Zydeco
Encyclopedia
Zydeco is a form of uniquely American roots or folk music
. It evolved in southwest Louisiana
in the early 19th century from forms of "la la" Creole music
. The rural Creoles of southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas still sing in Louisiana Creole French
.
Zydeco combines elements of an even older American musical style which began in the late 1700s: Cajun music, which comprises French fiddle tunes, Irish Celtic fiddle tunes, German button accordion, Latin rhythms, and Appalachian styles.
Zydeco music was born in the late 1860s as a blend of Cajun music and two other "new" American music styles: blues
and rhythm and blues
.
Haitian rhythms were also added, as Haitian natives moved to Louisiana to help harvest the new cash crop - sugarcane.
Zydeco (French, from the phrase: "Les haricots ne sont pas salés", means "the snap beans aren't salty". This phrase is a colloquial expression that means 'I have no spicy news for you.' It has alternatively been referred to as meaning "I'm so poor, I can't afford any salt meat for the beans." When spoken in the regional French, it is spoken thus: "leh-zy-dee-co sohn pah salay...")
The first zydeco song was called "Les Zydeco es Pas Salee".
Zydeco music pioneer Clifton Chenier, "The King of Zydeco", made Zydeco popular on regional radio stations with his bluesy style and keyboard accordion.
Usually fast tempo and dominated by the button or piano accordion
and a form of a washboard
known as a "rub-board," "scrub-board," "wash-board," or frottoir, zydeco music was originally created at house dances, where families and friends gathered for socializing.
Creoles do not consider themselves part of the black culture, but rather a mixture of Haitian, Native American, French, and Spanish known as "Quadronne" or "four-way".
The original French settlers came to Louisiana in the late 1700s, sent by the King of Spain to help settle the Louisiana Territory.
Arriving in New Orleans on seven ships, the settlers quickly moved into the bayous and swamps. There the French culture permeated those of the Irish, Spanish, Native Indian and German peoples already populating the area.
Sometimes the music was performed in the Catholic Church community centers, as Creoles were mostly Catholic. Later it moved to rural dance halls and nightclubs. As a result, the music integrated waltz
, shuffles, two-steps
, blues
, rock and roll
, and other dance music forms of the era. Today, zydeco integrates genres such as R&B
, soul
, brass band
, reggae
, hip hop
, ska
, rock
, Afro-Caribbean
and other styles, in addition to the traditional forms.
enjoyed an insular lifestyle, prospering, educating themselves without the government and building their invisible communities under the Code Noir
. The French created the Code Noir in 1724 to establish rules for treatment of slaves, as well as restrictions and rights for gens de couleur libres, a growing class of free people of color. They had the right to own land, something few blacks in the American South had at that time.
The disruption of the Louisiana Creole community began when the United States made the Louisiana Purchase and Americans started settling in the state. The new settlers typically recognized only the system of race that prevailed where they came from. When the American Civil War
ended and the black slaves were freed, Louisiana Creoles often assumed positions of leadership. However, segregationist Democrats in Louisiana classified Creoles with freedmen and by the end of the 19th century had disfranchised most blacks and many poor whites under rules designed to suppress black voting (though federal law said all black men had the vote from 1870, women from 1920). Creoles continued to press for education and advancement while negotiating the new society.
Zydeco's rural beginnings and the prevailing economic conditions at its inception are reflected in the song titles, lyrics, and bluesy vocals. The music arose as a synthesis of traditional Creole music
, some Cajun music
influences, and African-American traditions, including R&B
, blues
, jazz
, and gospel
. It was also often just called French music or le musique Creole known as "la-la." Amédé Ardoin
made the first recordings of Creole music in 1928. This Creole music served as a foundation for what later became known as zydeco.
During World War II
with the Great Migration
, many French-speaking Créoles and African Americans from the area around New Iberia, and Opelousas, Louisiana
left a poor and prejudiced state for better economic opportunities in Texas. Even more southern blacks migrated to California, where buildup of defense industries provided good jobs without the restrictions of the segregated South. In California blacks from Louisiana could vote and began to participate in political life. Today, there are many Cajun and Zydeco festivals throughout the US.
brought zydeco to the fringes of the American mainstream. He signed with Specialty Records
, the same label that first recorded Little Richard
and Sam Cooke
for wide audiences. Chenier, considered the architect of contemporary zydeco, became the music's first major star, with early hits like "Les Haricots Sont Pas Salés" (The Snap Beans Ain't Salty — a reference to the singer being too poor to afford salt pork to season the beans).
