Zydeco

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Zydeco musicians playing accordion and washboard in front of store, near New Iberia, Louisiana (1938).

Zydeco is a form of folk music, originated in the beginning of the 20th century among the Francophone Creole peoples of south-west Louisiana and influenced by the music of the French-speaking Cajuns. It is heavily syncopated (back-beat), usually fast-tempo, and dominated by the button or piano accordion and a form of a washboard known as a rub-board or vest frottoir. Originating in Africa, the vest frottoir was introduced to Louisiana in the 1930s. Other instruments include the fiddle, guitar, bass guitar and drums.

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 Cajun music with African-American traditions that also underpinned R&B and blues. It was known as "la-la"; "zodico" and various other names. Amédé Ardoin made the first recordings of what later became known as zydeco in 1928.

The music was brought to the fringes of the American mainstream in the mid-1950s, with the popularity of Clifton Chenier and Boozoo Chavis. In 1954, Boozoo Chavis 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). After Chavis left the music business, Clifton Chenier became the first major zydeco star and also led to the invention of the word zydeco in 1965. One of his hits was "Les Haricots Sont Pas Salés" (The Snap Beans Aren't Salty — a reference to the singer being too poor to afford salt pork to season the beans) and he said that "Zydeco" was a corruption of les haricots (French for the beans). This may have been his little joke as the term (along with variants such as "zodico") was used earlier to refer to African dance-forms.

In the mid-1980s, Rockin' Sidney briefly re-popularized zydeco music nationwide with hit remake of the classic tune "My Toot Toot". This led to the resurgence of Zydeco artists, and spawned a new crop of innovators. Young zydeco musicians, such as Chubby Carrier and Rosie Ledet began emerging in the early 1990s. Chris Ardoin, Beau Jocque, Keith Frank, and Zydeco Force added a new twist to traditional Zydeco by tying the whole sound to the bass drum rhythm to accentuate or syncopate the backbeat even more. This style is sometimes called "double clutching."

[edit] See also

• Music of Louisiana
• Zydeco (dance)