2006 PRESS

Bonsoir Catin draws Cajun players, styles together By Bethany Nolan The Herald-Times, October 2006 Call it fate. Sitting around a campfire at the Dewey Balfa Heritage Week at Chicot State Park in Louisiana, the four female members of Bonsoir Catin were drawn to each other. “We got to talking…formed a band, and the next thing you know, we’re playing gigs,” accordion player Kristi Guillory said. “We love it.” The band also includes a name fans of Cajun music will recognizer—guitarist Christine Balfa Powell, daughter of the late Dewey Balfa, who is perhaps better known for her connection to her other band, Balfa Toujours. Rounding out the group are bass player Yvette Landry and fiddle player Anya Schoenegge Burgess—who studied folklore at Indiana University and completed a program here in violin making and stringed instrument repair. All the women come by their love of Cajun music honestly. Guillory, a Louisiana native whose grandparents didn’t speak any English, was drawn to her instrument after hearing someone play the accordion at a music festival. “I told my mom I wanted to play one of those,” she said. “I fell in love with it right away.” The band plays all styles of music, Guillory said, ranging from old ballads and 1950s-era tunes with a sort of country-western feel. The secret to the eclectic play list? By day, Guillory works as a media archivist, digitizing more than 2,000 hours of recordings made at festivals in Louisiana in the 1930s. “We embrace allsorts of styles in Cajun music,” she said. “We just play what we like.” Influences from touch, independent women are mixed in there as well—the band’s Web site lists this quote attributed to Dolly Parton: “I hope people realize the brain underneath the hair and the heart underneath the boobs.” It’s the band’s first time to play at the Lotus World Music & Arts Festival and its members are excited, Guillory said. So what does a Cajun band wish for when playing live? We’re hoping to get a good dance crowd,” Guillory said with a gust of laughter.

The Life of a Luthier Arnaudville Woman Repairs, Builds Stringed Instruments By Herman Fuselier hfuselier@theadvertiser.com ARNAUDVILLE - It's easy to get a smile or laugh from Anya Schoenegge Burgess. Burgess is happier than a test driver with keys to the Corvette plant or Hugh Hefner with a new supply of blondes. Burgess is a professional musician and luthier, a person who builds and repairs stringed instruments. She gets to make, fix and play her favorite instrument, the violin, all day long. Plus, she gets paid for it. "Every instrument that goes out of here that I've repaired or restored, I play it before it leaves my shop," said Burgess, who also plays fiddle with two Cajun bands, the Magnolia Sisters and Bonsoir Catin. "That way, I can really see if it's up to my standards. "There are always little minor tweaks that I do after I play it, if something doesn't feel quite right. I'll go back and work on the finger board a little bit or take a little bit off the bridge. So I end up practicing or playing the violin throughout the day. "I'm able to keep my chops up throughout the day by test driving other people's instruments." Burgess has made and repaired violins out of her Arnaudville home for the past four years. The floor of her shop is lined with more than a dozen cases containing fiddles and guitars. The rush repair jobs are separated from the long-term restoration projects. "A lot of my customers are performing musicians, traveling musicians and all the Cajun bands," Burgess said. "The classical musicians don't like to go more than a couple of days without their instruments. They have to practice." Burgess has been preparing for the luthier's way of life nearly all her days. A native of Boston, Burgess grew up in a musical family, which included a grandmother who was a piano professor at the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. Burgess became a music rebel in her teens, drifting from her classical roots to the old-time fiddle music of the Appalachian mountains. While traveling in Nova Scotia, Burgess met fiddle-maker Otis Tomas, who opened her eyes and ears to instrument making. "He was the first violin maker I ever met. It just opened my eyes to the possibility that violins are actually made by hand and it's a serious craft." Burgess majored in folklore at Indiana University and discovered the schoolhad a violin-making program. She finished the two-year program and did an apprenticeship with Tomas in Cape Breton. After doing instrument repair near her native Boston, Burgess decided she needed a change in scenery. She was accepted in the Teach for America program, which placed her at Washington Elementary School in St. Landry Parish. Burgess stayed in the area after her two-year commitment and began approaching musicians about repairing instruments locally. The idea turned into her full-time job. "I keep really busy. There's never a dull moment. It rarely slows down. The summer time may slow down just a little bit. But that just give me a chance to catch up on more long-term projects."