Members ThumpThumpTwang Posted March 26, 2006 Members Posted March 26, 2006 I went and saw a zydeco band once. I don't remember much about the music, but I remember jumping up and down the whole time. Good fun.
Members Outkaster Posted March 26, 2006 Members Posted March 26, 2006 That is a COOL type of music, very hard to play. It is a great feel type of music.
Members SpacedCowboy Posted March 26, 2006 Members Posted March 26, 2006 The late, great Clifton Chenier...when it comes to Zydeco, he is the Alpha AND the Omega. Trust me.
Members THBv2.0 Posted March 26, 2006 Members Posted March 26, 2006 Originally posted by SpacedCowboy The late, great Clifton Chenier...when it comes to Zydeco, he is the Alpha AND the Omega. Trust me. Da kinga da Bayou!
Members Tedster Posted March 26, 2006 Members Posted March 26, 2006 Zydeco is cool. I remember hearing the band Buckwheat Zydeco live at the old Grand Emporium years ago. It's fun music to listen to live...but, it kinda loses something listening to recordings of it...to me, anyway.
Members tremolo531 Posted March 26, 2006 Members Posted March 26, 2006 I've seen a few zydeco bands before. It's an interesting type of music and really good.
Members Outrider Posted March 26, 2006 Members Posted March 26, 2006 Check out Beausoleil if you get the chance. They play lots of music festivals. A few years ago we were at Music Midtown in ATL an we skipped the Saturday headliners to catch Beausoleil on one of the small stages. Didn't regret it for a second! it was the highlight of the weekend! Their fans/roadies came out into the audience and started cajun reeling with all the ladies, and it was amazing to watch. FUN music!
Members Blackwatch Posted March 26, 2006 Members Posted March 26, 2006 I just played a benefit to help people that went through Katrina, and the friend that got me involved plays Zydeco. What was so cool was after my set a group of musicians got in a big circle and started playing. It was like going back in time. I could imagine how it used to be with everyone knowing what song was playing and everyone was really very good at their instruments. Alot of fun.......
Members light_without_heat Posted March 26, 2006 Members Posted March 26, 2006 I saw this dude frontin a zydeco band at July Jamm a local blues festival around here. He was like ... " I went'n threw in blues, funk, jazz, creole, some shrimp, and lotsa good feelins and out came a big ol batch a zydeco...." He owned the crowd from the point on. Most people around here don't get to experience something like this very often so LIncoln, Ne was an easy convert. I liked it right away but I also believe it's more powerful live. -light
Members way2fat Posted March 27, 2006 Members Posted March 27, 2006 Originally posted by Outrider Check out Beausoleil if you get the chance. They play lots of music festivals. A few years ago we were at Music Midtown in ATL an we skipped the Saturday headliners to catch Beausoleil on one of the small stages. Didn't regret it for a second! it was the highlight of the weekend! Their fans/roadies came out into the audience and started cajun reeling with all the ladies, and it was amazing to watch. FUN music! I used to play in a Cajun band and our big moment was opening for Beausoleil, about the biggest name in the small but passionate genre. Another very popular name is Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, along with the Balfa family (check out Christine Balfa and Balfa Toujours) and groups like the Mamou Praire Band (check out their smokin' album "L'Holiday"). For a Cajun band, opening for Beausoleil is like a rock band opening for The Who. Note that Zydeco and Cajun are two very distinct kinds of music that are often lumped together because they are both from South Louisiana and use accordions. To generalize, Cajun music uses various diatonic accordions, mostly the 10 button version they call a chanky-chank, the fiddle is the other lead instrument and vocals are usually in French. Hank Williams Sr. heard a lot of Cajun music gigging with guys like D.L Menard. Generally played by white people and the triangle is often used. Zydeco uses a piano type accordion and the vocals are usually in English, or the Creole version of English, anyway. Zydeco is a journalists mistranslation of Clifton Cheniers pronouncing "L'haricots" in response to a question of "What do you call that music?" L'haricots means "beans". Generally played by black people and the "rub" (washboard) is often used. One cool thing about Cajuns is that virtually every family down there has somebody that can play at least a couple of tunes on the fiddle or accordion, and that all of them, and I mean even the ones who don't play at all, have very strong opinions about say, Michael Doucet's fiddle playing vs. David Greely's fiddling. The upside is that musicians are accorded respect like doctors or lawyers, not looked at sideways like around here where I live. And they are dancing fools.
Members guitarmook Posted March 27, 2006 Members Posted March 27, 2006 I filled-in on guitar with a Zydeco band out in the country a few months ago... Good friends with the singer/accordian player. I've convinced them to come to town this weekend, and my other band is gonna open for them... should be FUN!
Members Beachbum Posted March 27, 2006 Author Members Posted March 27, 2006 Well I guess I've been missing out on some GREAT music. But I can assure you I'm going to correct that injustice. More zydeco music is needed in my life!
Members flip333 Posted March 27, 2006 Members Posted March 27, 2006 When I was 22 about 23 years ago, I saw a band play bluesy rockabilly with an accordian. It rocked! It was Zydeco. I love it.
Members Godot Posted March 27, 2006 Members Posted March 27, 2006 My old band billed ourselves as an "industrial zydeco" band. Two accorions, two guitars, two guys banging on large metallic objects.
Members vanlatte Posted March 27, 2006 Members Posted March 27, 2006 Good call, this is like the forgotten genre! I only saw one Zydeco band, think they were called "Bruce Danerpoint" or something (was quite a few years ago). I had never before nor have I since heard anything so energetic and fun. I agree, we need more Zydeco!
Members way2fat Posted March 27, 2006 Members Posted March 27, 2006 Bruce Daigrepont. And the genre hasn't been forgotten at all.
Members summit111 Posted March 28, 2006 Members Posted March 28, 2006 My Brothers, I live in South Louisiana and had a Zydeco band play at my wedding reception last year. My wife is Italian, so I had a small Italian group play a few traditional Italian wedding songs to kick things off. No one knew what was coming except my band mates. Some of the guests were giving curious looks to the Black and Creole guys on stage standing behind the Italian band. After the first dance, my wife and I got on stage to thank everyone for coming. She was also wondering about the "other guys" on stage. Then I announced, "Now that the Italians have had a few songs and dances, I have a special treat, Ladies and Gentlemen, from Lafayette, Louisiana, J.J. Callier and the Zydeco Knockouts!" When J.J. and his band kicked it off, the crowd went wild! I'll post some photos later.
Members way2fat Posted March 28, 2006 Members Posted March 28, 2006 Nice choice. We shared a bill with them and Donna Angelle and the Zydeco Posse at the Gumbo Ya-Ya in Rock Island, IL. I'm sure they had your crowd cuttin a rug.
Members elsongs Posted March 28, 2006 Members Posted March 28, 2006 I was in New Orleans almost exactly a year ago - 5 months before "The One-Eyed Bitch" destroyed the city - and my friends there took me to the Mid-City Rock N Bowl where this band from Lake Charles, LA called Sean Ardoin & Zydekool were playing. They did a Zydeco/R&B fusion and it was awesome. The did mostly originals but one cover that I tripped out over was a ydeco version of John Legend's "Ordinary People." NOLA has (had?) a whole bunch of genres that are generally unknown to those outside of the Bayou. Brass Band music is another one of them.
Members way2fat Posted March 28, 2006 Members Posted March 28, 2006 Coming to Carbondale April 15th, Galactic and the Rebirth Brass Band.
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