The term "zydeco" means snap bean in Creole, derived from les haricots in (French
for the beans), and thus the name for the music was born. However, this was not the first zydeco song: in 1954, Boozoo Chavis
, another popular zydeco artist, had recorded "Paper in My Shoe." This is considered to be the first modern zydeco recording, though the term "zydeco" was not in use yet (see 1954 in music
).
In the mid-1980s, Rockin' Sidney
brought international attention to zydeco music with his hit tune "My Toot Toot." Clifton Chenier, Rockin' Sidney and Queen Ida
, all garnered Grammy awards during this pivotal period, opening the door to the emerging artists who would continue the traditions. Ida is the only living Grammy award winner in the genre. Rockin' Dopsie
recorded with Paul Simon
and also signed a major label deal during this time.
John Delafose was wildly popular regionally. The music took a major turn because emerging bands burst onto the national scene to fuse a new exuberance, new sounds and styles with the music. Boozoo Chavis
, John Delafose, Roy Carrier
, Zydeco Force
, Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas, the Sam Brother, Terrance Simien
, Chubby Carrier
, and many others were breathing new life into the music. Zydeco superstar Buckwheat Zydeco
was already well into his career, and also signed his deal with major label Island Records
in the mid 1980s. Combined with the national popularity of Creole and Cajun food, and the feature film The Big Easy set in New Orleans, zydeco music had a revival. New artists were cultivated and the music took a more innovative direction for increased mainstream popularity.
Young zydeco musicians such as C. J. Chenier
http://www.cjcheniermusic.com, Chubby Carrier, Geno Delafose
, Terrance Simien, Nathan Williams and others began touring internationally during the 1980s. Beau Jocque
was a monumental songwriter and innovator who infused zydeco with powerful beats and bass lines in the 90s, adding striking production and elements of funk, hip-hop and rap. Young performers like Chris Ardoin
, Keith Frank
, and Zydeco Force added further by tying the sound to the bass drum rhythm to accentuate or syncopate
the backbeat even more. This style is sometimes called "double clutching."
Hundreds of zydeco bands continue the music traditions across the U.S. and in Europe, Japan, the UK and Australia. Many play at restaurants and clubs like Rosey Baby's. A prodigious 9-year-old zydeco accordionist, Guyland Leday, was featured in an HBO documentary about music and young people.
In 2007, zydeco achieved a separate category in the Grammy awards, the Grammy Award for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album
category.
More recent zydeco artists include Lil’ Nate, Leon Chavis, and Kenne’ Wayne. Wayne has fused zydeco with up tempo southern soul and smooth ballads to create a sound which he calls "zydesoul".
While zydeco is a genre that has become synonymous with the cultural and musical identity of Louisiana and an important part of the musical landscape of the United States, this southern black music tradition has also now achieved much wider appreciation. Because of the migration of the French-speaking blacks and multiracial Creoles, the mixing of Cajun and Creole musicians, and the warm embrace of people from outside these cultures, there are multiple hotbeds of zydeco: Louisiana, Texas, Oregon and California, and Europe as far north as Scandinavia. There are zydeco festivals throughout America and Europe. Zydeco music is performed at festivals, schools, performing art centers and large corporate events. It is performed for presidents and celebrities, heard on cinema soundtracks and used to advertise everything from autos to toothpaste to antacids, pharmaceuticals and candy bars. Rolling Stone, The Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine among many others have featured it. It is played on radio stations around the world and on Internet radio.
(rubboard) was designed by Clifton Chenier
, the "King of Zydeco," in 1946 while he and his brother, Cleveland, were working at an oil refinery in Port Arthur, TX
. The first zydeco rubboard made to Chenier's design was made at Chenier's request by their fellow Louisianan, Willie Landry, a master welder-fabricator, who was also working at the refinery. The zydeco rubboard, designed specifically for the genre solely as a percussion instrument, is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution
.
Other instruments common in zydeco include the old world accordion which is found in folk and roots music globally, guitar
, bass guitar
, drums
, Cajun fiddle
, horns and keyboards.
