#Stanley Dural Jr.

[juliesandothings]

Three from a People magazine feature on Stanley Dural Jr. (Buckwheat Zydeco), December 1987  - photographs by Jack Vartoogian

Top: Dural (Buckwheat) and his horse Sunshine on a farm in Lafayette, La.,

Center: at home with Bernite, cooking up shrimp and fried catfish

Bottom: Dural seen playing with his band at El Sido’s in Lafayette

[danu2203]

Buckwheat Zydeco at the 2007 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO (STANLEY DURAL JR.)

[the-nomadicone]

Hey, Good Lookin’ // Buckwheat Zydeco

[dudewhoabides]

Stanley Dural Jr. - Walkin' to New Orleans

[music-crush]

Buckwheat Zydeco

Happy birthday Stanley Dural Jr, aka Buckwheat Zydeco!

[musicandmotors]

Buckwheat Zydeco – “Finding My Way Back Home” Song written by Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural Jr.

[nycpenpusher]

Song of the Day - In remembrance of the birth of Stanley Joseph Dural Jr. aka Buckwheat Zydeco

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckwheat_Zydeco

Buckwheat Zydeco - “Rock Me Baby”

[nsula]

CHC Director, local family get Creole Heritage Awards

NATCHITOCHES – Loletta Jones Wynder, director of the Creole Heritage Center at Northwestern State University, and members of the Monette family of Natchitoches were honored with the Preservation Awards from the Creole Hall of Fame at the annual event held in Lake Charles on October 20. The award was given to Wynder for her work with the Creole Heritage Center, presenting and documenting Creole culture.

 Also recognized was the late Felix “T-Fra” Monette Jr., who was honored with a Language Award for knowledge and preservation of the Creole dialect in the Cane River community.

 The event was hosted by Sean Ardoin, member of the famous musical Ardoin family. Others honored that night included Alphonse “Bois Sec” Ardoin, Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural, and Deacon John for Music Award; Leah Chase for Culinary Award and Herbert Wiltz for Radio/Language/Education Award.

 Wynder joined the staff of the Northwestern State University Creole Heritage Center (CHC) in 2003 as project coordinator. The duties and responsibilities of that job meant that she was responsible for coordinating conferences, meetings and workshops as well as balancing the budget, handling the mountains of paperwork involved in funding through NSU, the Cane River National Heritage Area, and other granting agencies; in addition, maintaining the records for the memberships, donations, and pledges.  

 Wynder coordinated and presented conferences not only in Natchitoches and the state of Louisiana, but also in Las Vegas, California and Chicago.  During her tenure at CHC, she has produced Creole conferences such as looking at Spanish roots in Creole culture, Creole language, Creole music, and others.   Wynder coordinated the project with Artist Gilbert D. Fletcher to document on canvas his version of the Cane River Creole Legacy through 20 oil paintings.  She even rescued the paintings from the ravages of Katrina in New Orleans, when it was thought that the paintings had been destroyed.  Wynder has done outreach for Creole culture in California, Texas, Illinois, Alabama and Louisiana. She has also connected with the international Creole community through the International Magazine, Kreol.  

 After the retirement of the CHC Director in 2011, Wynder remained on staff as the Project Coordinator working diligently to keep the center going by wearing the hat of the Director as well as that of her own job, Project Coordinator.  In July 2017, her job title was changed to CHC Director – combining the duties and responsibilities of both jobs into one position.  Wynder’s fifteen years of working at the Creole Heritage Center has kept the Center going.   During her tenure, she has worked hard to document and present Creole culture – in all of its diversities. 

 On September 13-15, 2018, about 350 individuals participated in the Creole Heritage Center’s 20th anniversary celebration.  “Struggles and Persistence:  But Still We Rise” was the theme for this magnificent event.  According to Wynder, “It is evident that no “one” person can be credited with the Center’s success; it has definitely been a group effort”.  Wynder concluded, “Despite everything, the Creole Heritage Center is still Alive and Well.”

 The Monette family attended the awards to represent their family patriarch, who grew up in the Creole community in a time when his friends and family commonly spoke a broken dialect of French.  A born story-teller, he loved meeting people and telling jokes.  In his later years, he worked at the Creole Heritage Center on the campus of Northwestern State where he educated many people about Creole Heritage, from small children to scholars, politicians and business executives with jokes thrown in en fracais.

 After his death in 2017, the Monette family established a scholarship at Northwestern State in his memory.  The scholarship benefits a sophomore or junior pursuing a degree in history with a concentration in folklife. Preference is given to a Louisiana native.  

