Cajun Accordion (from Larry Miller and Mike Miller)

The accordion Cajun people now use is actually by origin and definition a “melodeon” because a pull out of the bellows gives a different note than a push in on the same button. A piano accordion gives the same note whether one pushes or pulls the bellows while depressing the same button. The bass and chord buttons on the left are automatically coordinated whereby when pulling or pushing the bellows, a treble button on the right side is in key with a bass or chord button on the left, (except for only one note).

The accordion (the word melodeon for our part is now considered obsolete), harmonica and concertina were invented in Europe in the early 1800’s and were not well developed until about the mid 1800’s. They reached Cajun land from Germany in about the late 1890’s but didn’t catch on very well until the early 1900’s. The Cajuns did not come to America with accordions but rather fiddles and triangles, mostly, during the mid 1700’s.

Some of the first accordions imported in America were Lester, Pine Tree and Bruno brands, but they were bulky, cheaply made and hard to play. Later on in the early 1900’s the Monarch brand of German-made accordions became tops in Cajun land. They were “les tit noirs”, meaning “the little black ones”. They were a bit smaller than some of the older brands and were of course all black with pewter trim. They were the best ever at that time. Later the Sterling family bought the factory in about the 1920’s, then the Eagle family operated the factory, but both were virtually the same instrument as the Monarch, except for the name.

Then, WWII destroyed these factories and thus Cajuns were cut off from the supply. So then Cajuns decided to build their own copies of the little black Sterlings to produce that distinctive sound and complement their “bon tons”, Cajun style.

It is a most intriguing development of how only twenty to thirty years ago ordinary people like Sidney Brown and Charlie Ortego of Lake Charles, Marc Savoy of Eunice and Shine Mouton of Crowley, (and later many others) had the personal determination to duplicate these instruments in their own back yard workshops, mostly with hand tools. Today with better reeds, glues, paints, better shop tools available, Cajuns are now producing better accordions than the Sterlings and Monarchs of the pre-WWII era. They are all more durable and many of them sound better! (more)