This repeats on beats 5-8 starting with weight transfer on to right foot, etc.. Once this is mastered it is easy to progress to other skills, including accenting, as discussed below, the second and sixth beats. Zydeco is a popular accordion-based musical genre - the blues and dance music of Louisiana Creoles, the French-speaking blacks of the prairies of south-central and southwest Louisiana. Arriving in New Orleans on seven ships, the settlers quickly moved into the bayous and swamps. Origins of Zydeco and Cajun music. It is a partner dance that has been primarily danced socially and sometimes in performances. Another way to start learning that for some is simpler is to keep time with music, and track the weight shifts is using the cues - slow, quick quick. Today, the contrasting musical schools of Chenier and Chavis remain evident. Zydeco music is now as much a part of the American musical landscape as bluegrass or Chicago blues, and, perhaps, just as likely to show up in a fast food commercial. This was due to the influences of American Blues music, the advent of commercial audio recording, and a bit later, the devel… Cajun and Zydeco Music. The mission of Dancing by the Bayou is to promote the musical style, dance and unique history and traditions of Southwest Louisiana . The word “zydeco” is a phonetic corruption of the French les haricots, or snap beans. The roots of zydeco are found in Jure, “a form of hand-clapping and foot-stomping used by black field hands to pray and give thanks” (Handleman). There are exceptions to this rule, but feel of the zydeco is very real and consistent. Greg Benusa sharing a quick overview of how Cajun and Zydeco music sounded from it's origins to what we hear today shared at a local event with … Because of the very lively music, the overall style is small sidewise steps with relatively steady upper body and no hip swinging, wiggling or jumping. Gould, Philip. Birthed at Saturday night gatherings where families and friends came to dance around a room pulsing with accordion-driven beats, zydeco, a music genre created by Southwest Louisiana’s Black Creoles (a group of people of mixed African, Afro-Caribbean, Native American, and European descent), offered the rural poor a way to express themselves and escape the hardships of everyday life in the South with … Gradually, the term came to represent both the music and the event, as in “I’m going to the zydeco.” Until the Houston folklorist Mack McCormack promoted the current spelling of the word in the 1960s, it was variously written as zorigo, zarico or zodico on posters advertising weekend dances. The basic step in zydeco takes 8 beats and consists of two mirrored parts 4 beats each. The zydeco dance is one of the many Cajun dance styles. Also included are explanatory notes about songs, anecdotes and quotations from many musicians. A few modernists such as Geno Delafose, Andre Thierry and Nathan Williams, Jr. have mastered both styles, using whichever instrument best suits a song. Electric bass, electric guitar and a drum kit provide the propulsive groove. Chenier would often say “I’m a blues man,” for, in addition to Creole dance tunes, he played R&B hits and down-home blues numbers. Next post: The crossroads of Creole and Cajun musicians, Previous post: Watch a rare video of Clifton Chenier performing “Bon Ton Roulet”, A year-long showcase of traditional Creole music, dancing & culture alongside the modern day influences of R&B, soul and hip-hop. In 1929, Creole accordionist Amédé Ardoin made the first recordings of la-la music, laying the groundwork for the genre. Its name is thought… Zydeco dance can be described as the opposite of swing or ballroom since the direction or feel of the dance is down, not up like swing or ballroom. His debut CD "Country Boy" was released to rave reviews. with the free (unweighted) foot or a little twist on the weighted foot. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zydeco_(dance)&oldid=888297295, Articles lacking in-text citations from September 2017, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 18 March 2019, at 06:44. Zydeco can be described as the music of Louisiana “Creoles of Color.” While it’s distinct, it does borrow many of its own defining elements from Cajun music. Nonetheless, Chavis became disenchanted with the music business, and he returned to his trade of training racehorses. The follower usually mirrors the steps of the leader, however, in some figures the steps may be completely different, allowing for self-expression and improvisation. The step pattern is often memorized as "SPSS SPSS", "S" is for "step", "P" is for pause. Zydeco music originated from Creole music — today's rubboard or frottoir ("rubbing the washboard") is a stylized version of the early washboard. Other notable Louisiana performers have included Rockin' … These actions are commonly known as "eat-a-beat". Contrary to popular belief, it is not Cajun in origin. Early Reactions to Big French Dance “Ron Stanford’s powerful black and white photographs capture the heart of Cajun and Zydeco worlds, in which all ages dance, sing, and celebrate life in deeply grounded ways. Their melodies remain a touchstone both for Cajun and zydeco players, as the shared legacy of their intertwining cultures, but the driving rhythm of zydeco is not there. Just as Delta musicians took Highway 61 to Chicago and electrified their blues, so did the Creoles and Cajuns migrate to California and establish vital dance communities. Michael Tisserand, the author of The Kingdom of Zydeco, considered the definitive book on the history of Zydeco music, wrote, “In America, great migrations produce great music. I learned that over several generations, Acadians became “Cajuns” and the word “Creole” changed meaning several times.In rural isolation, the music of Creole and Cajun people evolved roughly in parallel until about the 1940s. The pattern therefore is for the leader (opposite foot for follower) to transfer weight to left foot saying slow (2 beats, 1,2) and then quick as you shift onto right foot (1 beat, 3) and then, quick, as you shift back to left foot (1 beat, 4). $2000, Zydeco Dance Competition In 2003 Curley was ready to make the move and launch his own band - Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble. "Michael Tisserand has given us a good one. The contents of the CD jukebox trace the history of the club itself, with albums by blues icon Bobby Blue Bland, mid- 60s funk soul by Joe Tex, the latest offerings from nouveau zydeco artist Chris Ardoin, “Zydeco Boss”–Keith Frank, as well as no less than six albums by the evening’s entertainment, “Mr. Cajun Instrumentation. Clifton Chenier, widely recognized as the King of Zydeco, was a virtuoso of the piano accordion, an instrument with a full range of musical possibilities. by Tom Dempsey, Seattle, Washington. Traditional Cajun Dance Music. Learn More >>. It was not until the early 1980s when, encouraged by his family, he returned to the stage at Richard’s Club in Lawtell, Louisiana. The Kingdom of Zydeco is richly anecdotal, as moving and intimate as the music, a fine front-porch history of zydeco from the blackjack dirt farms of Louisiana to the oil refineries of coastal Texas. 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