   Creole Hall of Fame:

 Loletta Jones Wynder, Director of the Creole Heritage Center at Northwestern State University, and members of the Monette family of Natchitoches were honored with the Preservation Awards from the Creole Hall of Fame at the annual event held in Lake Charles on October 20. The award was given to Wynder for her work with the Creole Heritage Center, presenting and documenting Creole culture. Monette was recognized with a Language Award for his knowledge of the Creole dialect spoken in the Cane River area. From left are Sir Reginald, son of Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural; Judy Rachal and Christie Rachal, daughter and granddaughter of Felix Monette; Wynder, and Herbert Wiltz.

[mamusiq]

Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural, Jr  -   Zydeco Accordion

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Transcript [MP3]

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Zydeco musician Stanley Dural Jr. has died. He was also known as Buckwheat.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

STANLEY DURAL JR: If you ready, can you say yeah? If you're feeling good, can you say hell yeah? Let's go and zydeco a little bit right here.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIEGEL: Dural brought a type of feel good party music that originated in southwest Louisiana to the rest of the world. NPR's Andrew Limbong has this remembrance.

ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: Stanley Dural Jr. was a persuasive showman. He was the type of guy who would encourage folks to sing along even if they couldn't sing, to dance even if they didn't like dancing. He was also the type of guy who had his own nickname screwed onto his white accordion - Buckwheat, after the character on "Little Rascals."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHAT YOU GONNA DO")

DURAL: (Singing) Now what you going to do, what you...

TED FOX: The thing about Buck is that he had this incredible charisma and charm that was absolutely genuine.

LIMBONG: That's Ted Fox, a friend and manager of Dural's for 30 years. The band Buckwheat Zydeco opened for U2, played at the 1996 Summer Olympics and even a couple presidential inaugurals. But Dural always managed to stay grounded.

FOX: That touched people and is really at the essence of what Stanley Dural Jr. was - just a person who really hadn't changed, even with all of his success, from the little 5-year-old kid who grew up picking cotton in Lafayette.

LIMBONG: Lafayette, La., is where Stanley Dural Jr. was born and raised. His dad played accordion around the house. His mom sang. He said he had seven sisters and six brothers in a two-bedroom house, and he started playing music as a kid.

That part of Louisiana is also where zydeco music was created by black French Creole speakers. It's an accordion-based blend of R&B, blues, rock and these days hip-hop, according to Herman Fuselier, music and entertainment writer for The Lafayette Daily Advertiser and host of the radio show "Zydeco Stomp."

HERMAN FUSELIER: It's a big gumbo of music, and it's - it makes everybody happy. It's hard to sit still and be in a bad mood when you listen to zydeco music.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOT TAMALE BABY")

DURAL: (Singing) It's all right. It's all right.

LIMBONG: Fuselier says Dural showed people beyond Louisiana how much fun zydeco could be.

FUSELIER: He's a role model. Buckwheat showed how popular a zydeco musician could be not only at home but worldwide.

LIMBONG: He did that by touring a lot as he told NPR in 2009.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

DURAL: I get on the road maybe around 10 months out of the year, in and out, you know? I don't know how many dates I do because I mean I don't even think about it. This is what I do, and I love doing what I'm doing. You get out there, you know, see thousands of people and got smile on their faces. That's my reward - somebody's happy.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEY MA PETIT FILLE")

DURAL: (Singing, unintelligible).

LIMBONG: Dural took playing and entertaining very seriously. And after more than 35 years of touring and playing shows, that meant he led the tightest band around, says Ted Fox.

FOX: You can't learn that. You either have it or you don't. And it came from Buck's leadership, and it came from the tremendous talent of all the guys that he had in his band.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL")

DURAL: (Singing) Hey everybody, let's have some fun. You only live once, and when you're dead, you're gone. So let it roll.

LIMBONG: Stanley Buckwheat Dural Jr. died Saturday from lung cancer. He was 68 years old. Andrew Limbong, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL")

DURAL: (Singing) I'm going to have some fun. Come on let the good times roll. Now look here. Don't sit there mumbling...

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Buckwheat Zydeco - Ma 'Tit Fille (1987) Stanley Dural, Jr. (Buckwheat Zydeco) from: "On a Night Like This" LP          "Menagerie: The Essential Zydeco Collection"           (1993 Buckwheat Zydeco Compilation)

Album Personnel: Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural: Vocals / Accordion / Keyboards Kevin Harris: Tenor Saxophone Roger Lewis: Baritone Saxophone Paul Senegal: Guitar Melvin Veazie: Guitar Efrem Townes: Trumpet Gregory Davis: Trumpet Elijah Cudges: Washboard / Cowbell Lee Allen Zeno: Bass Nathaniel Jolivette: Drums

Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Jr. November 14, 1947 - September 24, 2016 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckwheat_Zydeco