Boogaloo Swamis
You know you're from Louisiana when...
-Your sunglasses fog up when you step outside.
-You reinforce your attic to store Mardi Gras beads.
-You save newspapers, not for recycling but for tablecloths at crawfish boils.
-When you give directions you use Up da bayou, Down da Bayou, and Across da bayou.
-Your ancestors are buried above the ground.
-You take a perogue to go to the grocery store.
-You eat something hot but you still add some more Tony's!!!
-Every once in a while, you have waterfront property.
-You sit down to eat boiled crawfish and your host says, "Don't eat the dead ones," and you know what he means.
-You don't learn until high school that Mardi Gras is not a national holiday.
-You push little old ladies out of the way to catch Mardi Gras beads.
-Little old ladies push YOU out of the way to catch Mardi Gras beads.
-You leave a parade with footprints on your hands.
-You believe that purple, green, and gold look good together.
-Your from one of the Bayous and you know everybody by their Nickname rather than their Real name!
-You know what a nutria rat is but you still pick it to represent your FOOTBALL team.
-No matter where else you go in the world, you are always disappointed in the food.
-Your town is low on the education chart, high on the obesity chart and you don't care because you're No. 1 on the party chart!!!!
-Your house payment is less than your utility bill.
-You're gunna see some boobs on a Parade Route.
-You know that Tchoupitoulas is a street and not a disease.
-Your grandparents are called "Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw."
-Your Santa Claus rides an alligator and your favorite Saint is a football player.
-You have to reset your clocks after every thunderstorm.
-You're walking in the French Quarter with a plastic cup of beer.
-When it starts to rain, you cover your beer instead of your head.
-You eat dinner out and spend the entire meal talking about all the other good places you've eaten.
-Awhalago is all one word. meaning "a while ago".
You're from Louisiana if You actually get these jokes!!!
What is Zydeco?
Zydeco is a popular accordion-based musical genre hailing from the prairies of south-central and southwest Louisiana. Contrary to popular belief, it is not Cajun in origin; rather, zydeco is the music of south Louisiana’s Creoles of Color, who borrowed many of zydeco’s defining elements from Cajun music. (In turn, Cajun music borrowed many of its traits from Creole music.) The word zydeco (also rendered zarico, zodico, zordico, and zologo) derives from the French expression les haricots, meaning "beans." Folk etymology holds that the genre obtained this name from the common Creole expression "Les haricots sont pas salés" ("The beans aren’t salty"). This phrase has appeared in many Creole songs, and serves as the title of a popular zydeco recording (also called "Zydeco est pas salé").
Without debunking this etymology, folklorist Barry Jean Ancelet has noted that this explanation has been generally accepted without much critical analysis. He also has observed that variations on the word zydeco appear in black French songs from as far away as the Indian Ocean. Most interestingly, Ancelet contends that Les haricots sont pas salés is a lyrical metaphor for difficult times: in the past, Creoles seasoned their food, such as beans (les haricots), with salted meat — when times were bad, salted meat became too expensive, which explained why "the beans aren’t salty."
Zydeco is actually the most modern form of Creole music from Acadiana, and it first appeared after World War II, when pioneers of the genre like Clifton Chenier and BooZoo Chavis combined more traditional sounds with new rhythm and blues elements. In fact, the first zydeco-ish recording was Clarence Garlow’s hit "Bon Ton Roula," issued in 1949 on the Macy’s label. (Earlier forms of la musique créole were called, for instance, juré, la-la, and pic-nic, and are perhaps best represented by the recordings of Creole accordionist Amédé Ardoin.) Zydeco has evolved considerably over the decades, and now draws on pop music sources like soul, disco, rap, and even reggae. It also is increasingly performed in English, instead of in its original Creole dialect. And, oddly, it generally is regarded as "party music" — even though early zydeco drew heavily on "low-down" blues elements (as demonstrated by Clifton Chenier’s repertoire).
Zydeco frequently appears in movies, TV programs, and commercials — even more so than Cajun music, which, unlike zydeco, has retained much of its traditional flavor. It has attracted a loyal worldwide outside Louisiana, as demonstrated by the large numbers of "zydeco dancers" on the east and west coasts. Despite its commercialization (and Americanization), zydeco remains a relevant means of cultural expression for the Creoles of Acadiana.
What Is A Creole?
-Creole Girls, Plaquemines Parish
Always a controversial and confusing term, the word Creole, to put it simply, means many things to many people. It derives from the Latin creare, meaning "to beget" or "create." After the New World’s discovery, Portuguese colonists used the word crioulo to denote a New World slave of African descent. Eventually, the word was applied to all New World colonists, regardless of ethnic origin, living along the Gulf Coast, especially in Louisiana. There the Spanish introduced the word as criollo, and during Louisiana’s colonial period (1699-1803) the evolving word Creole generally referred to persons of African or European heritage born in the New World.
