For the seventh consecutive year, SHSU is bringing the Jambalaya Cajun Band to campus in celebration of Mardi Gras.
They will be speaking the English 484 class ‘Texas Crossroads’ at 6 p.m. in the Evans building Room 105 on Thursday, February 19. They will be discussing what Mardi Gras really is to native Lousianians, Cajun culture and music. D.L. Mendard, Cajun musician, has been playing at the event every years it has been held, and will be one of the speakers along with band leader Terry Huval, who plays a number of instruments with the band.
For the lecture, the class will be open to the public.
Afterward at 8:30 p.m., the band will present a dance in the Lee Drain Atrium. Admission for the dance will be $5 for anyone with a Sam ID, and $10 for anyone that is not a student or faculty member at the university. They can be purchased at the door, just before the event.
The Jambalaya Cajun Band only plays one gig a year outside of Louisiana, and SHSU is the lucky venue. They come back every year because they love the reception they get, and they say they will come back every year as long as the university will have them.
Professor Terry Thibodeaux of the Communication Studies Department said, “They are a great group, and they really bring a feel of Louisiana and the Cajun culture here to us.
Their music is filled with so much history, which makes it so much fun.”
In the past seven years the turnout has varied. Sometimes there are as many at the event as 150 people. Not knowing how to dance to Cajun music is not an excuse for lack of attendance, according to Thibodeaux. The dances are really easy to learn, and there will be people there to help people learn. The dances will include the waltz and the Cajun two-step.