Opelousas

St. Landry Catholic Church is a Roman Catholic church in Opelousas, Louisiana, dedicated to Saint Landry of Paris . The current church building, in... Romanesque Revival style, was completed in 1909. The church and cemetery were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States, on May 5, 1982. In 1798, the church had been renamed from the original title, "Parish of Immaculate Conception of the Post of Opelousas". In the days of the early 18th century, the area of what is now known as Opelousas was settled by a number of Catholics, many of whom were from Nova Scotia and had no established parish in which to worship. Although there was no official church yet, there was a baptismal ritual which was recorded on May 6, 1756, by Father Pierre Didier, at the home of Jacque Courtableau . The early records of the church, which were saved by Fr. Joseph de Arazena, the fourth pastor of the church of Opelousas from 1785 to 1789, mentions a Capuchin, Fr. Valentin, as the first resident priest in 1765. By 1767, a wooden, cypress church had been built near Bayou Courtableau, and it became the parish church in 1770.
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Rod Bernard is an American singer who helped to pioneer the musical genre known as "swamp pop", which combined New Orleans-style rhythm and blues,... country and western, and Cajun and black Creole music. He is generally considered one of the foremost musicians of this south Louisiana-east Texas idiom, along with such notables as Bobby Charles, Johnnie Allan, Tommy McLain, and Warren Storm. Bernard was born on August 12, 1940, in Opelousas, Louisiana. His parents were French-speaking Cajuns from working-class backgrounds, and as a child he imbibed the traditional Cajun French music performed in his grandfather's dancehall, the Courtableu Inn, located in nearby Port Barre, Louisiana. There he heard the music of noted Cajun musicians Aldus Roger, Papa Cairo, and Jimmy C. Newman, as well as zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier, all of whom would exert a strong influence on Bernard's music. Around age eight Bernard obtained his first guitar and around 1950 he began to perform with the Blue Room Gang, a Cajun-country troupe sponsored by local Red Bird brand sweet potatoes.
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Clifton Chenier , a Creole French-speaking native of Opelousas, Louisiana, was an eminent performer and recording artist of Zydeco, which arose from... Cajun and Creole music, with R&B, jazz, and blues influences. He played the accordion and won a Grammy Award in 1983. He also was recognized with a National Heritage Fellowship, and in 1989 was inducted posthumously into the Blues Hall of Fame. He was known as the 'King of Zydeco'. Chenier began his recording career in 1954, when he signed with Elko Records and released Clifton's Blues, a regional success. His first hit record was soon followed by "Ay 'Tite Fille " . This received some mainstream success. With the Zydeco Ramblers, Chenier toured extensively. He also toured in the early days with Clarence Garlow, billed as the 'Two Crazy Frenchmen'. Chenier was signed with Chess Records in Chicago, followed by the Arhoolie label. In April 1966, Chenier appeared at the Berkeley Blues Festival on the University of California campus and was subsequently described by Ralph J.
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Louisiana ; Louisiana Creole: Léta de la Lwizyàn is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Louisiana is the 31st most extensive and the 25th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties. The largest parish by... population is East Baton Rouge Parish, and the largest by land area is Cameron Parish. Some Louisiana urban environments have a multicultural, multilingual heritage, being so strongly influenced by an admixture of 18th century French, Spanish, Native American and African cultures that they are considered to be somewhat exceptional in the U.S. Before the American influx and statehood at the beginning of the 19th century, the territory of current Louisiana State had been a Spanish and French colony.
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