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In honor of the elusive Ivory Billed Woodpecker, currently evading extinction here in Louisiana, this red and black marble pressing brings awareness to the movement to keep the majestic birds' habitat protected.
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Le Cas de Marguerite is a historical ballad about Marguerite, a slave born in Africa in the 1720s, who ended up having to be freed three times, resulting in the infamous 240 year old Louisiana court case, the "Margarita" Case. Marguerite arrived in Mobile, Alabama in 1729 abord the Venus, via Goree Island off the coast of Senegal. She was sold in Mobile, purchased as the caretaker for a French Creole family, and ended up marrying her master, Joseph, who’s died wife died after giving birth to 4 children. Joseph freed Marguerite in 1770, and the two moved away to Opelousas with their first-born daughter, Catiche. But in 1773 Joseph’s children from his first marriage decided to re-enslave Marguerite, as well as her and Joseph’s children (their half-siblings) as inheritance after their mother’s death.
Joseph eventually stole Marguerite back from his children, having to hold a knife to his own son’s throat to take her back. After Joseph passed away, his children with Marguerite were enslaved again, but their mother, who had already been enslaved and freed multiple times at this point, petitioned to the high court in Spanish Louisiana, at the Cabildo, and the case made it to the highest court in Havana. Marguerite was awarded a document of emancipation for her and her children from her late husband, but not before having to pay the coartación, part of the Spanish law allowing slaves to purchase their freedom.
(as detailed in the act dated at New Orleans, April 5, 1783):
Marguerite and her four mulatto children were ordered to pay the Guillory heirs 600 pesos, in conformity to and under the following conditions: 150 pesos which has to be counted as diminished by the personal labors of her son, Juan Bautista, during two years and two months that he must remain in the service of Juan B. Guillory, and 150 pesos that she has to pay in cash, 50 pesos more to be paid within three months, and the remaining 250 pesos within two years counted from this day. As soon as the amount shall be paid, the Guillory heirs agree to give Maria, Joseph, Juan Bautista, and Catalina their freedom.
The bass line for this song came from a dream in the summer of 2021, and the drum loop of Les Freres Chaouki is from a cassette recording made by my father, Tommy Michot, in France where he and Les Freres Michot were sharing a bill as part of the Festival in Limoges in 1989. Once I had the lyrics, bass line, and drum sample all together, and made an arrangement, I dreamed of having Bombino’s guitar on the track, and later found out he was coming to perform at Festival International here in Louisiana, and arranged for him to record on the track.
lyrics
Le cas de Marguerite
C’est le cas de Marguerite
Née dans l’esclavage
Embarquer à l’isle Gorée
Soixante nuits sur l’Atlantique
À l’arrivée à Biloxi
Sur le Venusa
Esclave du roi de la France
Jusqu’à dix-sept soixante-trois
Marguerite était achetée
Pour soigner les enfants
Mais quand la mère est morte
Elle est devenue la femme
Joseph et Marguerite
S’enfuient aux Opelousas
Avec leur petit Catich
Commencer une nouvelle vie
Mais leur ménage était condamné
Par le Code Noir et la Loi
Quand même Jospeh avait libéré
Sa femme Marguerite et ses enfants
Dix ans plus tard, les enfants blancs
Repris leur héritence
Remis Marguerite et ses enfants
Dans l’esclavage pour quatre ans
Le vieux Joseph les a revoler
De ses enfants blancs à la pointe du couteau
Il a regagné sa femme et enfants
Pour la balance de ses jours
Avant le jour de sa mort
Joseph libérait Marguerite, encore
Mais les enfants blancs disait au Commandant
Que cette famille fallait travailler pour toujours
Le Commandant a transféré la petition
À la Nouvelle-Orléans
Dans la haute cour, le Cabildo
Les défendants: Marguerite et ses enfants
Juré qu’ils étaient libérés
Déjà deux fois avant
Mais les enfants blancs contestaient
Que les documents n’etaient pas bon
Le cas de Marguerite
Était transféré à la Havane, Cuba