, but certain Zydeco tracks such as "Les Haricots Sont Pas Salés" are clearly recognizable. The theme of the game, with its new lots and music, is considered Cajun
or Zydeco. One could compare it to New Orleans' French Quarter
with voodoo
shops and jazz
musicians appearing on commercial lots. This theme returns in The Sims 2: Apartment Life
and The Sims Castaway Stories
. It can also be heard in The Sims 3
on one of the cooking television shows.
Country music legend George Strait's 2009 album Twang includes a song called "Hot Grease and Zydeco".
Zydeco music is also a central theme in the German award-winning film Schultze Gets the Blues
about a retired polka
-playing miner living in rural eastern Germany, who, after hearing Zydeco music on the radio, without knowing a word of English, embarks on a tragi-comical odyssey to Louisiana.
Zydeco music is featured in the pop song "Cupid Shuffle".
Paul Simon's 1987 album Graceland features a track called "That was Your Mother" that references Zydeco and Clifton Chenier, the "King of the Bayou".
"Zydeco" is the title of a song by Lil Boosie
on his 2010 mixtape, 225/504. It features a contemporary Zydeco rhythm and beat throughout.
Weird Al Yankovic made a style parody of this genre with his song "My Baby's in Love with Eddie Vedder".
In the TV show Gilmore Girls
Lorelai auditions a Zydeco band for her wedding to Luke in the episode "A Vineyard Valentine".
Traditional music
Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
. It evolved in southwest Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
in the early 19th century from forms of "la la" Creole music
Creole music
Creole music applies to two genres of music from south Louisiana: Creole folk and Creole. Creole folk dates from the 18th century or before, and it consists primarily of folk songs. Many were published, and some found their way into works by Louisiana composers such as Louis Moreau Gottschalk,...
. The rural Creoles of southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas still sing in Louisiana Creole French
Louisiana Creole French
Louisiana Creole is a French Creole language spoken by the Louisiana Creole people of the state of Louisiana. The language consists of elements of French, Spanish, African, and Native American roots.-Geography:...
.
Zydeco combines elements of an even older American musical style which began in the late 1700s: Cajun music, which comprises French fiddle tunes, Irish Celtic fiddle tunes, German button accordion, Latin rhythms, and Appalachian styles.
Zydeco music was born in the late 1860s as a blend of Cajun music and two other "new" American music styles: blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
.
Haitian rhythms were also added, as Haitian natives moved to Louisiana to help harvest the new cash crop - sugarcane.
Zydeco (French, from the phrase: "Les haricots ne sont pas salés", means "the snap beans aren't salty". This phrase is a colloquial expression that means 'I have no spicy news for you.' It has alternatively been referred to as meaning "I'm so poor, I can't afford any salt meat for the beans." When spoken in the regional French, it is spoken thus: "leh-zy-dee-co sohn pah salay...")
The first zydeco song was called "Les Zydeco es Pas Salee".
Zydeco music pioneer Clifton Chenier, "The King of Zydeco", made Zydeco popular on regional radio stations with his bluesy style and keyboard accordion.
Usually fast tempo and dominated by the button or piano accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
and a form of a washboard
Washboard
A washboard is a tool designed for hand washing clothing. With mechanized cleaning of clothing becoming more common by the end of the 20th century, the washboard has become better known for its originally subsidiary use as a musical instrument....
known as a "rub-board," "scrub-board," "wash-board," or frottoir, zydeco music was originally created at house dances, where families and friends gathered for socializing.
Creoles do not consider themselves part of the black culture, but rather a mixture of Haitian, Native American, French, and Spanish known as "Quadronne" or "four-way".
The original French settlers came to Louisiana in the late 1700s, sent by the King of Spain to help settle the Louisiana Territory.
Arriving in New Orleans on seven ships, the settlers quickly moved into the bayous and swamps. There the French culture permeated those of the Irish, Spanish, Native Indian and German peoples already populating the area.
Sometimes the music was performed in the Catholic Church community centers, as Creoles were mostly Catholic. Later it moved to rural dance halls and nightclubs. As a result, the music integrated waltz
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
, shuffles, two-steps
Two-step (dance move)
The two-step is a step found in many folk dances, and in various other dances. It seems to take its name from the 19th century dance related to the Polka....
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, and other dance music forms of the era. Today, zydeco integrates genres such as R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, brass band
Brass band
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...
, reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, Afro-Caribbean
Afro-Caribbean music
Afro-Caribbean music is a broad term for music styles originated in the Caribbean area, most notably music of Cuba, music of Puerto Rico, music of Haiti, music of Jamaica, music of The Bahamas, music of Belize, music of the Dominican Republic, music of Trinidad and Tobago, music of Venezuela, music...
and other styles, in addition to the traditional forms.
Early history
For 150 years, Louisiana CreolesLouisiana Creole people
Louisiana Creole people refers to those who are descended from the colonial settlers in Louisiana, especially those of French and Spanish descent. The term was first used during colonial times by the settlers to refer to those who were born in the colony, as opposed to those born in the Old World...
enjoyed an insular lifestyle, prospering, educating themselves without the government and building their invisible communities under the Code Noir
Code Noir
The Code noir was a decree originally passed by France's King Louis XIV in 1685. The Code Noir defined the conditions of slavery in the French colonial empire, restricted the activities of free Negroes, forbade the exercise of any religion other than Roman Catholicism , and ordered...
. The French created the Code Noir in 1724 to establish rules for treatment of slaves, as well as restrictions and rights for gens de couleur libres, a growing class of free people of color. They had the right to own land, something few blacks in the American South had at that time.
The disruption of the Louisiana Creole community began when the United States made the Louisiana Purchase and Americans started settling in the state. The new settlers typically recognized only the system of race that prevailed where they came from. When the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
ended and the black slaves were freed, Louisiana Creoles often assumed positions of leadership. However, segregationist Democrats in Louisiana classified Creoles with freedmen and by the end of the 19th century had disfranchised most blacks and many poor whites under rules designed to suppress black voting (though federal law said all black men had the vote from 1870, women from 1920). Creoles continued to press for education and advancement while negotiating the new society.
Zydeco's rural beginnings and the prevailing economic conditions at its inception are reflected in the song titles, lyrics, and bluesy vocals. The music arose as a synthesis of traditional Creole music
Creole music
Creole music applies to two genres of music from south Louisiana: Creole folk and Creole. Creole folk dates from the 18th century or before, and it consists primarily of folk songs. Many were published, and some found their way into works by Louisiana composers such as Louis Moreau Gottschalk,...
, some Cajun music
Cajun music
Cajun music, an emblematic music of Louisiana, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based, Cajun-influenced zydeco form, both of Acadiana origin...
influences, and African-American traditions, including R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, and gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
. It was also often just called French music or le musique Creole known as "la-la." Amédé Ardoin
Amédé Ardoin
Amédé Ardoin was an American Louisiana Creole musician, known for his high singing voice and virtuosity on the Creole/Cajun Accordion...
made the first recordings of Creole music in 1928. This Creole music served as a foundation for what later became known as zydeco.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
with the Great Migration
Second Great Migration (African American)
The Second Great Migration was the migration of more than 5 million African Americans from the South to the North, Midwest and West. It took place from 1941, through World War II, and lasted until 1970. It was much larger and of a different character than the first Great Migration...
, many French-speaking Créoles and African Americans from the area around New Iberia, and Opelousas, Louisiana
Opelousas, Louisiana
Opelousas is a city in and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies at the junction of Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190. The population was 22,860 at the 2000 census. Although the 2006 population estimate was 23,222, a 2004 annexation should put the city's...
left a poor and prejudiced state for better economic opportunities in Texas. Even more southern blacks migrated to California, where buildup of defense industries provided good jobs without the restrictions of the segregated South. In California blacks from Louisiana could vote and began to participate in political life. Today, there are many Cajun and Zydeco festivals throughout the US.
Post-war history
In the mid-1950s, the popularity of Clifton ChenierClifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier , a Creole French-speaking native of Opelousas, Louisiana, was an eminent performer and recording artist of Zydeco, which arose from Cajun and Creole music, with R&B, jazz, and blues influences. He played the accordion and won a Grammy Award in 1983...
brought zydeco to the fringes of the American mainstream. He signed with Specialty Records
Specialty Records
Specialty Records was an American record label based in Los Angeles. It was originally launched as Juke Box Records in 1946, but later renamed by its owner Art Rupe when he parted company with a couple of his original partners...
