Cleoma Breaux Falcon 1905 - 1941
Cleoma Breaux Falcon was born to Mr. & Mrs. Auguste Breaux in 1905 and died in 1941. Her father and her brother, Amedee, were accordion players and she played the guitar. Joe Falcon, a young accordionist frequented the home of Amedee Breaux and would often play the triangle while Amedee played the accordion. Cleoma played the rhythm guitar for Amedee and eventually played rhythm guitar for Joe Falcon in the dancehalls. Soon Cleoma and Joe were married and together they formed a powerful sounding band. People came for miles around to hear Joe and Cleoma’s music. A dancehall was an unlikely place to find a woman with a child to spend her evenings, but Cleoma and Joe would bring their adopted daughter, Lulu, to the dances. She slept in a corner on a quilt.
In 1928, Cleoma Breaux Falcon along with her husband, Joe Falcon, recorded in New Orleans, Louisiana, the first Cajun French song, "Lafayette" (Alons à Lafayette). People marveled at the wonderful sound produced by a man playing an accordion and a woman playing a guitar. The record was a huge success.
Cleoma was known to translate Country and Western songs into French. A few of these songs she and her husband, Joe, recorded are:"Prenez Courage" (Take Courage); "C’est si Triste sans Lui" (It’s So Blue Without Him); "Mes Yeux Bleu" (My Blue Eyes); "Lettres D’amour dans le Sable" (Love Letters in the Sand); "La Valse de Crowley" (The Crowley Waltz); "Lulu’s Back in Town".
Cleoma Breux Falcon has the honor of being the first Cajun lady to be inducted into the Cajun Music Hall of Fame.
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