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Contact: David West
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
7/16/98
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES - Four noted folk artists will be inducted into the Louisiana Folklife Center's Hall of Master Folk Artists this weekend at the Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival.
The Hall will induct doll and quilt maker Lair Lacour and musicians BoisSec Ardoin, Allan Metoyer and Preston Conant Saturday during the Festival's official opening ceremonies at 1 p.m. Thirty-three distinguished folk artists have been inducted into the Hall.
"We started the Hall of Master Folk Artist back in 1980 for the purist traditionalists who meet all the criteria for a folk artist. Many of our master folk artists have either been selected to be Heritage Award Winners by the Folk Arts program of the National Endowment for the Arts or invited to the Festival of American Folklife at the Smithsonian, sometimes both," said Dr. Don Hatley, dean of liberal arts and director of the Louisiana Folklife Center at NSU. "This is the most popular award that we give at the Natchitoches/NSU Folk Festival. Every inductee in whose home I have visit proudly displays the resolution of induction; it means something to them."
Inductees are selected by the staff of the Louisiana Folklife Center upon the advice of Northwestern Professor of Anthropology Dr. Pete Gregory and State Folklife Director Maida Owens.
Lacour has been a bold and innovative folk artist for more than 65 years and is nationally recognized as a Creole quiltmaker and dollmaker. Her Ma-man doll was chosen as the official Bicentennial Doll of Louisiana. Lacour has participated in more than 15 Folk Festivals. She is noted as a vital social historian of the Creole community in Louisiana and more specifically in the Lower Cane River Area.
Metoyer is the guiding force behind the popular band, Al and the Gators, which performs old-time waltzes, Creole zydeco and south Louisiana swamp pop. Metoyer developed his musical repertoire as a student of famed Creole musicians Uke and Duma Lacour. He also was a keyboard player and vocalist in Chicago in practice and professional performance sessions in the internationally-known Chess Brothers Studio. Metoyer is also the writer of French-language songs including "Ti Femme."
Ardoin is considered one of the major forces in zydeco music over the past 50 years. His work has been documented by musical scholars from around the United States. Ardoin has been the recipient of a National Heritage Award by the National Endowment of the Arts. A noted performer, Ardoin has played at several Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festivals as well as the Festival of American Folklife, the National Folk Festival, Louisiana Folklife Festival and concerts in the United States, Canada and Europe.
Conant learned to play the blues saxophone under the guidance of famed music professor Alcee Vaughn. He performs with Al and the Gators maintaining the dance music tradition of lower Cane River and the Natchitoches area. Conant was an original member of the dance group The Serenaders. He was also taught by his mother Winnie Conant, a folk artist who participated in the first Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival.