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• Acadian and Cajun Music Day

JENNINGS -- As part of the Congres Mondial Acadien celebration, the city of Jennings will present
Acadian and Cajun Music Day at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 9, in the Strand Theater, 432 N. Main St.,
featuring area talent and a dance troupe from Nova Scotia.

Local band Blackie Forestier & the Cajun Aces will kick off the evening of music. The group has been in
existence for almost 40 years, entertaining diverse groups of people, including the World Congress of
Sociologists, American Cultural Society and Houston Fine Arts Association, and at the inaugurations of
governors, museums and many other venues.

Founder, master accordion player and Cajun music composer Blackie Forestier has been recognized locally and nationally from coast to coast. The Blackie Forestier Cajun Dancers will perform onstage with the band. The dancers give visitors a taste of the Cajun culture and their joie de vivre (joy of life).

Les Amies Louisianaises will also perform. The group is comprised of four women, who all grew up in
Acadian families in Southwest Louisiana. Janet, Jeanette and Sheila Augillard and Donna Thibodeaux sing in four-part harmony in Cajun French. Their repertoire includes traditional Cajun songs and other types of music, both secular and religious.

Jennings native Nancy Tabb Marcantel will sing. Marcantel captivates the audience with her rich tapestry
of songs of her native Acadiana.

The evening will end with a performance by Nova Scotia's Acadian dance troupe La Baic en Joie. The
troupe, which started 15 years ago, includes 20 dancers, ages 12-18, wearing 17th-century red, white and
blue French costumes.

The troupe performed in 1994 at the opening ceremonies of the Congres Mondial Acadien at Shediac,
New Brunswick, and also has been seen onstage at the Festival International de la Louisiane in Lafayette.

Advance general admission tickets at $7 are available at the Old Magnolia Gift Shoppe , 311 N. Main St.,
or at the Strand Theater the evening of the performance. Seating is limited.

For more information, call the Jennings City Hall at 821-5500.