Hadley Castille Memorial Highway: Savior of the Cajun Culture

Hadley lived to do one thing, Fiddle. Depending on the source he learned to play between 9 and his early teens from his uncle Cyprien Castille, a locally known fiddler in his own right at the time.Inspired by other performers of the time to modernize his music into a contemporary cajun style adding his own touch to an already heavily established and traditional style.As a native cajun french speaker he experienced the state's crackdown on french speaking in schools directly and went on to reference that in his most known song “200 lines: I must not speak french”. Outwardly speaking against the destruction of his culture and if you don’t speak cajun french be prepared to open translate and hope it can catch it as he has small dialogues between songs telling stories of his past and the struggles his community went through. He formed numerous bands, first The Cajun Grass band  This band was not really able to take off past their local cajun environment performing at weddings and other events in local cajun communities until they came together and recorded an album securing a future for cajun music and the next generation of musicians as this was one of the first cajun albums recorded. The group made a big effort to gear their music for the younger generation as swing music became more popular over time hoping to keep their craft and their passion alive through the youths of the cajun community. The group he is most known for being a part of in his older years and associated with is Hadley Castille and The Sharecroppers, a band featuring himself and his son Blake frontlining with other people rotating in and out of the roster as need and time usually dictates. With this band he released multiple albums including one entitled “Quarante Acres et Deux Mulés” which in English means 40 Acres and 2 mules. This being from what I can find a statement of his status as a citizen back when he was growing up as a sharecropper's son. This profession being primarily known as a job for african americans at least it was deemed to be in the early 1900s. The historical view of 40 acres and a mule was a promise made by the union following emancipation that was never followed through on leaving them destitute; the point Hadley was making was that similar to emancipation the government did nothing to stop French persecution in their country. Hadley spent plenty of time working in french immersion schools whether just performing or teaching a lesson or 2 to the kids he was always coming out to show support for the people bringing back his culture from the dead. In his later years his granddaughter Sarah Jayde was made a part of The Sharecroppers and upon his passing the band and the fiddle passed down to Sarah Jayde making them Sarah Jayde and The Sharecroppers. Hadley did so much for this culture and I feel the need for nothing more than recognition of his name.