The Cajun Chef
Cajun Music
Cajun music is the music of the descendants of French-speaking Catholics from Acadiana in Canada. The music is also referred to as French music because of this heritage, although not all modern Cajun music is sung in French. In fact, Cajun music has taken on many influences such as rock, country, and western swing, so a strict definition as French music does not tell the whole story. Cajun music was originally based on fiddle, and many feel that the fiddle is really at the heart and soul of the music. However, the accordion (of German heritage) plays a more prominent role in most modern Cajun music.
Cajun music is music of the primarily white, French speaking people living in Louisiana. Cajun music is distinct from zydeco music played by black Creoles living in Louisiana. Although Cajun and zydeco music share many common elements, especially common French and African roots, they are distinct and should not be confused. The term "Cajun" is an Anglicized rendition of "Cadien," which is a shortened version of "Acadien," the French word for Acadian. Cajuns carne to Louisiana after being expelled from the Acadian region of Nova Scotia for refusing to abandon their French culture, reject or disavow Catholicism, and swear allegiance to the British crown. After years of dispersion and separation, during which time they faced anti-French and anti-Catholicism in their temporary homes in England and British Atlantic seaboard colonies, they were finally reunited after 1765 in Louisiana.
In Louisiana, due in part to hostility from Anglo politicians, most Cajuns were downwardly mobile, and eventually endured an ethnic stigma which portrayed them as "white trash." During the twentieth century, Cajuns were nearly swallowed up in mainstream Anglo culture as several factors combined to break their isolation and exert pressure toward their assimilation and Americanization. These factors included two world wars, which drew thousands of Cajuns into the armed services; nationalistic pressures wrought in part by the wars; the development of the oil industry, which lured many Cajuns out of traditional livelihoods of farming and fishing; radio and television, which introduced new ways of life into traditional Cajun culture; and explicit pressure from the Louisiana state legislature to abandon their French culture in favor of Anglo culture. By the mid-twentieth century, these various factors of ethnic stigma, economic marginalization, and assimilation pressures drove Cajun culture to the brink of extinction.
Beginning in the 1960s, Cajun musicians initiated a cultural revival that would reverse years of assimilationist pressures, partly erase the ethnic stigma attached to Cajun identity, and contribute to economic vitality through tourism. In the late 1960s, when the Cajun Balfa Brothers began playing at folk festivals, most people had not heard of Cajuns or their music. By 1984, when Beausoleil first appeared on the Prairie Home Companion radio program, pockets of Cajun aficionados had appeared in cities far from the bayous of Louisiana. By the late 1980s, most people in the United States and Western Europe had directly experienced some form of Cajun culture, and many were on familiar terms with it. Threatened with extinction as recently as forty years ago, Cajun culture is now thriving. Cajun music has been one of the primary forces behind this cultural resurgence, giving Cajuns a focus for movements to recover pride in Cajun culture, to maintain the distinctiveness of Cajun culture while partially assimilating, and to undo years of social and political hostility against Cajuns in Louisiana.