GRIOTS REPUBLIC - AN URBAN BLACK TRAVEL MAG - JULY 2016

ZYDECO
Cajun music and zydeco are closely
related parallel music forms.
Cajun music is the music of the
white Cajuns of south Louisiana, while
zydeco is the music of the black Creoles
of the same region. Both share
common origins and influences, and
there is much overlap in the repertoire
and style of each. At the same time,
each culture proudly and carefully preserves
the identity of its own musical
expression.
Cajun music is a blend of the cultural
ingredients found in south Louisiana.
The colonial French Creoles were singing
the same stock of western French
folk songs as the Acadians who arrived
in Louisiana during the mid-18th century
after being exiled from Nova Scotia.
Native American Indians contributed
a wailing, terraced singing style.
Black Creoles contributed new rhythms
and a sense of percussion techniques,
improvisational singing, and the blues.
The Spanish eventually contributed the
guitar and a few tunes.
The violin, which was a popular new
instrument in France during the 17th
century when the French left for the
New World, continued to dominate the
instrumental tradition until German
Jewish merchants on the south Louisiana
prairies began importing diatonic
accordions from Austria in the early
19th century. Acadian and black Creole
musicians alike began experimenting
with the accordion and developed
techniques which served as a basis for
Cajun music and zydeco. Anglo-American
immigrants contributed new fiddle
tunes and dances (reels, jigs, and
hoedowns) while singers translated the