The Savoy Family Cajun Band

The Savoy Family Cajun Band will perform in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium at the FedEx Global Education Center at 7:00 pm on April 20, 2018. The band hails from southwest Louisiana, where they explore French influence on southern music and its multiethnic results. Each member of the Savoy family is a talented musician, and bandleader Mark was recently awarded the National Heritage Fellowship. Mark and his wife Ann have traveled the world playing in venues such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Getty Museum, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and the Berlin Jazz festival. They have appeared in documentaries and performed on soundtracks for numerous films including Divine Secrets of the Yaya Sisterhood and All the King’s Men.

The band takes an acoustic approach to Cajun music and will provide a history lesson through their diverse repertoire, which includes French ballads as well as more modern blues. This breadth of style reflects the spectrum of Cajun life from sorrow and lost love to the joy of dance. During their performance, each of the four musicians will discuss their interests in particular instruments and will treat the audience to a musical sample of each. Intertwined with the music, Ann will translate the songs’ Cajun French poetry and read excerpts from her book on the history of Cajun music. After the performance in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium, additional programming will follow at Nightlight Bar and Club in Chapel Hill.

Public parking is available in the garage underneath the FedEx Global Education Center. While the event is free to students, a donation of $15 or $20 is suggested for others.

This project is supported by Black and Global Roots Concerts, Appalachian State University, Pine Cone, the National Endowment for the Arts (Our Town & Traditional Arts), and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center for the Study of the American South. Logistical support provided by UNC Global.

Event and Media Contact: Cece Conway, conwayec@live.unc.edu