Just like the food, Cajun and Creole music has its own flavour. From the south part of Louisiana (in major cities such as Lafayette and Lake Charles) just west of New Orleans, music from the Bayou extends down to the coast and into Texas. Historically, both the Cajun and Creole people are descendants of the Acadians, who were primarily from what is now the Maritime Region of Canada. They were mainly from Nova Scotia but also from Canada’s only French-speaking province of Quebec. It’s a long story that I’m not very qualified to tell but Colonial French-speaking people were effectively expelled from their homeland and eventually settled in Louisiana starting in the mid-1700s. The music of the region reflects some of their French Canadian Catholic backgrounds, and like many migrants, they took the easiest instruments to carry when they relocated, in this ‘case’ it was one of their favourites, the fiddle.

Added to the fiddle after the migration was the accordion, the triangle, and of course the modern Cajun and Creole sound now includes many other instruments. The music has evolved into what we now recognize as the Cajun and Zydeco genres. The influence however has spread to Country Music, Texas Swing, Blues and R&B. From this region we can also include Swamp Pop, which was in large part the result of local artists covering R&R songs starting in the mid-1950s. Swamp Rock is a cousin of Cajun and Zydeco music, let’s say. This sub-genre includes songs about the Bayou region of Louisiana but the artists may or may not be native to the area.

Now, if you think artists from this region are just a bunch of Hillbillies, there is actually loads of musical talent to be found. For example, Louis Moreau Gottschalk was born in Louisiana near the Bayous and was perhaps the most prominent Concert Pianist from North America in the mid-1800s. He composed hundreds of pieces, many based on Creole melodies. In 1932, Camille Nickerson, nicknamed the “Louisiana Lady”, was the first Black woman to obtain a Masters Degree at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. In addition to being a superb vocalist and pianist, she was a composer/arranger of many Afro-Creole songs. She was also a Professor at Howard University from 1926 to 1962.

I won’t attempt to expand into all the various types and influences of music from Louisiana with the epicentre being the city of New Orleans. Instead, I’ll move out of the ‘Big Easy’ and focus on a sampling of songs that come from the southern portion of the state, so well known for the swampy, slow-moving creeks and Bayous (geographically speaking not exclusive to Louisiana).  A place where the people love to sing and dance. Zydeco music is associated with Creole Folk music, but it has developed into a more contemporary style. With very similar roots the Cajun genre is more closely tied to the Acadians. In both cases, Zydeco, Creole Folk Music and Acadian songs were originally sung in French, or more specifically, would develop into the hybrid regional Creole French dialects (and most still are). There are several subgenres in Cajun music, there’s also Traditional, Western Swing, Dancehall, Cajun Renaissance and Contemporary Cajun. While some of these songs were translated or composed in English, the tradition demands songs be sung in Cajun French or sometimes a mix with English.

The first known recording of a Traditional Cajun song is “Allons à Lafayette” by Joe e Cléoma Falcon in 1928. Joe Falcon was an accordionist and his wife Cléoma (Breaux) was a guitar player. Once again we can give thanks to Musicologist and Folklorist Alan Lomax for recording and preserving this music. Sometime also in the late 1920s, Cléoma wrote the lyrics to what has been referred to as the ‘Cajun National Anthem’, the song “Jole Blon“. From a very musical family, her three brothers formed the performing and recording group the Breaux Brothers. One of the brothers, Amedée Breaux, is the only one who got credit for the song. It appears (from what I’ve gathered) he composed the music. The song was originally titled “Ma blonde est partie“. There is also some connection to an earlier song “La Fille de la Veuve” also composed by Amedée Breaux that may be based on older Traditional Cajun/Creole songs.

Louisiana born Harry Choates, who falls more into the Texas Swing end of Cajun music, popularized “Jole Blon” with his French recording in 1946, followed by several recordings in English. The song was familiar to me via Waylon Jennings’ somewhat adulterated version from 1958 which included Buddy Holly on guitar and King Curtis on the saxophone.

More Artists and Songs Inspired by The Bayou

Another of the most famous Cajun songs came from D.L.Menard and is called “La Porte En Arrière” (The Back Door). Menard is a regional legend and loved to cover Hank Williams songs but was a very capable songwriter, as heard in the educational song, “Cajun Saturday Night“.

A fixture of the Cajun music scene was the Balfa Family. Here are The Balfa Brothers with “Parlez Nous A Boire“. Also “Kasey Jones” by Les frères Balfa. And no talk of Cajun music would be complete without a two-step song, “de l’anse à paille“.