Cajun Music is the characteristic folk music tradition of the Louisiana Francophone community, known as Cajuns. It is characterised by particular instrumentation, including diatonic accordion, fiddle and acoustic guitar. The music of the Cajuns has become a hallmark of Southern American culture, and alongside jazz is one of the most distinctive genres of Louisiana’s musical tradition.

The story of Cajun music begins with the earliest French settlements in what was then known as Louisiana, starting in 1682. The French established colonies along the Missisippi and Illinois rivers and the Gulf of Mexico, and while settlers from France were reluctant to move into the unprofitable colony in the early 18th century, many French-Canadian settlers did settle there voluntarily. In 1762 and 1763, the French ceded the territory to England and withdrew from North America, shortly whereafter Louisiana was subject to Spanish occupation. Around 780 Acadians moved to Louisiana from Maryland and Pennsylvania (where they’d been deported), and 1600 more were deported from France after escaping from England. Nonetheless, most of the Francophone immigration from Canada and elsewhere in the USA during this period was voluntary. Immigrants at this time introduced a repertoire of traditional songs to the region (which would soon spread westward); many of these can be traced back to France. Spain returned Louisiana to the French in 1800, who then sold it to the USA in 1803 for $15 million; it then had a population of 50,000 who would soon be joined by 10,000 Francophone refugees from Cuba. By the 1830s, the Francophone population was a minority in Louisiana, and the economic importance of the port combined with Americanisation led to a gradual loss of Francophone culture, culminating in the prohibition of French from schools after WWII. Unfortunately, fewer than 2% of the Louisiana population today still speaks French. All this is to say, rather than a unified group of Acadian deportees, the Francophone population of Louisiana has always been diverse and incorporates a massive variety of cultures and traditions (not to mention the many Indigenous people who adopted the French language and way of life); the musical tradition reflects this diversity of styles and influences.

In the 19th century, diatonic accordions were introduced to Louisiana and were quickly adopted by Cajun and Creole musicians. During the early 20th century, while the Francophone population was a minority, there were numerous ethnographic recordings made of Cajun music by the likes of Alan Lomax. Cultural exchange with Texas began in the 1930s with the rise of Louisiana’s oil fields, and so the music of the time adopted elements of Texas’s popular country music. The music was actually disseminated widely through the mid-20th century; Harry Choates (a fiddler)’s song Jolie Blonde became a national hit in 1946. Other groups like Leo Soileau, the Hackberry Ramblers, and the Dixie Ramblers enjoyed some commercial success. However, only during the 1960s and 70s did Cajun culture qua Cajun culture become a point of interest to many; following the second world war, the accordion was reintroduced.

During the 1970s, Cajun culture and identity came under renewed interest, including Revon Reed’s Lâche pas la patate (1976), a book portraying the French population of Louisiana; by the 1990s, Cajun music was increasingly being disseminated by revival groups. Zachary Richard released Cap Enragé (1996), his first internationally acclaimed Francophone album, and artists such as the Lost Bayou Ramblers and Bruce Daigrepont became important; festivals such as the Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival and Festival international de Louisiane served to preserve these traditions. The band BeauSoleil also became a national hit, winning several Grammy Awards for their work in the 1990s. Indeed, the Grammy Awards have incorporated a separate category, “Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album,” in 2007. The Council for the development of French in Louisiana had founded the Festivals Acadiens, an annual festival, and Action Cadienne, an association for preserving the French language, was founded in 1996 by Zachary Richard and others. Under Jean Lesage, the Quebec government had signed a ‘cultural cooperation agreement’ with Louisiana and established quasi-diplomatic relations until the 1990s. While Cajun music never really died out, as a living tradition it has changed drastically over the centuries, and this can be heard in the 100 years of recordings available.

Suggested sources:

Wikipedia, History of Cajun Music. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cajun_music

Wikipedia, Zachary Richard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachary_Richard

The Canadian Encyclopedia, French-speaking Louisiana and Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/french-speaking-louisiana-and-canada

Explore Louisiana, Cajun Music in Louisiana. https://www.explorelouisiana.com/articles/cajun-music-louisiana

Further reading:

Zachary Richard (1950–)

Parlez-nous à boire

Suggested Listening:

Zachary Richard, Cap Enragé. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wUPjs1a9RvE