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Epilogue: Escaping Isolation

Ryan André Brasseaux

in Cajun Breakdown: The Emergence of an American Made Music

Using the new “Best Zydeco and Cajun Music Album” Grammy Award category as an analytical lens, this conclusion denounces Cajun isolation by suggesting a revaluation of the cultural processes that ... More

Using the new “Best Zydeco and Cajun Music Album” Grammy Award category as an analytical lens, this conclusion denounces Cajun isolation by suggesting a revaluation of the cultural processes that have shaped the community’s cultural and musical orientation through time.Less

Introduction: Framing Cajun Music

Ryan André Brasseaux

in Cajun Breakdown: The Emergence of an American Made Music

This Introduction situates historically the Cajun community’s position within the broader cultural currents of the United States. The evolution of Cajun instrumentation, the earliest influences ... More

This Introduction situates historically the Cajun community’s position within the broader cultural currents of the United States. The evolution of Cajun instrumentation, the earliest influences acting on the genre—including minstrelsy, showboats, and travelling entertainment—frame this Introduction to Cajun music’s pre-commercial history. This chapter argues that interaction, not isolation, attributed to the vibrancy of Cajun musicLess

Social Music

Ryan André Brasseaux

in Cajun Breakdown: The Emergence of an American Made Music

Dance culture and the social contexts that shaped Cajun musical traditions through 1950 constitute the primary focus of this study. Cajun musical expression is considered here, in relation to the ... More

Dance culture and the social contexts that shaped Cajun musical traditions through 1950 constitute the primary focus of this study. Cajun musical expression is considered here, in relation to the varied social dynamics acting on the genre, through an analytical lens categorizing musical expression into one of three distinct, but complementary roles within its host community: home music, sung a cappella for pleasure in a domestic setting for friends, family, or personal enjoyment; ritualistic ballad recitations at significant events straddling secular and religious social spheres; and dance music performed at bals de maison (house dances) and later dance halls—a distinctive style that would be exploited commercially in the early 20th century. The contexts surrounding this vernacular American music satisfied the group’s basic needs for self-expression, social interaction, courtship, and entertainment. This chapter concludes that social context is a crucial factor in the Cajun musical equation that ultimately shapes and defines this brand of ethnic cultural expression.Less

Early Commercial Era

Ryan André Brasseaux

in Cajun Breakdown: The Emergence of an American Made Music

This chapter examines the dawn of Cajun recording. The Cajun community’s relationship to recording technology, the evolving nature of America’s recording industry, and Cajun music’s relationship to ... More

This chapter examines the dawn of Cajun recording. The Cajun community’s relationship to recording technology, the evolving nature of America’s recording industry, and Cajun music’s relationship to the ethnic, race, and hillbilly markets, are examined to illustrate the cultural intersections between the Bayou Country and America writ large. The pioneering recording careers of Joe Falcon, Cleoma Breaux Falcon, and Leo Soileau are also offered as further examples of the recording industry’s impact on local traditions and perceptions of Cajun music.Less

A Heterogeneous Tradition

Ryan André Brasseaux

in Cajun Breakdown: The Emergence of an American Made Music

Bayou Country’s musical terrain and the cultural and historical undercurrents that expanded the genre’s repertoire, stylistic range, and instrumental conventions are outlined in this chapter. Three ... More

Bayou Country’s musical terrain and the cultural and historical undercurrents that expanded the genre’s repertoire, stylistic range, and instrumental conventions are outlined in this chapter. Three factors encouraged heterogeneity in the Louisiana’s musical traditions: a musical network that stimulated exchange between musicians, thereby diversifying Louisiana’s soundscape; the historical idiosyncrasies and ethnic variation shaping cultural production in rural enclaves; and the tension between traditional and innovative tendencies within the genre. Residual colonial song structures performed by guitarist Blind Uncle Gaspard, Dennis McGee’s enigmatic fiddling that crossed stylistic and racial boundaries, the friction between conservative and progressive inclinations in regional Cajun popular culture, as performed by Leo Soileau and Moïse Robin, and Cajun readings of American popular culture as interpreted by accordionists Lawrence Walker and Nathan Abshire are used as points of departure in this discussion of heterogeneous musical expression on 78 rpm record.Less

Cajun Swing Era

Ryan André Brasseaux

in Cajun Breakdown: The Emergence of an American Made Music

The historical and cultural forces pushing together traditional Cajun, hillbilly, western swing, jazz, and American popular music, and the musical synthesis that ensued, form the foundation of this ... More