, the same label that first recorded Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
and Sam Cooke
Sam Cooke
Samuel Cook, , better known under the stage name Sam Cooke, was an American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music. He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocal abilities and...
for wide audiences. Chenier, considered the architect of contemporary zydeco, became the music's first major star, with early hits like "Les Haricots Sont Pas Salés" (The Snap Beans Ain't Salty — a reference to the singer being too poor to afford salt pork to season the beans).
The term "zydeco" means snap bean in Creole, derived from les haricots in (French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
for the beans), and thus the name for the music was born. However, this was not the first zydeco song: in 1954, Boozoo Chavis
Boozoo Chavis
Wilson Anthony "Boozoo" Chavis was a zydeco musician - music created by French speaking Creoles of South-West Louisiana. He was active from 1954 until his death during which time he largely sang and played the accordion. Chavis was also a prolific writer of zydeco songs...
, another popular zydeco artist, had recorded "Paper in My Shoe." This is considered to be the first modern zydeco recording, though the term "zydeco" was not in use yet (see 1954 in music
1954 in music
-Events:*January 14 - First documented use of the abbreviated term "Rock 'n' Roll" to promote Alan Freed's Rock 'n' Roll Jubillee, held at St. Nicholas Arena in New York, New York...
).
In the mid-1980s, Rockin' Sidney
Rockin' Sidney
Sidney Simien aka Rockin' Sidney and Count Rockin' Sidney, was an American R&B, zydeco, and soul musician who began recording in the late 1950s and continued performing until his death.-Biography:...
brought international attention to zydeco music with his hit tune "My Toot Toot." Clifton Chenier, Rockin' Sidney and Queen Ida
Queen Ida
Ida Lewis "Queen Ida" Guillory is an Louisiana Creole accordionist. She was the first female accordion player to lead a zydeco band...
, all garnered Grammy awards during this pivotal period, opening the door to the emerging artists who would continue the traditions. Ida is the only living Grammy award winner in the genre. Rockin' Dopsie
Rockin' Dopsie
Rockin' Dopsie was born Alton Rubin in Carencro, Louisiana. He was a leading Zydeco musician and button accordion player who enjoyed popular success first in Europe and later in the United States...
recorded with Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
and also signed a major label deal during this time.
John Delafose was wildly popular regionally. The music took a major turn because emerging bands burst onto the national scene to fuse a new exuberance, new sounds and styles with the music. Boozoo Chavis
Boozoo Chavis
Wilson Anthony "Boozoo" Chavis was a zydeco musician - music created by French speaking Creoles of South-West Louisiana. He was active from 1954 until his death during which time he largely sang and played the accordion. Chavis was also a prolific writer of zydeco songs...
, John Delafose, Roy Carrier
Roy Carrier
Roy Carrier , was an American Zydeco musician. He was the father of Chubby and Dikki Du Carrier, who followed their father into Zydeco music.-Early years:...
, Zydeco Force
Zydeco Force
Zydeco Force was an American zydeco band from Opelousas, Louisiana, consisting of Robby Robinson, Raymond Thomas and the two sons of Lawtell Playboys frontman Delton Broussard: Shelton, and Jeffery Broussard and Delton's nephew Herbert Broussard. They formed in 1988 and became a regional hit...
, Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas, the Sam Brother, Terrance Simien
Terrance Simien
Terrance Simien is an American zydeco musician, vocalist and song writer. He and his band won the Grammy Award for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album for 2007....
, Chubby Carrier
Chubby Carrier
Roy "Chubby" Carrier is an American zydeco musician. He is the leader of Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band.Carrier's father and grandfather both played zydeco music, and his cousins recorded under the name The Carrier Brothers. He was taught to play accordion by his father, Roy Carrier Sr.,...
, and many others were breathing new life into the music. Zydeco superstar Buckwheat Zydeco
Buckwheat Zydeco
Buckwheat Zydeco is the stage name of Stanley Dural, Jr. , an American accordionist and zydeco musician. He is one of the few zydeco artists to achieve mainstream success...
was already well into his career, and also signed his deal with major label Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
in the mid 1980s. Combined with the national popularity of Creole and Cajun food, and the feature film The Big Easy set in New Orleans, zydeco music had a revival. New artists were cultivated and the music took a more innovative direction for increased mainstream popularity.
