The Origins of Cajun music

Cajun music is the traditional music of French-speaking southwest Louisiana. The word "Cajun" derives from "Acadian"; the original Acadians were French colonists in what is now known as Nova Scotia. As a result of the British gaining control of this territory in 1755, the Acadian settlers were forced to leave their homes, and many fled to Louisiana, at that time a French possession. They settled in the western part of the state, where, because of their isolation, they were able to maintain their French culture. Over the years, other ethnic groups (including African-Americans, Germans, Spanish, and Irish) have settled in Cajun country but they have all become absorbed into the French Cajun culture. The French-speaking African-Americans of southwest Louisiana are known as Creoles, and have made a very important musical contribution to Cajun music; "Zydeco" music is a more modern form of African-American music from southwest Louisiana.

The music of the California Cajun Orchestra and the Aux Cajunals is an older traditional style of Cajun music than is usually heard nowadays; its roots go back more than 100 years. The dance tunes include the waltz, the two-step, the one-step, and the Creole shuffle. Cajun-French song lyrics deal with timeless topics such as love, work, death. Many are sad songs: "You quit me to go away with someone else, and my heart is breaking!" Others have lyrics such as "I work hard all week long, and on Saturday night I go to the dance and have a big time!"

The Musical Instruments

The musical instruments used by the CCO and the Aux Cajunals include the one-row diatonic accordion, the violin (or fiddle), and the steel-string guitar. The Cajun accordion has one row of melody buttons, which produce a different note depending on whether the bellows are being pushed or pulled (much like a harmonica), and two chord buttons, which also produce different notes on the push and the pull. Each melody note has four reeds in three different registers. Because the accordion has only one row of melody notes, it can only play in certain keys (for example, a C accordion mainly plays in C and G, but sometimes F or D). Our accordions were made in Eunice, Louisiana by master accordion builder Marc Savoy. The fiddle is often tuned a whole step low (when playing along with a C accordion), which allows the fiddler to use open strings when playing in C and G. The fiddler sometimes plays the melody and at other times plays a chordal accompaniment known as "seconding". The steel-string guitar is played with a flatpick, providing both harmonic and rhythmic accompaniment to the melody instruments.

Suggested reading and viewing

• Cajun Music: A Reflection of a People by Ann Allen Savoy, published by Bluebird Press
• J'ai Ete Au Bal, a film by Les Blank and Chris Strachwitz, distributed by Flower Films.
• These and many other excellent resource materials are available from Down Home Music