The historical and cultural forces pushing together traditional Cajun, hillbilly, western swing, jazz, and American popular music, and the musical synthesis that ensued, form the foundation of this chapter. Cajun swing embodied the growing popularity and availability of mass media. Cultural shifts also acted on the burgeoning style. The petroleum industry, compulsory English-only education, the disruptive effects of the 1927 flood, new roads, automobiles, and two world wars exposed rural Cajuns to a larger reality, while plugging the ethnic group into the pulse of American popular culture at an unprecedented pace. Disposable incomes generated by opportunities in the oil patch augmented the stratification of Cajun society and facilitated the acquisition of technological amenities—particularly phonographs, records, and radios. America was open to the Cajun community for those who opted to avail themselves of the opportunities this access afforded.Less

Sylvester S. Moran (8/21/1893—8/17/1987)

Harry Bolick, Tony Russell, T. DeWayne Moore, Joyce A. Cauthen, and David Evans

in Fiddle Tunes from Mississippi: Commercial and Informal Recordings, 1920-2018

What little we know of Mr. Moran comes from the notes on the 1980 Mississippi Sawyers LP recording and from his appearance at the 1974 Festival of American Folklife in Washington, DC. He was born ... More

What little we know of Mr. Moran comes from the notes on the 1980 Mississippi Sawyers LP recording and from his appearance at the 1974 Festival of American Folklife in Washington, DC. He was born near Gulfport, about thirty miles from New Orleans, in Kiln, MS. The youngest of nine children, he was a third-generation fiddler, starting around age twelve with some tunes from his father. He also learned tunes by going to Saturday-night socials and from fiddlers at local logging camps. “Catahoula Blues” is a tune that he first heard in a logging camp around 1917.Less

The History of French in Louisiana

Nathalie Dajko

in French on Shifting Ground: Cultural and Coastal Erosion in South Louisiana

This chapter introduces the reader to Louisiana French. Four varieties of French are generally recognized by linguists: Colonial French, Plantation Society French, Louisiana Creole, and Louisiana ... More

This chapter introduces the reader to Louisiana French. Four varieties of French are generally recognized by linguists: Colonial French, Plantation Society French, Louisiana Creole, and Louisiana Regional French (most commonly called Cajun French). The French of the Lafourche Basin is classified as Louisiana Regional French. The chapter outlines the similarities and differences between the three, and then focuses in particular on Louisiana Regional French, providing a historical outline of its development and a brief description of its features in comparison to Standard French. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the variation found in Louisiana French across the state. This sets the scene for the detailed description of the language as it is spoken in the Lafourche country, the language at the center of place-based identity in Terrebonne-Lafourche.Less

From Chanky-Chank to Yankee Chanks: The Cajun Accordion as Identity Symbol

Mark F. Dewitt

in The Accordion in the Americas: Klezmer, Polka, Tango, Zydeco, and More!

The diatonic button accordion has been played by musicians the world over, but it has attained a uniquely prominent status in Louisiana Cajun culture. Over the decades, this one particular type of ... More

The diatonic button accordion has been played by musicians the world over, but it has attained a uniquely prominent status in Louisiana Cajun culture. Over the decades, this one particular type of accordion has served as a tabula rasa onto which have been projected changing views of Cajun music and the status of Cajun ethnic identity. This chapter shows how the changing politics of identity in post-civil rights America has enabled Cajuns to turn the accordion's (and their own) “chanky-chank” (low-class) stigma into a powerful symbol of ethnic identity and pride. Cajuns' renewed interest in and valuation of accordion music has also spilled over to a young generation of musicians, including non-Cajun “Yankee chank” accordion players.Less

Identity: The Struggle to Stay Afloat

Jill Ann Harrison

in Buoyancy on the Bayou: Shrimpers Face the Rising Tide of Globalization

This chapter focuses on those who remained fishers. It highlights how their loyalty to their way of life is grounded in a rich Cajun cultural history and constructed with great respect to family ... More

This chapter focuses on those who remained fishers. It highlights how their loyalty to their way of life is grounded in a rich Cajun cultural history and constructed with great respect to family structures and the resource-rich landscape that provides the backdrop to their everyday lives. Shrimp fishers are loyal to their way of life in large part because fishing is a highly valued part of their cultural identities as Cajuns. Work and family lives are intertwined, and the meanings given to each are forged out of a rich and unique landscape filled with boats, marshes, and a bounty of resources. Unraveling these important cultural elements—work, family, and landscape—would cause significant disruption to these identities.Less

