Creole music legend, Goldman Thibodeaux passes away

ST. LANDRY PARISH, La. (KLFY) – Creole music legend Mr. Goldman Thibodeaux has passed away. He was 92.

According to St. Landry Parish Tourism, Goldman’s life was marked with the preservation of traditional Creole LaLa music, a rural, house-dance style from the communities around Lewisburg, Lawtell, Mallet and Prairie Ronde. While this style of music is the precursor to zydeco as it is today, LaLa has its own distinct sound. Goldman Thibodeaux and the Lawtell Playboys would keep this traditional music alive with a lifetime of performances.

Mr. Thibodeaux held many awards and recognitions for his dedication to Creole music and language. In 2014, Mr. Thibodeaux received the Folklife Heritage Award as a tradition bearer. In 2019, he was inducted into the Acadian Museum’s Living Legends program where former Poet Laureate Darrell Bourque described him as someone with a, “fearless acceptance of who he is and what he represents in Louisiana culture and the culture of the nation-at-large.”

Funeral proceedings will take place at 11 a.m. this Saturday, February 22 at St. Ann’s Church in Mallet.