  | Balfa Toujours - La Pointe
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| A Blue Heron in Flight | |
| Our lives pass quickly, and many voices call to us along the way. Some voices speak to us directly. Balfa Toujours is that kind of sound. You can feel it in the reassuring movement of the bellows of an accordion and the confident bow of a fiddle as it pulls and stretches vibrating strings. You can hear it clearly in the heart stopping vocals of Christine Balfa as she breaks the surface of this ancient music of the Bayou Teche with a call-- to you. Balfa Toujours is as arresting as the flight of a Blue Heron-- never what I would call beautiful, but so captivating it can cause a gathering in your chest. They say La Pointe is a place in Louisiana, but just try to find it on a map! Balfa Toujours recorded the CD there in Christine Balfa's living room and kitchen on "vintage analog equipment." We are never told who owns the unassuming home shown in the cover photo. It does call to mind steaming hot summer days, and nights lying awake with a fan blowing humid air in from the bayou; the sudden crash of thunder, wind blowing hard and pecans falling on a tin roof. Consider the second track, Restez, Mom et Pop, Restez (Stay, Mom and Dad, Stay). Inspired by a story about Christine Balfa's cousin, Warner, as he prepared to leave for his seven day stint on an offshore oil rig. His children came to him and pleaded, "Don't go daddy; we don't care about the money. Please just stay with us." Somehow, that Cajun aptitude for seeing universal truth in the everyday and making light of it turns this tragedy into a waltz while the lyrics cry out without pretense or poetry. We thought the world would be simpler. Balfa Toujours, La Pointe, is one kind of happiness that money can buy. It is captivating, visceral and meaningful throughout. When the last track is over, there is a noticeable absence of something in your life and yet something that remains. | |
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