American Roots Music

  As looking through the long list of American Roots Music and trying to decide which musical genre I would like to research on the most, I decided to choose the one that I have never heard of and that had an interesting name, Zydeco, a form of dance music.  I probably never heard of Zydeco because I am from the west in Reno, Nevada, and this music is from Louisiana.  Although Nevada and Reno was a very popular area for the blues and jazz back then. Zydeco is more specifically from the southwest of Louisiana.  It evolved by French Creole speakers with a mixture of blues, rhythm, and music indigenous to the Creoles and Native American people of Louisiana, and a blend off French accordion music and Afro-Caribbean beats. It is from the origin from the Cajun music of Louisiana. 
Obviously it contains lots of different music, it comes from several other genres. The instruments it contains are an accordion, a frottoir, and a washboard.  If you add a guitar or drums it just adds more rhythm to create a more danceable music.  Zydeco gets its name from a Creole French expression “les haricots ne sont pas sales” meaning “the snap beans aren’t salty” or “the times are hard.”  Zydeco is very similar to the Blues.  Like the Blues, it gave a way for the rural poor to express and to escape the hardships of life through music and dance.  
Zycedo can be heard all around the world, but it is the most populated in Louisiana, obviously.  There, people carry on the tradition of the trail ride, which is riding out to the countryside for music, food, and dancing.  In southwest Louisiana you will find zydeco playing in almost every city.  In the major cities like New Orleans you will definitely hear it playing.  Crazy that this kind of music is still playing today, when it started in the 1920s. But it became the most popular in the 1980s by the performance of Clifton Chenier. 
Buckwheat Zydeco, obviously where the name came from, was again obviously the first zydeco artists and became a professional across America.  He played in the 1996 Summer Olympic Game’s ceremonies.  Another famous artist that I mentioned earlier was Clifton Chenier, he most famous for his song “Zydeco Sont Pas Sales.” A metaphor for people being in a famine and not having meat to eat.  The most recent zydeco musicians are Terrance Simien and Rosie Ledet.  Terrance Simien won the 2008 Grammy for Best Cajun or Zydeco Album.  He has had performances  with very famous artists like Paul Simon, and has performed in more than 40 counties.  Rosie Ledet started playing zydeco at sixteen.  Before she was playing the accordion.  She tours abroad and has nine albums. 
One of the best songs of zydeco songs are “Love’s Lies” “Nasty Girls” “The King of Zydeco” and “I Went to the Dance.” Both have bluesy music or danceable drum music.  There are festivals around the world and the United States where zydeco music is played at.  It is mainly and most common to be played at local bars or jazz clubs throughout the United Sates.  There is a Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival in September. And another one that was on March 26 of this year in New Orleans.  In our local Spartanburg, South Carolina zydeco or Cajun is played at Live Music Venues or local restaurants where small bands play on the weekends.
As researching this genre I had never heard of I actually learned a lot of cool things. I love how similar it is to the blues, because who does not love the blues? I wanted to research this tripe of genre because of the name it sounded cool and it was not at all I was expecting.  I believe you should really listen to this type of music.  

https://www.louisianatravel.com/music/articles/zydeco-music-louisiana

https://folkways.si.edu/15-louisiana-zydeco-classics/cajun/music/album/smithsonian