Everyone knows about New Orleans Jazz Fest, which this year returns to a seven-day schedule over two long weekends. Locals and festival insiders know there is another great Louisiana festival 110 miles away in Lafayette that overlaps the first weekend of Jazzfest.
Festival International de Louisiane (FIL) has been running for 22 years, celebrating the region's rich cultural heritage, which drew from French speaking cultures around the world. The festival presents music representing diverse cultural influences--French, African, Caribbean, Canadian, Hispanic and more.
This year's schedule includes almost 200 performances of music, dance, theater and cinema at multiple venues around downtown Lafayette. Musical headliners include Blind Boys of Alabama with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band Horns, Burning Spear, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Babylon Circus, Habib Koïte, and The Duhks.
Torn about attending FIL when Jazzfest is also on? Put together your own multi-festival package, with a few days of each. If you are coming for true Louisiana Francophone culture, you'll have a more authentic experience in Lafayette than at the Race Course Fair Grounds.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Festival International de Louisiane gets ready
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