The Kingdom of Zydeco
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
“An important book for anyone with an interest in life, American music, Southern culture, dancing, accordions, the recording industry, folklore, old dance clubs in the weeds, fortune tellers, hoodoos or shotguns.” —Annie Proulx
There’s a musical kingdom in the American South that’s not marked on any map. Stretching from the prairies of Louisiana to the oil towns of East Texas, it is ruled over accordion-squeezing, washboard-wielding musicians such as Buckwheat Zydeco, Nathan Williams, Keith Frank, Terrance Simien, Rosie Ledet, and C. J. Chenier. Theirs is the kingdom of zydeco. With its African-Caribbean rhythms, Creole-French-English lyrics, and lively dance styles, zydeco has spread from its origins in Louisiana across the nation, from Back Bay to the Bay Area. It has influenced the music of Eric Clapton and Paul Simon and been played at Carnegie Hall.
In this remarkable and engrossing book, Michael Tisserand reveals why zydeco’s identifiable and unforgettable blend of blues and Cajun influences has made the dance music of Louisiana black Creoles so popular and widespread. Zydeco’s appeal runs deeper than the feel-good, get-up-and-dance reaction it invariably elicits and is intertwined in the music’s roots and rhythms, handed down from generation to generation. Here is the story of zydeco music. Tisserand goes on the zydeco trail to meet the major artists; he reconstructs the legends behind the music’s beginnings, offering complete biographies of pioneers such as Amédé Ardoin and Clifton Chenier; and he takes you into the dance halls and onto the front porches where zydeco was born and continues to thrive. More than a book on a musical style, The Kingdom of Zydeco is an exploration and a celebration of a distinctive American culture.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The zesty dance music created by black, French-speaking inhabitants of southwestern Louisiana originated early in the 20th century as "house music" for Saturday-night parties at which sharecroppers danced away their troubles. Tisserand, a New Orleans-based music journalist, here uses oral histories, contemporary documents and photos (interspersed throughout), and firsthand research, to chart the prime movers of the genre, from its earliest stirrings to the present. There is Amede Ardoin, whose recordings in the late 1920s and '30s set the standard with their accordion-driven rhythms and vocals that delivered traditional French songs with blues-inflected passion. Clifton Chenier, in the 1950s and '60s, reflected the blend of down-home roots and new cosmopolitanism as black Louisianans took jobs in Houston during the oil boom. Chenier incorporated R&B and rock & roll into the swinging zydeco sound, just as the contemporary musicians Tisserand profiles include hip-hop and rap riffs in their songs. The author certainly does justice to the complexity of the zydeco tradition, and he includes everyone from crossover successes like Buckwheat Zydeco to resolute traditionalists like Boozoo Chavis, yet his narrative is too dense for all but the most devoted aficionado. Colorful though his subjects are, the lengthy quotes from interviews could profitably have been halved. And his claims for zydeco's popularity today are out of date: his prime examples of mainstream assimilation, Paul Simon's album Graceland and the movie The Big Easy, were both released in the 1980s. Nonetheless, this comprehensive assessment is a must for fans.
