NORTHWEST ZYDECO CREATES AND SUPPORTS ZYDECO, CAJUN, AND LOUISIANA MUSIC AND DANCE IN THE NORTHWEST THROUGH band bookings, dance demos, social dances, and education.

If you’d like to create a special event focusing on this high-energy, soulful music, please contact us at zydeco at scn dot org. Be sure to check our upcoming house parties, dances, and other events, and visit us on Facebook!

Cajun music, and its close relative, Zydeco music, is one of the most exciting and vibrant genres of music in the world. It is music with similar and yet different roots…For over 150 years, French speaking Black Creole and Cajun cultures intermingled in the extremely isolated bayou and prairie areas of Southwest Louisiana, and from this mix came a style of music known as "French Music". Bands played house dances, and while the attendees seldom mixed races, the bands themselves would often be multiracial. French music was primarily fiddle-based.. When the accordion was invented in the late 1800s, and made its way to Louisiana it became a perfect instrument for the music, as its loud sound cut across noisy dance floors. During and after the World Wars the music genres became more distinct…. Creoles began adopting the piano accordion, not just the old Cajun diatonic accordion, for the versatility it lent. Cajuns incorporated country instruments like the steel guitar. Megan Romer, About.com Guide

Zydeco music evolved in southwest Louisiana from blues forms combined with Creole, Cajun, French, African and Caribbean musical traditions. You can enjoy this high-energy music with a syncopated beat by dancing or juts by listening and grooving. .
Zydeco (pronounced Zah-dee-ko) is the most contemporary expression of black Creole music. Zydeco, born out of a music called "lala", is a unique form of Black-Creole music native to
Southwest Louisiana. The music is said to have originated from many sources, but the influence of the blues and soul music is most significant in its development The Zydeco tradition of music was built by musicians with little or no formal training who improvised the music of their generation born in exile of ancient traditions displaced in a New World where elder ways did not stand in the way of new combinations. Zydeco bands are characterized by the use of the "frottoir" (metal washboard) played with thimbles, spoons or bottle openers; and the use of the accordion and the singing of rhythm, blues and soul in Creole French.. 5/2012 The Lafayette Convention & Visitors Commission

Cajun Music is bound by an ancient spirit. Somewhere between interlocked fiddle lines and accordion embellishments, in the spaces of silence between the notes, between the ringing tome of the ‘tit fer, the triangle, there is a soulful space where musicians and listeners visit one another. This space and the dancers and musical instruments that move around it, holds the emotional legacy of the
Cajun culture. -Todd Mouton Todd Mouton is a freelance writer based in Lafayette, LA
The Cajun sounds are a blend of German, Spanish, Scottish, Irish, Anglo-American, Afro-Caribbean and American Indian influences with a base of western French and French Acadian folk tradition. It is most noted for their up-beat tempos, cheerful lyrics and unique and fun dance rhythms. Current Trends in Cajun and Zydeco: Nowadays, many of the most popular Cajun and Zydeco artists are actually coming back to a sound more influenced by traditional French Music. Bands frequently intermingle, sharing songs, instruments and sounds. The genres of music are still distinctly different... it's just that now these differences are being embraced by both the musicians and the fans of the music. Megan Romer, About.com Guide

Celebrate this music with us by adding it to your next event.. music and dance in the Seattle area…