Zydeco Music
A brief historical geography
w/ web links
Written and compiled by Robert Kuhlken
Central Washington University
Zydeco Music
A brief historical geography
Written and compiled by Robert Kuhlken
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Zydeco is a unique blend of Afro-American and Afro-French musical traditions which developed amid the prairie landscapes of southwest Louisiana. Born out of close interaction between the Cajun (white) and Creole (black) French-speaking cultures, zydeco's current popularity as an infectious dance music is directly tied to the past when house dances were the primary form of entertainment and interaction for the rural Creole population. The music played for these gatherings was called "la-la" and was the immediate precursor to modern zydeco. From this hearth area the music has spread, at first associated with the out-migration patterns of Creoles to East Texas and Southern California. Following zydeco's commercial success many groups have toured extensively, and zydeco has now taken root in other places across the country.
The origin of the term "zydeco" is most often attributed to the folk expression "les haricots ne sont pas sales" (the beans are not salted), a saying that reflected those hard times when people could not even afford to put salt pork in their beans.
Early zydeco utilized the same instruments as Cajun music. The fiddle, which came to Louisiana from Canada after 1755 by way of the Acadian diaspora, was the standard lead instrument. During the mid 1800s the accordian was adopted and soon replaced the fiddle as the lead. As the music became influenced by an urbanized blues and other commercially recorded styles of the 1940s and 1950s, the piano accordian replaced the cajun button (diatonic) accordian within zydeco. A unique rhythm instrument - the frottoir, or rubboard - is the signature instrument of zydeco. It is worn over the shoulders like a breastplate and played with a pair of old-style bottle openers.
The music was best personified by the undisputed King of Zydeco, the late great Clifton Chenier, who was born in 1925 in Opelousas, in the very heart of Creole country in Louisiana. In 1947 he moved to Lake Charles, then in 1958 to Houston, where his playing became influenced heavily by the urban blues scene. It was Chenier who popularized the term "zydeco" and specifically linked it to his music, which ranged from blues sung in French and accompanied by an accordian and frottoir, to more traditional Afro-French songs.
Perhaps the most effective carrier for diffusion of this music to other
places has been the commercial recording and widespread distribution of
the music on records, tapes, and, most recently, compact digital discs
(CDs). Early zydeco recordings by Douglas Bellard, Amede Ardoin, and others
were strictly for regional release. Beaumont musician Clarence Garlow had
a few minor hits in the early 1950s, paving the way for two back-to-back
releases that began the commercial success of recorded zydeco: "Paper in
My Shoe" by Boozoo Chavis
in 1954, followed by Chenier's "Ay-Tete-Fee" in 1955. Before national record
labels began capitalizing on the growing popularity of this music, the
commercial recording and distribution of most zydeco records were shepherded
by two independent labels: Chris Strachwitz's
Arhoolie Records in El Cerrito, California, and Floyd
Soileau's Maison de Soul in Ville Platte, Louisiana.
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Links:
Cajun/Zydeco Music & Dance - big list of links Rick Olivier's photographs of zydeco people and places |
Broven, John. South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous. Gretna, La.: Pelican Publishing Co., 1983.
Kuhlken, Robert, and Rocky Sexton. The geography of zydeco music. In G. Carney (ed.), The Sounds of People and Places: A Geography of American Folk and Popular Music, 3rd edition, pp. 63-76. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 1994.
Kuhlken, Robert. Zydeco. In Tom and Sara Pendergast (eds.), St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture,vol. 5, pp. 235-36. Farmington Hills: Saint James Press, 1999.
Tisserand, Michael. The Kingdom of Zydeco. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1998.