its 15th year, the program remains one of a handful nationwide – and the only one in the state – dedicated to roots music. “We have a traditional music program that is like no other traditional music program in the world,” said von Einsiedel. “It’s incredible. Lafayette is an absolute global music hub, and we take advantage of that.”
In the same way that grassroots philanthropy created the traditional music program, community has sustained it. There are four permanent musical ensembles – Cajun, zydeco, R&B and string – and students don’t have to pursue a degree in traditional music to join. Ensemble instructors have included many local Grammy-nominated and Grammy-winning musicians. Students and mentors participate in workshops, masterclasses and performances, all of which are open to the public.
“The community got together and cared so much they spent 10 years fundraising to create this program, and the community remains actively involved and connected to what we offer,” von Einsiedel said. “And the Chenier scholarship is coming at the right time in terms of where we are and letting people know what we’re doing and why we’re special. It’s beautiful, and we are so grateful.”
A Tribute to the King of Zydeco is available for purchase on all major streaming services, locally, and online at . directly to the Clifton Chenier Memorial Scholarship Fund.
Photo caption: (top) Chenier and members of the Red Hot Louisiana Band Photo credit: (top) Courtesy of Johnnie Allan, the Center for Louisiana Studies, and Special Collections, UL Lafayette
