Visitors to Jazz Fest will not only find Louisiana music and food, but also expert Louisiana craftsmen and women. Accordion makers Clarence Martin Junior and Pennye Huval came to the Jazz Fest craft tent to show off their talents. The father and daughter own an Martin Cajun Accordions, an accordion shop in Lafayette Parish.
Transcript:
MARTIN: My name is Clarence Martin Junior. I have been making accordions for about 33 years. I used to be a contractor, I decided my body was falling apart. It's such hard work, construction work. And I started making accordions, and I loved it so much I never stopped. It's a family thing. We work, me and my daughter.
HUVAL: My name is Pennye Huval. For our Cajun culture, the accordion is the main instrument. We all owned accordions when we were growing up, so we always played accordions.
HUVAL: Each one [accordion] is more of a unique piece of art, because of all of the detail we put into the inlay, the designs on the bellows.
HUVAL: The bellow actually provides the air pressure. So when you push air through the accordion, it causes these blades to vibrate, and that's what produces the sound.
MARTIN: It's just a happy music. Cajun music is a happy music.