Alphonse “Bois Sec” Ardoin was born on November 16, 1915, at l'Anse de Prien Noir (Black Cyprian's Cove) near Bayou Duralde, Louisiana.
Alphonse “Bois Sec” Ardoin was born on November 16, 1915, at l'Anse de Prien Noir (Black Cyprian's Cove) near Bayou Duralde, Louisiana. He began playing music (on the triangle) with Amédé when he was a teenager. He acquired the nickname “Bois Sec” meaning “Dry Wood” because it was said, as a child, he was always the first person working in the fields to seek shelter during a rainstorm. Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin was a crucial link to the musique Creole traditions of a bygone era -- his music kept alive the Creole "la la" music which developed in the African-American communities of his native southwestern Louisiana, and which was a clear antecedent of the contemporary zydeco sound.