Zydeco is a music genre that was created in rural Southwest Louisiana by Afro-Americans of Creole heritage. It blends blues and rhythm and blues with music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles such as la la and juré, using the French accordion and a creole washboard instrument called the frottoir.
Buckwheat Zydeco with accordion
New Orleans Cajun-Zydeco Fest, 2019
Early Creole musicians playing an accordion and a washboard in front of a store, near Opelousas, Louisiana (1938).
Chenier Brothers performing at Jay's Lounge and Cockpit, Cankton, Louisiana, Mardi Gras, 1975
Louisiana Creoles are a Louisiana French ethnic group descended from the inhabitants of colonial Louisiana before it became a part of the United States during the period of both French and Spanish rule. They share cultural ties such as the traditional use of the French, Spanish, and Creole languages and predominant practice of Catholicism.
Image: Portrait of a Black Man by Julien Hudson 1835
Image: Marianne Celeste Dragon
Image: Portrait of Matias Francisco Alpuente y Ruiz by José Francisco Xavier de Salazar y Mendoza
Image: Jean Etienne Liotard Portrait of a Young Woman