Heart and
Cajun Heart / Zydeco SoulMary-Jane WyethThe music of Southwest Louisiana originated from 17th-century French ballads blended with southern-American country tunes sung in French. Musicians altered tunes to fit available instruments or the lack thereof. They changed lyrics to fit current life and changed locales to the familiar. In the days when the people were too poor or too new on the frontier to have instruments, they used whatever was at hand to create the music that accompanied their dance. Voices (whistling, humming, and singing) could make music "fit to dance to." Clap your hands and pull the spoons from the gumbo pot and the scrub board from the wash tub to create a homemade rhythm. With a cigar box, wire from the window screen, hair from the horse's tail or mane and a willow stick for a bow, you can scratch out a few notes on a make-do fiddle. From this mix came the raw folksy sound that is old-time Cajun. These blends of strong French folk tradition with a sprinkle of Native American, Scotch-Irish, Spanish, German, Anglo-American, African, and Caribbean flavor created zesty country-blues tunes. One can visualize the gathering of neighbors. Each brought his own musical culture, embodied in the instrument he carried, and added it to the melange that formed Cajun and Zydeco music. The eclectic styles of many cultures grafted together to form a new, vital, living, breathing musical tradition. The fiddle was the most common instrument in the early days because it could be easily transported and tuned. Musicians who could be heard above the crowd at a house party were in demand so fiddlers bore down hard with bow on strings to make enough noise for dancers to keep in step. Singers modulated voices to a shrill, raspy sound that rose above the din of dancers and spectators. That rustic down-home flavor continued. In the last half of the 19th century, the fiddle took second place to the strong voice of the accordion which had recently arrived from Germany. Even with many reeds broken, the accordion made enough noise for dancing. Dancers glided and raced to jigs, hoe-downs, Virginia reels, polkas, contra dances, and mazurkas influenced by blues with a base of African percussion and a dash of Native American chants and wails. Cajun music is smooth, high-spirited, zesty, and charming. It is the sound of the culture's heart. The unbeatable combination of French lyrics, accordion and fiddle accompanied by the rhythm of guitar, drums and triangle is guaranteed to fill the dance floor. Couples travel around the floor in a smooth Cajun Two Step, or congregate in the center to whirl and twirl in an up-beat jitterbug. Zydeco is Creole music. Lyrics (in English or French) guitar, drums, and washboard, heavily influenced by African rhythms, achieve the driving syncopation of Zydeco. The music lifts your heart, seeps into your bones and requires you to move in time with the music. It is an essential rhythm and much like the rhythm of a mother's heartbeat or a tribal drum, it soothes the soul. Join Seattle's Cajun and Zydeco communities. The Tractor Tavern, Greenwood Masonic Lodge, and Mercer Island VFW Hall are favorite haunts. Get on a mailing list. Call the hotline. Take a class from Lykes to Dance! It will lighten your heart and feed your soul.
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