By the nineteenth century, black, white, and mixed-race Louisianians used the term to distinguish themselves from foreign-born and Anglo-American settlers. It was during that century that the mixed-race Creoles of Color (or gens de couleur libre, "free persons of color") came into their own as an ethnic group, enjoying many of the legal rights and privileges of whites. They occupied a middle ground between whites and enslaved blacks, and as such often possessed property and received formal educations. After the Civil War, most Creoles of Color lost their privileged status and joined the ranks of impoverished former black slaves. All the while, however, the word Creole persisted as a term also referring to white Louisianians, usually of upper-class, non-Cajun origin (although, confusingly, even Cajuns sometimes were called Creoles, primarily by outsiders unfamiliar with local ethnic labels). Like the Creoles of Color, these white Creoles (also called French Creoles) suffered socioeconomic decline after the Civil War. In Acadiana, newly impoverished white Creoles often intermarried with the predominantly lower-class Cajuns, and were largely assimilated into Cajun culture.
Many names of French Creole origin, like Soileau, Fontenot, and François, are now widely considered Cajun. And today Creole is most often used in Acadiana to refer to persons of full or mixed African heritage. It is generally understood among these Creoles that Creole of Color still refers to Creoles of mixed-race heritage, while the term black Creole refers to Creoles of more or less pure African descent. Increasingly, both African-derived groups are putting aside old animosities (based largely on skin color and social standing) to work for mutual preservation, and as such often merely describe themselves as Creole.
In 1982 they founded a preservation group, C.R.E.O.L.E., Inc. (Cultural Resourceful Educational Opportunities toward Linguistic Enrichment), which operates along the lines of CODOFIL. In 1990 they began to publish Creole Magazine, which contains articles by and about Creoles in southwest Louisiana. Their popular ethnic music, known as zydeco, is celebrated annually at the Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival in Plaisance. Creoles of African descent exerted a strong influence on Cajun culture (and vice versa), affecting, for example, the Cajuns' music, foodways, and religious practices. Ultimately, however, the word Creole remains murky, with some individuals (black, white, and mixed-race) futilely claiming the right of exclusive use. As the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture states, perhaps the "safest" course is to say that a Creole is "anyone who says he is one."
Sources: Brasseaux, Creoles of Color in the Bayou Country; Dormon, "Preface"; Encyclopedia of Southern Culture; Reed, 1001 Things Everybody Should Know about the South; Tregle, "Creoles and Americans"; Tregle, "On that Word ‘Creole’ Again."
Sounds Like
CHECK OUT SOME OF THESE LINKS TO FRIENDS OF BOOGALOO SWAMIS
Boogaloo Swamis: live at Passim Coffeehouse / from the Boston Phoenix
Now that the temperate solo troubadours dominate the coffeehouse market, it's easy to forget the days when folk basements often showcased a more rambunctious pack of performers. The old Club 47 offered a grab bag of quasi-folk noisemakers from the Charles River Valley Boys to visiting blues brawlers like Muddy Waters and Junior Wells. But thanks to a well hyped acoustic-music renaissance, local concert moguls have been steadily luring away both high-priced ensembles and seasoned folkie stars, leaving the coffeehouses with a dwindling pool of quality singer-songwriters. In an admirable attempt to stalk some new game, the Passim promoters tossed in a wild card by booking the Boogaloo Swamis, a five piece band of local eclectics ostensibly dispensing Cajun and zydeco dance music. Less selective than native Louisiana purveyors of those styles, like Beausoliel and Queen Ida, the Swamis spliced in enough blues rave-ups and plain rock and roll to re-create the Cambridge make-shift-dropout mode of Kweskin's Jug Band and the Holy Modal Rounders.
On stage at Passim, washboard-clad Mickey Bones led his quintet through a smorgasbord of bayou standards ("Jolie Blon"), upbeat zydeco (Cleveland Crochet's "Sugar Bee"), country crossovers (Hank Williams' "Jambalaya"), and saucy blues stomps (Howlin' Wolf's "Built for Comfort"). Guitarist Joe Pete crooned Creole French on "Back Door" and "Port Arthur Blues". The show was buoyed by first rate instrumentals. Accordion and fiddle twirled Mardi Gras sounds behind rejuvenated warhorses like "Diggy Diggy Lo". Ever true to real tradition, the Boogaloo Swamis frequently disassembled and rearranged zesty blues calls. They hit their peak when Bones took a deadpan tenor turn on Little Feat's "Rocket In My Pocket" with fiddle slithering over low accordion drones. If the folkies begin to adopt more renegades like the Boogaloo Swamis, coffeehouses everywhere may start widening their dance floors and start sneaking rum into the hot cider.