Mais ses enfants étaient déjà endettés
À esclaver pour les enfants blancs
Mais Marguerite, asteur une négresse libre
Poursuivie la liberté
Pour ses enfants, en donnant
Les documents d’émancipation
La haute cour commandait
Les enfants blancs de donner leur liberté
Dont pour la troisième fois
Mais pas avant de payer la coartacion
600 piastres aux enfants blancs
Dans les conditions suivantes:
150 piastres comptées et
Amoindrir par l’ouvrage pendant
son fils Jean Baptiste
pour deux ans et deux de mois
qu’il doit rester en service
A traivailler pour les enfants blanc
50 piastres dans les trois mois suivant
Un autre 150 piastres en argent
La balance de 250 piastres payée
Dans les prochains deux ans
Aussitôt que le montant était payé
Les héritiers ont convenu de donner
A Marguerite, Catiche, Joseph, et Jean-Baptiste
Leur Liberté
ENGLISH
‘The Case of Margeurite’
Born into slavery
Boarded on the Isle of Gore
60 nights on the Atlantic
Arrived in Biloxi
Aboard the Venusa
Slave for the King of France
Until 1763
Marguerite was bought
To take care of their children
But when the wife died
Marguerite became the wife
Joseph and Marguerite
Left to Opelousas
With their young Catich
To start a new life
But their union was condemned
By the Code Noir and the Law
Even though Joseph had freed
His wife Marguerite and their children
10 years later, the white children
Claimed their inheritance
And put Marguerite and her children
Back into slavery, for four more years
The old Jospeh revolted
Against his white children, at knife point
He rescued his wife and their children
But only for the rest of his days
Before he passed away
Joseph freed Marguerite…again
But the white children told the Commandant
That their father’s colored family are still slaves
The Commandant transferred the petition
To New Orleans
To the High Court, The Cabildo
The defendants: Marguerite and her children
They attested to their gaining freedom
Twice already
But the white children contested
That the documents were no good
‘The Marguerite Case”
Was again transferred, to Havana, Cuba
The her children were now already indebted
As slaves to the white children
But Marguerite, now a free woman of color
Persisted in working for freedom
For her children, getting them
Their Emancipation Documents
The High Court in Havana ruled
That the white children must free them
So now, for the third time, they are free
But not without paying; the Coartacion
600 dollars to the white children
Under the following conditions:
150 dollars accounted and lessened
against work while her son;
Jean Baptiste
For 2 years and 2 months
He must stay
And work for the white children
50 dollars in the next 3 months
another 150 dollars in cash
and the balance of 250 dollars payed
Within the next 2 years
As soon as the amount was paid
The inheritents were required to grant
Marguerite, Catiche, Joseph, and Jean Baptiste
Their Freedom
credits
from Rêve du Troubadour,
released September 22, 2023
Music and lyrics by Louis Michot
Louis Michot – vocals, electric guitar, bass-six, electric bass, fiddle
Bombino – electric guitar
Leyla McCalla – backing vocals
Stephan “Stagef” Augagneur – acoustic guitar, monochord electric guitar
Co-Produced bv Stéphane “Staguef” Augagneur
Engineered by Kirkland Middleton.
Additional Engineering by Mark Bingham, Louis Michot
Thanks to the research of Gregory J. De Cuir mafamilleguillorydecuir.com
Louis Michot, most recognized as fiddle player and lead singer for Grammy award winning Lost Bayou Ramblers, channels his
passion for local folklore, sustainability, Louisiana’s rapidly eroding coastline into a new solo creative expression, Rêve du Troubadour.
Rêve du Troubadour is an epic feast of Francophone songwriting, specific to Louisiana, inspired by one man’s wild, fantastical dreams....more
supported by 28 fans who also own “Le Cas de Marguerite feat. Bombino, Leyla McCalla”
The is the real electric hoodoo here. I am of the belief that you can't make make this music proper unless you're raised up in all the tradition. This is all the way right! veenstar
The 4 tracks (and 2 remixes) on this EP reflect the host of global sounds David Walters has spent a lifetime absorbing, set to brisk beats. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 7, 2022
