Cajun music is coming to the Middle East, thanks to a two-time Grammy nominated band from Louisiana that never thought they'd travel this far from home. On Tuesday night, the five-member Pine Leaf Boys group opened the first leg of a Mideast tour with a performance in the garden of the US ambassador's residence in Riyadh, entertaining a Saudi and expatriate audience with a medley of Cajun songs that brought a few people to their feet. “I loved it,” Ayman Al-Afraj, a 26-year-old Arabic language Saudi teacher said following the first Cajun concert he's attended. “It's important to have such cultural events because they allow us to get to know one another.” The band members said the trip was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to introduce real Cajun music to the Middle East. Drew Simon, 25, was supposed to get married a day before leaving, but he and his fiancee decided to push the wedding back so he could travel with the group. “When I first heard about it, I thought it was a joke,” said Simon. “Who would ever think Cajun music would be played in the Middle East?” “At first, I was definitely scared to come,” he added. “You see all the violence on TV, and we have no one to ask. This is totally different than our normal life.” Courtney Granger, 26, said he still is trying “to wrap my brain around” being in the region. “I was looking out the window of my hotel today and wondering if it was a dream,? he said. Bandmember Wilson Savoy said Saudi Arabia is the farthest the band has been, and its members were “surprised that people were dancing, clapping and coming over later to talk.” After Saudi Arabia, the Pine Leaf Boys will perform in the United Arab Emirates, Jerusalem and the West Bank.
