Summer 1997 Northwest Zydeco Newsletter Articles:

• "Seattle Dancers Head South"
• "Dancing Where Zydeco Was Born"
• "Rubboard History"
• "Gumbo, Gombo"
• "Southwest Louisiana Zydeco & Blues Preservation Society"

Seattle Dancers Head South

Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Zydeco accordionist Beau Jocque posed for a picture with the following Seattle dancers at the Cajun/Zydeco Crawfish Festival in May: Ron Hicks, Richard Smallwood, Susan Woods, Terry Winfield, and Felicia Maffia. (Beau Jocque and Geno Delafose later played at the former Backstage in Seattle on Thursday, June 26th, 1997.)

Lafayette, Louisiana: Seattle dancer Marc Sobers saw Alphonse “Bois-Sec” Ardoin playing accordion accompanied by Cajun band Balfa Toujours at the Festival International, in April 1997. For over 50 years, Bois-Sec Ardoin teamed with his fiddler cousin the late Canray Fontenot, and profoundly influenced the zydeco music we hear today.

Dancing Where Zydeco Was Born

Seattle dancers Dan and Anne won third prize in a dance contest at the Breaux Bridge Creole Crustacean Festival in May 1997:

A few weeks ago, Anne Siems and I traveled to Louisiana in search of the hottest zydeco dancing we could find. We knew of two upcoming festivals: Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and the Crawfish Festival in Breaux Bridge, near Lafayette. We decided not to attend Jazz Fest because we wanted to stay away from large crowds and to experience the culture of zydeco in the smaller club scene.
          We attended the Crawfish Festival, named for the crustacean eaten there by the dozen, bucket, crate, and ton. Most people find the little critters quite tasty, and don’t seem to mind the hard work involved in separating the meat from the shell. In fact, most seem to enjoy the challenge and even boast of their shucking skill. Not everyone, however, finds crawfish so delectable. Anne’s first crawfish was still wiggling when she went to eat it, which put a crimp in her crawfish appetite for the rest of the trip! Lots of people did enjoy them, though, as evidenced by all the Styrofoam containers on the festival grounds filled with empty shells. The music at the festival was great Cajun and some zydeco, but we still hadn’t found the dancing that we had originally sought.
          We found it the next night at Slim’s Y-Ki-Ki, in Opelousas, where we witnessed the unbelievably fun and funky style of Creole dancers. Keith Frank played for four hours, and we were fortunate enough to dance much of that time with many of these friendly folks. We were in dance heaven.
          Our excitement was still visible the next day at the Breaux Bridge Creole Crustacean Festival (just down the street from the Cajun Crawfish Festival) where they were having a dance contest to the hot tunes of Step Rideau. Anne and I let ourselves go, and found a dance groove. So much so, the judges handed us the third place trophy! At first we felt embarrassed to hold the hardware—especially since we weren’t even aware we’d entered the contest. But the award helped us feel welcomed and appreciated by the Creole folks.
          We felt that our dance “success” was not measured by fancy moves or acrobatic stunts, but by the excitement and energy that we had received and shown. We felt lucky to be riding the “high time” of dancing the dance we love in the land where it was born.

Rubboard History

The vest frottoir, or rubboard, helps drive and define the music of traditional rural zydeco bands in Southwest Louisiana. Precursors to the rubboard evolved in Africa and the Caribbean in the form of a scraped animal jaw, a notched stick, and later, a washboard. In the pre-zydeco 1930’s, sheet metal was introduced to Louisiana for roofing and barn siding, and tinsmiths fashioned a metal washboard which Creole musicians adopted for the invention of zydeco music in the 1940’s.

Gumbo, Gombo

In West Africa, gombo refers to okra (the sticky green pod of the okra plant). In Louisiana, gombo can refer to the okra-thickened soup or stew called gumbo, as well as to the name of the regional Creole dialect, Gombo (or Gumbo).

Southwest Louisiana Zydeco & Blues Preservation Society

You may contact or join the following organization if you are interested in the preservation or history of zydeco music:

          Southwest Louisiana Zydeco & Blues Preservation Society
          Post Office Box 92407
          Lafayette, LA 70509-2407
          (318) 269-8890 or 948-1727

This group was organized by Lem Brown, a zydeco disc jockey from KVOL Radio in Lafayette. On June 15, 1996, the Society showcased many talented Creole musicians (including Chris Ardoin, Rosie Ledet, Beau Jocque, Nathan Williams, and others) at the Blackham Coliseum in Lafayette.