Le Bon Bande
About Le Bon Bande
Playing the most traditional Cajun music around Portland, Oregon. It ain't what you expecting, but you gonna love it!
We come as a duo or trio - accordion, fiddle and sometimes guitar. We play and sing old French songs about love, loss, death, drinking and dancing. This rootsy heartfelt music from the Cajun Prairie is so upbeat and danceable. And a little country. A fantastic celebration of another way of living.
People expect:
I hear you play Cajun music, that's Zydeco right?
That's not an accordion, what do you call it?
I hear you're going to Louisiana, is that New Orleans?
That's not real French, right?
About the musicians
Paul Rathje has been playing single-row, 10-button accordion, singing high and lonesome in Cajun French, and loving this music for 25 years. He drives the traditional, country dance feel of this music.
Robert Lee also brings decades of experience, currently also playing with Cajun/Zydeco band Too Loose. His fiddle playing contrasts sweetly with the accordion, sometimes by grinding chords country style, sometimes with a more sophisticated bluesy touch.
Hear our music
Get In Touch with Paul Rathje's Le Bon Bande
For bookings, inquiries, collabs, or cause you got a great accordion joke we didn't already hear.