Young zydeco musicians such as C. J. Chenier
C. J. Chenier
C. J. Chenier C. J. Chenier C. J. Chenier (born Clayton Joseph Thompson, September 28, 1957, Port Arthur, Texas, is the Creole son of the Grammy Award winning "King of Zydeco", Louisiana musician, Clifton Chenier. In 1987, Chenier followed in his father's footsteps, and led his father's band as an...
http://www.cjcheniermusic.com, Chubby Carrier, Geno Delafose
Geno Delafose
Geno Delafose is a zydeco accordionist and singer. He is one of the younger generations of the genre who has created the sound known as the nouveau zydeco. His sound is deeply rooted in traditional Creole music with strong influences from Cajun music and also country and western...
, Terrance Simien, Nathan Williams and others began touring internationally during the 1980s. Beau Jocque
Beau Jocque
Beau Jacques was an American zydeco musician active in the 1990s.Beau Jacques is known for his gruff vocals, his fusion of many musical styles onto zydeco, and above all, for the powerful energy of his rhythm and sound...
was a monumental songwriter and innovator who infused zydeco with powerful beats and bass lines in the 90s, adding striking production and elements of funk, hip-hop and rap. Young performers like Chris Ardoin
Chris Ardoin
Chris Ardoin is a zydeco accordionist and singer. He is one of the young artists that helped form nouveau zydeco, a new style of music that fused traditional zydeco with various styles including hip-hop, reggae and R&B.He was a child prodigy belonging to a musical dynasty Chris Ardoin (born April...
, Keith Frank
Keith Frank
Keith Frank is a zydeco musician from Louisiana. Frank started his band, The Soileau Zydeco Band, in 1990 and was active as of 2010. Frank is a 1998 graduate of McNeese State University.Frank records on Soulwood Records.-Studio Albums/EP:...
, and Zydeco Force added further by tying the sound to the bass drum rhythm to accentuate or syncopate
Syncopation
In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...
the backbeat even more. This style is sometimes called "double clutching."
Hundreds of zydeco bands continue the music traditions across the U.S. and in Europe, Japan, the UK and Australia. Many play at restaurants and clubs like Rosey Baby's. A prodigious 9-year-old zydeco accordionist, Guyland Leday, was featured in an HBO documentary about music and young people.
In 2007, zydeco achieved a separate category in the Grammy awards, the Grammy Award for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album
Grammy Award for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album was an honor presented to recording artists at the 50th, 51st, 52nd and 53rd Grammy Awards for quality zydeco or cajun music albums...
category.
More recent zydeco artists include Lil’ Nate, Leon Chavis, and Kenne’ Wayne. Wayne has fused zydeco with up tempo southern soul and smooth ballads to create a sound which he calls "zydesoul".
While zydeco is a genre that has become synonymous with the cultural and musical identity of Louisiana and an important part of the musical landscape of the United States, this southern black music tradition has also now achieved much wider appreciation. Because of the migration of the French-speaking blacks and multiracial Creoles, the mixing of Cajun and Creole musicians, and the warm embrace of people from outside these cultures, there are multiple hotbeds of zydeco: Louisiana, Texas, Oregon and California, and Europe as far north as Scandinavia. There are zydeco festivals throughout America and Europe. Zydeco music is performed at festivals, schools, performing art centers and large corporate events. It is performed for presidents and celebrities, heard on cinema soundtracks and used to advertise everything from autos to toothpaste to antacids, pharmaceuticals and candy bars. Rolling Stone, The Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine among many others have featured it. It is played on radio stations around the world and on Internet radio.
Instruments
The first zydeco vest frottoirVest frottoir
A vest frottoir is an instrument used in zydeco music. It is usually made from pressed, corrugated aluminium and is worn over the shoulders.It is played as a rhythm instrument by stroking either bottle openers or spoons down it...
(rubboard) was designed by Clifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier , a Creole French-speaking native of Opelousas, Louisiana, was an eminent performer and recording artist of Zydeco, which arose from Cajun and Creole music, with R&B, jazz, and blues influences. He played the accordion and won a Grammy Award in 1983...
, the "King of Zydeco," in 1946 while he and his brother, Cleveland, were working at an oil refinery in Port Arthur, TX
Port Arthur, Texas
-Demographics:As of the 2000 census, there were 57,755 people, 21,839 households, and 14,675 families residing in the city. The population density was 696.5 people per square mile . There were 24,713 housing units at an average density of 298.0 per square mile...
