Savoy, Marc (1st October 1940-Present)

He is an Acadian accordionist, singer and author born near Eunice, Louisiana, and brought up on his parents’ rice farm.

He got an accordion when he was twelve years old and when he was fifteen he began gaining an interest in the workings of it when he needed to make a repair. This led to him being asked to do repairs for other local accordionists too. After having been shown an accordion that had been built when he was seventeen he decided to have a shot at doing it himself. This idea didn’t materialise straight away and indeed he would be 20 years old before he took the plunge and built one for himself. Unhappy with that one, he burned it fairly soon after, but his next attempts would accompany him when he was giving performances at local dances and also when he made his first recordings.

He was asked to build one for someone else and soon he had began his own business in building accordions, which led to him establishing his Savoy Music Center in 1966. Performing with many artists during the course of his career, he has been heard with Dewey Balfa, Jimmy Buffett, The Chieftains, D.L. Menard and Mike Seeger among others.

He was also a co-founder of the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band with Michael Doucet in the mid-1970s and has since recorded several albums with them.

As an author he has written several works including Accordions of Louisiana, History of the Acadian Accordion and Ponderings of a Reincarnated Neanderthal.

Nowadays he can be heard giving jam sessions at the Savoy Music Center, playing at various music festivals on a national and international level, performing with the Savoy Doucet Band and with two of his sons and his wife in the family’s Savoy Family Band. He has also been seen on television in the series American Roots. Recognised for his contribution to Cajun music he was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship in 1982.

Sources:

Savoy, Marc (1st October 1940-Present)

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