![]() ![]() He and his wife, Cynthia, have also spent years educating others about the importance of zydeco. Simien still writes and performs music more than four decades after founding his first band. Now known as The Original Southwest Zydeco Festival, this September marked 40 years that it has celebrated Creole culture and zydeco music. This group become known as The Treasures of Opelousas and they formed the first zydeco festival in 1982. That’s how close our music came to being extinct.”ĭuring the late 1970s, many members of the Opelousas community and surrounding areas feared that the music they cherished would die. The rest of the guys playing the music were at least 15 to 20 years older than us. At the time, we were one of two teenage zydeco bands. “Then at 16, I started my band in 1981 and the rest is history. #How to use songs to play city of heroes how to#“And I started teaching myself how to play, after a few months, man, I could play just about all the John Delafose songs. “I got my mom to get my dad to buy me an accordion for my 15th birthday,” he says. Simien began playing zydeco during high school and formed his first band. Landry Parish in the small community of Mallet as part of one of the most well-known Creole families in the area. As the big names were enjoying their moment in the spotlight a new generation of musicians was emerging. Chenier and Queen Ida also won Grammy awards during this golden age of zydeco. The song went on to win a Grammy in 1986 for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording. It gained national attention after Rockin’ Sidney’s smash hit ”(Don’t Mess with) My Toot Toot.” The song became a Top 40 hit and was the first zydeco to gain airplay on pop, country and rock stations. Throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s zydeco music spread to neighboring states like Texas and Mississippi and even further out into California. Chenier also designed the rubboard vest, known as the vest frottoir, one of the most used tools of zydeco. The term zydeco has several origin stories but the most widely accepted is that it came from the saying “Les haricots ne sont pos salés” which translates loosely to “the beans are not salty.” Chenier used this phrase as a title for one of his early hits. Clifton Chenier, the “King of Zydeco,” is celebrated for bringing the music to the mainstream of Black America in the mid-1950s. The sound we know as zydeco music found its footing in mid-century. This tradition continued for several years and grew in size and popularity. Zydeco was the music played at these parties, featuring a repetitive chorus, French lyrics, and instruments like washboards and accordions. People would bring food, gather, sing and dance into the night. House dances became a popular pastime as a result. But, as the proverb goes, “necessity is the mother of invention.” The ways Black Creoles could enjoy recreational time were limited. ![]() The term “zydeco” describes not only a genre of music but also extends to a style of dance and type of event tied to the Black Creole culture in South Louisiana.ĭuring segregation, Black people lived in very close communities and worked in similar industries like farming, construction and domestic work. ![]()
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