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Cajun music, an emblematic music of Louisiana, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Catholics of Canada. Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based, Cajun-influenced Zydeco form, both of Acadiana origin. These French Louisiana sounds have influenced American popular music for many decades, especially country music, and have influenced pop culture through mass media, such as television commercials.
Lyrics
The unaccompanied ballad was the earliest form of Cajun music. The narrative songs often had passionate themes of death, solitude or ill-fated love — a reaction to their harsh exile and rough frontier experience, as well as celebrations of love and humorous tales. Ballads were ritually sung at weddings and funerals, and sung informally for small groups of people at house parties as the food cooked and young children played.
Standard versions of songs started to emerge with increasing sales of phonographs. Some of the earliest recordings of Cajun music that exist were done in the late 1920s by noted historian Alan Lomax of farmhands in Louisiana.
In 1928, the first recorded Cajun song was "Allons à Lafayette" by Joe Falcon and Cleoma Breaux. The early songs were mixtures of la la, contredanses, reels and jigs and other folk influences from black, white and Native American traditions. Early song lyrics were entirely in old Cajun French. Though French language is still common, some Cajun music today is sung in English with younger singers and audiences.
Instruments
In earlier years, the fiddle was the predominant instrument. Usually two fiddles were common, one playing the melody while the other provided the segoner, or back-up part. Twin fiddling traditions represent the music in its purest form, as it was brought to Louisiana with the early immigrants and before popular American tunes mingled with it.
Gradually, the diatonic accordion emerged to share the limelight. The introduction of the accordion can be traced back to German Coast settlers.
In the early 1930s, the accordion was pushed into the background by the popular string sounds of the time. Mandolins, pianos and banjos joined fiddles to create a jazzy swing beat strongly influenced by Western Swing of neighboring Texas.
After World War II, the accordion regained its popularity in Cajun music. Also, in the late 1930s and 1940s, country music became the dominant influence on Cajun music, and bass and steel guitars were used.
Modern Cajun music began taking on the influence of jazz and modern country music, resulting in a more polished sound. The acoustic guitar was added, mostly as a rhythm instrument, and the triangle provided a traditional percussion. Modern groups sometimes include drums, electric bass, electric guitars and amplified accordion and fiddles.
Modern resurgence
A performance by Dewey Balfa, Gladius Thibodeaux and Vinesse LeJeune at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival was one major reason behind a revived interest in traditional Cajun music in the mid 1960s. In 1972, the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana started an annual festival that came to be known as Festivals Acadiens.
A new respect for Cajun culture developed in the 1990s. Among the most well-known Cajun bands outside of Louisiana is the multi-Grammy-winning Beausoleil, who have joined several country music artists in the studio, and served as an inspiration to the Mary Chapin Carpenter hit, Down at the Twist and Shout.
Dance and festivals
Cajun music, born from ballads, has transformed to dance music -- with or without words. The music was essential for small get-togethers on the front porch, an all night house dance known as a "bal de maison", or a public dance in a dance hall called a fais do-dos.
There are several variations of Cajun dance: a Cajun One Step, also called a Cajun Jig, a Cajun Two Step or related Cajun Jitterbug, and a Cajun Waltz. In mild contrast, Zydeco is a syncopated two-step or jitterbug. A Cajun dancer will cover the dance floor while the Zydeco dancer will primarily dance in a smaller area.
Cajun music can be found predominately at Louisiana festivals and dance halls, in addition to weddings in Acadiana.
See also
External links
"Cajun music"