Cajun music

Cajun music (French: Musique cadienne) is a traditional genre of music from Louisiana. An emblematic music of Louisiana played by the Cajuns, it is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Although they are two separate genres, Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based zydeco music. Both are from southwest Louisiana and share French and African origins. These French Louisiana sounds have influenced American popular music for many decades, especially country music, and have influenced pop culture through mass media, such as television commercials.

Cajun music is relatively catchy with an infectious beat and a lot of forward drive, placing the accordion at the center. The accordionist gives the vocal melody greater energy by repeating most notes. Besides the voices, only two melodic instruments are heard, the accordion and fiddle, but usually in the background can also be heard the high, clear tones of a metal triangle. The harmonies of Cajun music are simple and the melodic range is just one octave, rising a fifth above the tonic and descending a fourth below. Because the Cajun accordion is a diatonic instrument (do-re-mi or natural major scale) it can only play tunes in a few keys. For example, a "C" accordion is tuned such that the entire C scale is available on the ten buttons (over two octaves) and it can play a tune in the key of C with all the notes of the C scale available (C-D-E-F-G-A-B).

It is unlikely that musical instruments were introduced to colonial Louisiana before around 1780. Although originally there were no instruments, there were songs. Families sang traditional French songs called complaintes which the Cajuns adapted to their new ways of life. The first known record was of a violin in 1780 and a fiddle and clarinet player in 1785. The diatonic accordion was introduced to Cajun music in the mid- to late-1800s. It became popular because of its volume which, along with the fiddle, created sufficient accompaniment for dancing. Originally, musicians and singers performed at house dance parties known as bals de maison. However Cajun music, born from ballads, later transformed to dance music—played with or without words. The music was essential for small get-togethers on the front porch, bals de maison, and public dances in dance halls called fais do-dos.

This style comprises the roots of Cajun dance music, involving only a few instruments such as the Cajun accordion, fiddle, and triangle. This form holds firm to a basic rhythm with staccato style notes, including many fiddle double stops. Each fiddle solo is composed of a major scale riff, repeated between verses. This form has existed since the early 1900s and the waltz and two-step are the most common dances of this Cajun music genre. Many songs that became standards in the Cajun music repertoire were first recorded in this period of the 1920s and 1930s. The first commercial recording of Cajun music, "Lafayette (Allon au Laufette)," was made by Joe Falcon and his future wife Cléoma Breaux for Columbia Records on April 27, 1928. A number of the most prominent traditional Cajun musicians are featured in the 1989 documentary J'ai Été Au Bal.