. The first zydeco rubboard made to Chenier's design was made at Chenier's request by their fellow Louisianan, Willie Landry, a master welder-fabricator, who was also working at the refinery. The zydeco rubboard, designed specifically for the genre solely as a percussion instrument, is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
.
Other instruments common in zydeco include the old world accordion which is found in folk and roots music globally, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, Cajun fiddle
Cajun fiddle
Cajun fiddle music is a part of the American fiddle music canon. It is derived from the music of southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas, as well as sharing repertoire from the Quebec and Cape Breton traditions...
, horns and keyboards.
In popular culture
Zydeco music is featured in the video game The Sims: Unleashed when traveling to Old Town on the Shuttle Bus (while the game loads Old Town), during building mode in Old Town, as well as other scenarios. The songs are in SimlishSimlish
Simlish is a fictional language featured in EA Games' Sim series of games. It debuted in SimCopter, and has been especially prominent in The Sims, The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. The Sims development team created the unique Simlish language by experimenting with fractured Ukrainian, French, Latin,...
, but certain Zydeco tracks such as "Les Haricots Sont Pas Salés" are clearly recognizable. The theme of the game, with its new lots and music, is considered Cajun
Cajun
Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
or Zydeco. One could compare it to New Orleans' French Quarter
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...
with voodoo
Louisiana Voodoo
Louisiana Voodoo, also known as New Orleans Voodoo, describes a set of underground religious practices which originated from the traditions of the African diaspora. It is a cultural form of the Afro-American religions which developed within the French, Spanish, and Creole speaking African American...
shops and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musicians appearing on commercial lots. This theme returns in The Sims 2: Apartment Life
The Sims 2: Apartment Life
The Sims 2: Apartment Life is the eighth and final expansion pack in the The Sims 2 video game series.A flyer included in later copies of The Sims 2: FreeTime expansion pack and The Sims 2: Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff Pack announced Apartment Life, which brings magic back to the franchise...
and The Sims Castaway Stories
The Sims Castaway Stories
The Sims Castaway Stories is the third and final game in the 'The Sims Stories' line of games. It was released on January 29, 2008.-Features:...
. It can also be heard in The Sims 3
The Sims 3
The Sims 3 is a 2009 strategic life simulation computer game developed by The Sims Studio and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the best-selling computer game, The Sims 2. It was first released on June 2, 2009 simultaneously for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows...
on one of the cooking television shows.
Country music legend George Strait's 2009 album Twang includes a song called "Hot Grease and Zydeco".
Zydeco music is also a central theme in the German award-winning film Schultze Gets the Blues
Schultze Gets the Blues
Schultze Gets the Blues is a 2003 film directed and written by Michael Schorr.-Plot:Schultze is a large, recently retired salt-miner living in Teutschenthal...
about a retired polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
-playing miner living in rural eastern Germany, who, after hearing Zydeco music on the radio, without knowing a word of English, embarks on a tragi-comical odyssey to Louisiana.
Zydeco music is featured in the pop song "Cupid Shuffle".
Paul Simon's 1987 album Graceland features a track called "That was Your Mother" that references Zydeco and Clifton Chenier, the "King of the Bayou".
"Zydeco" is the title of a song by Lil Boosie
Lil Boosie
Torrence Hatch , better known by his stage name Lil Boosie, is an American rapper from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Hatch was bestowed the nickname Boosie by his family, and he was raised in southside Baton Rouge...
on his 2010 mixtape, 225/504. It features a contemporary Zydeco rhythm and beat throughout.
Weird Al Yankovic made a style parody of this genre with his song "My Baby's in Love with Eddie Vedder".
In the TV show Gilmore Girls
Gilmore Girls
Gilmore Girls is an American family comedy-drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. On October 5, 2000, the series debuted on The WB and was cancelled in its seventh season, ending on May 15, 2007 on The CW...
Lorelai auditions a Zydeco band for her wedding to Luke in the episode "A Vineyard Valentine".
External links
- ZydecoOnline.com, Uniting the Zydeco Nation
- Zydeco Historical and Preservation Society, Inc.
- Zydeco Events, Zydeco Events From Texas to Louisiana
- ARNB.ORG, Cajun and Zydeco Music Event Schedules for the World
- National Geographic.com - Nat Geo Music: Zydeco page
- www.cjcheniermusic.com
- Zydeco and Cajun Events worldwide
- http://www.acadian-cajun.com/hiscaj2c.htm