What is Zydeco?
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."