What Is Cajun Music?
Cajun music has a long and complex genealogy. Acadians in pre-expulsion Nova Scotia preserved a musical heritage rooted in medieval France. After the expulsion, those seeking refuge in subtropical South Louisiana apparently carried no instruments, though they had obtained fiddles by the dawn of the nineteenth century. The exiled Acadians performed not only old compositions that had survived the expulsion, but they also composed new tunes, often concerning themes of death, loneliness, and ill-fated love — a reaction to their harsh exile and rough frontier experience.
In Louisiana the Acadians shortly began to encounter and intermarry with other ethnic groups, fostering their evolution into a new ethnic group called, the Cajuns. Creoles of African descent exerted a major influence on the Cajuns' developing music. Later in the century local merchants imported affordable, durable accordions, which spurred the instrument's rise in popularity among Cajun musicians. In 1928 phonograph companies began to record Cajun music in an effort to sell more players. Standard versions of classics like "Allons à Lafayette," "Hip et Taïaut" and "Jolie blonde" emerged from these early commercial recordings.
-Dennis McGee
During the 1920s and 1930s, Cajuns experienced a period of increased Americanization, prompted largely by the discovery of oil in south Louisiana and the building of new highways. These factors led to an influx of Anglo-American workers, who imported a love for country and western music. (In addition, some Cajuns moved to southeast Texas, where they found jobs in Beaumont-Port Arthur-Orange area oilfields and refineries.) Reacting to these new influences, Cajuns emulated Anglo-American string bands, highlighting the guitar and fiddle at the accordion's expense.
-Aldus Roger
Indeed, the accordion practically disappeared from Cajun music between 1935-1950. At this time, Cajuns added the steel guitar, bass, drums, and even banjos and mandolins to their lineup. By the late 1940s, however, the accordion again dominated Cajun music, resurrected by accordionists like Iry LeJeune, Lawrence Walker, and Nathan Abshire, and by war veterans seeking relief in "old-time" music. Although the guitar and fiddle receded to backing roles, Cajun groups kept the steel guitar, upright bass, and drums, all remnants of the string-band era. The accordion's return, however, corresponded with the arrival of two increasingly popular national genres — rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll (represented in South Louisiana by the "swamp pop" sound).
-Nathan Abshire
Cajun music appeared to many on the verge of extinction. Then, in 1964, Cajun musicians appeared to critical acclaim at the Newport Folk Festival. This helped to trigger the "Cajun revival," which began in earnest around 1968 with the founding of CODOFIL (Council for the Development of French in Louisiana), and reached a milestone in 1974 with the first Tribute to Cajun Music festival (now part of Festivals Acadiens) in Lafayette. At the same time, young Cajun musicians like Michael Doucet and Zachary Richard were pushing the limits of Cajun music, combining it with other sounds in a way similar to swamp pop musicians in the 1950s. During the early to mid-1980s, Cajun music (as well as zydeco) experienced a worldwide boom in popularity that continues to the present. The Cajun French Music Association (CFMA) exists to preserve traditional Cajun music.
What is a Cajun?
-Doug Kershaw (the "Ragin' Cajun")
Dictionaries generally define Cajun as "a Louisianian who descends from French-speaking Acadians." However, many common Cajun surnames are not Acadian in origin, but rather are Spanish, German or French Creole. Some are even of Anglo or Scotch-Irish origin. Although modern Cajuns are largely homogenous, their ancestry consists of a mixture of many ethnic groups. Most early Acadians originated in the Centre-Ouest region of France, but others came from families of Spanish, Irish, Scottish, English, Basque, and, in a few instances, American Indian heritage. After their 1755 expulsion from Nova Scotia, Acadians seeking refuge in South Louisiana again intermixed with other ethnic groups, particularly with French, Spanish, German, and, later, Anglo-American settlers, as well as Indians (albeit to a lesser extent). Historian Carl A. Brasseaux has shown, for example, that after the Civil War over fifty percent of brides and grooms with Acadian surnames were marrying persons with non-Acadian surnames.
Cajuns borrowed much of their culture from their black Creole neighbors. This cross-cultural pollination in Acadia and South Louisiana changed many dissimilar ethnic groups into a single new ethnic group — the Cajuns. Cajuns thus derive not only from French-speaking Acadians, but from several ethnic groups over which Acadian culture prevailed (at least until this century, when Cajuns underwent a wide-spread process of rapid Americanization).
