Zydeco
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Zydeco (French: "les haricots" or "le zaricot", English: "green beans" or "snap beans") is a form of American roots or folk music. It evolved in southwest Louisiana in the early 19th century from forms of Creole music. The rural black Creoles of southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas still sing in Louisiana Creole French.
Usually fast tempo and dominated by the button or piano accordion and a form of a washboard known as a "rub-board," "scrub-board," or frottoir, zydeco music was originally created at house dances, where families and friends gathered for socializing.
Sometimes the music moved to the Catholic Church community center, as Creoles were mostly Catholic. Later it moved to rural dance halls and nightclubs. As a result, the music integrated waltzes, shuffles, two-steps, blues, rock and roll, and most dance music forms of the era. Today, the tradition of change and evolution in the music continues. It stays current while integrating even more genres such as R&B, soul, brass band, reggae, urban hip, ska, rock, Afro-Caribbean and other styles, in addition to the traditional forms.
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Early history
For 150 years, Louisiana Creoles 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 begun 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, conservative 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.
Post-war history
In the mid-1950s, the popularity of Clifton Chenier 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" was a corruption of les haricots (French for the beans), and 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, Chubby Carrier, Geno Delafose, Terrance Simien, Nathan Williams and others began touring internationally during the 1980s. Beau Jocque was a monumental 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. 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.
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 frottoir (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, fiddle, 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 Simlish, 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 "Twang" album 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 tragicomical odyssey to Louisiana.
Zydeco music is featured in the pop song "Cupid Shuffle."
