GatorBites→ Cajun Music and its Origins

by Sarah LeDoux; reprinted from www.asteur.org

Sarah LeDoux entered this essay in the Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals, 7-9 grade contest. Sarah is homeschooled and as a 7th grader she placed first in the state. Congratulations!

As the lamps of the cypress board shacks on the Louisiana bayou are being lit, the evening stillness is shattered by one lonely fiddler playing a familiar tune. Suddenly a triangle evenly beats the rhythm of the fiddle. Neighbors start to gather, and someone warms up an accordion. The children race by catching fire flies and babies lie on blankets on the soft dirt or the slat-board porch. Hands worn by the day's toil and labor start to clap and patched shoes begin to tap the simple rhythm. Then partners spin around and about in swift movements.

Through these evening rituals the first true Louisiana Cajun French music was born. And a bond was formed among its listeners. It was more than a type of music; it was a way of life.

Long ago this music gathered my people together, for I am a descendant of the French. My family has been located in Louisiana around 200 years and only spoken English in the past few generations. Recently my family genealogy was traced back to its motherland— LeMans, France. Because of our newly found heritage, my family has been connecting with our roots by learning our family's language and by listening to the music of our ancestors— Cajun French. Now, it is common to hear the music of the fiddle and accordion playing in our home.

There is a long line of Cajun genealogy that marks the path of Cajun music to its popular place in Louisiana culture today. The people that we know as Cajuns today actually migrated by way of Nova Scotia from France. In the expulsion time they found refuge in the southern part of Louisiana. They accumulated fiddles and through the years composed tunes about their ill-fated plight. With time they interacted and married into ethnic groups that finally resulted in today's Cajun French. Local merchants, years later, started to import the accordion, which instantly became a popular instrument with the Cajuns.

In 1928 Cajun music appeared on the commercial market by recordings played on the phonograph. The 1920s through the 1930s brought about an Americanization of this people, because citizens of the U.S.A. were thoroughly absorbed in obtaining oil found in South Louisiana. The Americans enjoyed Western tunes and the accordion was practically dropped from their music. Musicians such as Iry LEJeune, Nathan Abshire, and Lawrence Walker brought about a revival of the accordion in later years.

Cajun music is evolving, moving from all Cajun French lyrics to a mixture of broken French and English. Several artists choose to stick with the traditional approach as many people enjoy it and consider it "old time music." But other performers, such as Zachary Richard and Wayne Toups, have used different techniques and rhythm of music. Wayne Toups coined the term zydecajun. Another version of Cajun French is called swamp pop. Doug Kershaw, Cajun/country fiddler once said that Cajun music is "A little bit for the head, a little bit for the heart, and a whole lot for the feet." No matter what kind of Cajun music you come across and regardless of the performer, this statement stands true.

By reading the above, you probably have some idea that I love Cajun music. Just to make it clear, yes, Cajun French is my favorite Louisiana music. Past and present are tied together, through the living and reliving of these wonderful melodies of time. The cypress board shacks that still stand along the bayou are old and silent now, but the Cajuns' music still lives today in the hearts of many intrigued listeners, including me.