“Wondering”: Riverside Ramblers Bluebird B-6926

Tony Russell

in Rural Rhythm: The Story of Old-Time Country Music in 78 Records

This chapter discusses Riverside Ramblers, “Wondering”, Hackberry Ramblers, stringband, Louisiana Cajun music, and Bluebird Records

Louisiana

Charlotte Adelman and Bernard L Schwartz

in Prairie Directory of North America: The United States, Canada, and Mexico

This chapter provides a historical background of Louisiana's prairies followed by a list of prairies by county. Each site is briefly described, followed by symbols showing site features, a brief ... More

This chapter provides a historical background of Louisiana's prairies followed by a list of prairies by county. Each site is briefly described, followed by symbols showing site features, a brief location, and a phone number. Southwest Louisiana's tallgrass coastal prairie, also known as Coastal Prairie or Cajun Prairie, once covered 2.5 million acres. Today, less than 1 percent or about 1,000 acres remain. Most lie in unplowed railroad rights-of-way or isolated ridges surrounded by marsh. Louisiana tallgrass prairie was similar in composition to that of the Midwest—a semi-arid region. Its occurrence and persistence in a state where average annual rainfall exceeds 50 inches is attributed to extreme conditions hindering woodlands: heavy clay soils and frequent fires. Research also reveals that Louisiana's coastal prairies hold a special assemblage of plants, making it a distinct prairie type.Less

History and Variation in Louisiana French

Nathalie Dajko

in Language in Louisiana: Community and Culture

This is an overview of the range of French spoken in Louisiana and the historical forces that created the francophone landscape we have today.

Cajun English: A Linguistic and Cultural Profile

Katie Carmichael

in Language in Louisiana: Community and Culture

This is an overview of the historical and cultural forces that created Cajun English, including a discussion of some of the dialects more prominent features.

Better than Nothing: Broomstick Weddings in European American Ritual Practice

Tyler D. Parry

in Jumping the Broom: The Surprising Multicultural Origins of a Black Wedding Ritual

The use of the broomstick wedding among European-American communities is an understudied component of this ritual history, and this chapter provides the first extended treatment of the marital ... More

The use of the broomstick wedding among European-American communities is an understudied component of this ritual history, and this chapter provides the first extended treatment of the marital phenomenon among people of European descent in the United States. Marginalized communities in isolated areas, such as white people in Appalachia, Cajuns in the Louisiana bayous, and miners in the rural American west, were inclined to adopt the ritual due to geographical circumstances that made access to ministers difficult. Like most other populations, each group shows a unique approach to performing the ritual, suggesting how each of them employed elements of cultural autonomy. Additionally, the chapter argues that many white Americans, especially those linked to cultures based on oral tradition, retained an understanding of “jumping the broom” in their colloquial speech. Just as many recognize “tying the knot” as an expression for marriage, “jumping the broom” was also similarly popular in regional vernaculars of European Americans throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.Less

Prelude: Down At The Twist And Shout

Mark F. DeWitt

in Cajun and Zydeco Dance Music in Northern California: Modern Pleasures in a Postmodern World

This book focuses on a vibrant Cajun and zydeco music and dance scene in the San Francisco Bay Area and nearby regions of northern California. This chapter describes the themes central to the book, ... More

This book focuses on a vibrant Cajun and zydeco music and dance scene in the San Francisco Bay Area and nearby regions of northern California. This chapter describes the themes central to the book, including the wide dissemination of symbols of Cajun culture, tourism, and the meeting of cultural insiders and outsiders on the dance floor. It examines Mary Chapin Carpenter’s song “Down At The Twist And Shout” as a starting point for a discussion of themes that will resurface in other chapters. The romance of travel is a central theme of the song, and the coupling of its lyrical content with its commercial success as a pop song makes it ripe for an analysis of what its success says about its audience(s). In this case, “Down At The Twist And Shout” embodies a larger trend in popular culture to rehabilitate the image of Cajuns and to treat aspects of their culture as objects of touristic desire.Less

Identity Issues, Research Methods, and Ethnography

Mark F. DeWitt

in Cajun and Zydeco Dance Music in Northern California: Modern Pleasures in a Postmodern World

This chapter addresses questions of identity as they apply to Cajun and Creole history, to the author and his research methods, and to how the book is written. In the course of the discussion, the ... More

This chapter addresses questions of identity as they apply to Cajun and Creole history, to the author and his research methods, and to how the book is written. In the course of the discussion, the meaning of the book’s subtitle, Modern Pleasures in a Postmodern World, becomes evident.Less