When walking the streets of Louisiana, there are numerous sources of music. Whether it be at a festival, bar, or just on the streets, Louisiana never disappoints. Louis Armstrong, Tim McGraw, Buddy Guy, Lil Wayne, Frank Ocean, and Britney Spears are just a few of the legends to originate from this region. Louisiana can be split into three main sections and from here we can analyze the musical influence of each. The sections are: the southern region, the northern region, and New Orleans.
Southern Region-
Getting influence from the French, Scottish, and Canadian, the Southern region of Louisiana is known for their contribution in creole music, cajun music, zydeco, swing out, swamp blues and swamp pop. Creole music roots from early folk and French. The major instruments include the accordion, the fiddle, and the triangle. Creole evolved into the more modern zydeco music. Zydeco is more contemporary and amplified style of music sung in French. The main instrument is a metal waterboard. Cajun music also branched from creole music. The fiddle is the predominant instrument and it sounds like early country/folk music. It is almost always a two-step or waltz. Swing out music is originated out of Zydeco. The biggest difference is that swing out doesn't include and instruments. Swamp blues was formed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is a mix between zydeco and cajun genres, with a slow tempo. Swamp pop is rock n roll based genre with influences from New Orleans and R&B/soul.
Here is a video from Mardi Gras several years ago. There is a slideshow of pictures to help you understand the culture while getting to hear the tradition Creole/Zydeco music that is still used today!
Northern Region-
Boarded by the Texas and the Mississippi Delta, the region is almost entirely known for its country and rock country roots. Many modern country artists are from this area.
Here is a song by Tim McGraw, one of the most well know country artists from Louisiana.
New Orleans-
New Orleans is a city with a huge amount of musical diversity. Its main contributors being the French, Spanish, African, and Afro-Caribbean. Some of its musical branches are African, Jazz, blues, R&B, gospel, country, rock, hip-hop, and opera. In the 1810's African slaves (primarily from the Caribbean) were allowed to gather on Sundays. They would get together and dance and sing. These dances were performed in circled groups. some of the dances include calenda, congo, conjai, and bambolula. Jazz is one of the biggest and most popular genres in Louisiana, in history and even today. It is known for it creativity and improvisation. The genre itself is compiled of a diverse group of musicians by ethnicity and upbringing. The Louisiana blues was greatly influenced by the jazz in the community, making it much different then the blues we talked about in class. Piano, saxophone, and guitar were paired together to create the blues. The lines were tense and rigid, but also at a slow tempo. The Afro-Caribbean community also brought popularity to gospel that they continued from tradition. New Orleans is also credited with the development of heavy metal.
Here is a video that shows Luisiana blues. Notice the difference between it and the blues we learned about in class.
“Music of Louisiana.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Feb. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Louisiana.
“Zydeco Music in Louisiana.” Louisiana Official Travel and Tourism Information, https://www.louisianatravel.com/music/zydeco.
I really enjoyed reading your blog and learning about music of Louisiana. First of all, I didn't realize how many musicians I was familiar with that were originally from the area. Overall I found your blog very informative, and after reading, I feel like I have a decent grasp on the very syncretic, complex musical culture of Louisiana.
ReplyDeletehey Ry i found your blog very interesting because of how diverse the music culture is in louisiana. but other than that great blog and have a fun summer :)
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of Louisiana, I immediately associate it with jazz music so it was cool to learn about other music styles that are popular there. It was surprising to me reading how many celebrities are from Louisiana, I would've never guess half of them.
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