Maurice Barzas was born in Mamou in 1909. By age 12, he was playing the harmonica, but soon became interested in the accordion after hearing a uncle who played the instrument. After six months of practice on it, he was performing in public and was soon performing at dance halls.
He stopped playing in the late 1930's and early 1940's as the musical styles shifted to string band. With the accordion out of style during this time, Maurice went back to farming. It wouldn't be till after World War II when the Balfa Brothers approached him to pick back up the instrument to play in a band with them.
They soon joined together with Elise Deshotel's band. They recorded six songs for the Khoury's label, on which Maurice played accordion in the group. Also recording in the group was Atlas Fruge. These six songs recorded in 1951 would be the groups only output. During the next couple of years the Khoury's label faded and so did the interest of recording Cajun French music.
Maurice didn't like to travel, so he stayed close to the Mamou-Eunice-Ville Platte area. He started his own band and called them the Mamou Playboys. The group played at Snook's in Ville Platte every Saturday night; a gig they held for thirty-five years.
In 1962, Maurice and his band, which included his son on drums, entered Floyd's studio in Ville Platte and recorded "Mamou Hot Step". On the recording with the Barzas' was Lee Manuel on fiddle and Allen West on guitar. The song was a instant classic and has been covered many times.
The group made one more record in 1963 and didn't record again. Over the years, live recordings from the group's shows at Snook's have been released.
Session info:
MAURICE BARZAS AND MAMOU PLAYBOYS
Acdn, Vorrance Barzas (v/d), poss. Lee Manuel (fdl) and Allen West (g), st-g
Swallow Studio, Ville Platte LA: 1962 S 6358 Mamou hot step (instrumental) Swallow 130
Resources:
Many thanks to the help of Wade Falcon for all the info and photos for this article.
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