CHAPTER 1
MUSIC AND SOCIAL WELFARE

Akin to physical objects of the southwest Louisiana landscape like the trees, sugarcane, and the pepper fields, each sonic object within the aural landscape holds a particular characteristic. Alongside zydeco music, audible instances of sound construct an aural landscape of the area that transmits fragments of cultural codes used to shape the cultural identity of the people (see figure B.1). In R. Murray Schafer’s text, The Musical Soundscape, the author classifies the collection of soundscape sounds, which consists of an ensemble of keynote sounds, signals, and sound marks, significant to the identification of a community (9). I use a series of field investigations and interviews to illuminate the rich and complex backstory of the area while illustrating the complex codes of the soundscape in order to clarify the essence and importance of zydeco music.

My investigation and interviews revealed meaningful content that assisted in the development of a comprehensive narrative. Significant to the characteristics of the soundscape, the veracity of the Cajun-Creole culture has evaporated through commercialization and, in general, misunderstandings about the culture’s complex history. As a native of St. Martinville, I am concerned with the identity of the culture and feel obligated to represent the town’s narrative in an objective manner. Considering how certain groups historically use sounds and in what way the sounds correlate to the essence of their culture is important as it allows the development of the area’s cultural completion, which serves as a platform to conduct a survey of the soundscape of the region. I am concerned with how sounds impact the community as a whole; and, in particular, how zydeco music and its melodic cousins shaped the cultural identity of the people.

A variety of sounds, especially music, are at the center of most rituals within the soundscape. William Banfield, author of Cultural Codes states, “Music is an expression that carries social and cultural consciousness. Folk and vernacular expressions carry the national, ethnic ‘soul’ and common story narratives of the people –– the folks” (15). If Banfield’s concepts were accepted, music, like literature and other forms of communication could be considered a legitimate source of information and, like text serve as prognosticator and historian representing the past, present, and future identity of a culture. To further Banfield’s point of music’s connection to a culture’s identity, Schafer notes Herman Hesse by stating that music can accurately gauge the temperature of society. Hesse also proposed that there is evidence of a connection between music and the social welfare of a culture.

Hesse’s example provides a theory in which the music from a well-ordered age thrives, exhibiting a state of peace amongst the government and its people while displaying a cheerful age as opposed to a restive one (Schafer 7). Shafer confirms Hesse’s notion, as he mentions that he has always believed music to be the best indicator to the state of society (7). Therefore, music is the best instrument in examining cultural shifts in aural consciousness (103). To provide a specific example, rap music, which spawned from the youth hip-hop movement of the 1970s, serves as a formidable barometer in its ability to judge the social issues of an era. According to Tricia Rose of Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, “…rap music has articulated the pleasures and problems of black urban life in contemporary America.” Rose adds that through personal experience, rappers speak to the current conditions of their lives, and often muse from a vantage point of someone who desires to elevate their social status (2). In rap, topics are particular to the local community in that they address issues such as drug overdose, the loss of friends to gun fights, and gang avoidance (Rose 2).

Nonetheless, many topics include snippets of predigested cultural reflections such as, name-dropping of black heroes, cultural figures and rituals, while being supported by a variety of “sound bite packaging;” all reflecting fragments of black identity (Rose 3). In rap and other forms of black art, there exist significant social political themes addressing black identity in correlation to the temperature of the community. For instance, KRS of the rap group Boogie Down Productions reports on the “slippage between the law and mortality” (Rose 107). KRS’ music and the music of others in the genre, engender the community’s sentiment, before, during, and after the 1992 videotaped beating of Rodney King in Los Angles, and identify the law with police brutality (Rose 106). Although the politics of rap offers an extreme example to Hesse’s idea, it proves as an important art form that effects change within the community while demonstrating how artistic vision can advocate for social justice.

Although not as polarizing of a music genre, present day zydeco serves as a convincing reference to the identity of the progeny of a mixed trilingual race of Cajuns, Creoles, and English speaking Americans. Produced by the black Creoles, the music has produced a communal influence that connects to the cultural movement of the people. Long before rap or contemporary rhythm and blues music, there were the rudiments of zydeco, which through its melodic folk style, broken lyrics, and traditional narratives shape the awareness and perception of everyday life throughout the region. The music, situated within the southwestern region of Louisiana, is endowed with the “social and culture[al] consciousness” of the community (Banfield 15).

Although zydeco has evolved over time, the music has maintained its essence and survived through its connection with the people through radio programming and live performances. While the approaches keep the music relevant, zydeco seems to generate greater interest from the grassroots. The music largely achieves sustainability through local trail rides and small dance gatherings, which are known by the same name, zydecos. Given these points, if Hesse’s music and social welfare theory is applied to zydeco, its music would yield a coveted medium connected to several enclaves of Creoles who have maintained the familial rural traditions mused in many zydeco songs. Zydeco continually adds to the soundscape by feeding the consciousness of its supporters, while its message consistently chronicles the narrative of the people, even though the social demands for the music in general have changed from the time of Hesse’s example.

The sample area of my research is specific to a small community within southwestern Louisiana’s Crawfish Circuit. Used by Ben Sandmel in his text Zydeco!, the Crawfish Circuit moniker is used to describe a region spanning from the southwestern region of the state to just beyond the Texas border (12). The region serves as the boundary for the soundscape of the Crawfish Circuit that includes the land, the people, and the customs of southwest Louisiana. The Crawfish Circuit supports the nature of contact between the Creole and Cajun cultures and functions as the backdrop for an expanded conversation about the folk music of zydeco. The consequence of zydeco’s cultural retentions, musical and lyrical influences, and its contribution to the social awareness of the people are significant to the soundscape that is the Crawfish Circuit. The importance of the phenomena of sounds is that they constitute the cultural identity of the people.

A Cultural Confrontation

The establishment of a brief framework of the zydeco culture serves as a valuable point of departure in identifying the nuances of the music’s style and repertoire in relation to the influences from the Creole and Cajun cultures. The zydeco narrative, driven by the seductive and often misunderstood culture of the Creoles and Cajuns in southwest Louisiana, exemplifies a history peppered by slavery and forced migration, which led to a cultural mixture of inimitable flavors and sounds. Michael Tisserand, The Kingdom of Zydeco, proposed that the blending of cultures began when the Cajuns were granted land and citizenship in Louisiana. When the Cajuns arrived in Louisiana, they were forced to work side by side in the fields with the black slaves (3).

Mintz is quoted in Robert E. Maguire’s book, Hustling to Survive: Social and Economic Change in a South Louisiana Black Creole Community, as stating, “Within plantation society and on the plantation itself: a human hierarchy based on race and socio-economic status emerged that verberated the entire social structure” (39). Maguire discusses the plantation pecking order, which established the position of the Cajun in relation to the Black slave, as well as the French and American planters, through a classification system. The classification assigned the ethnic groups by social status. Maguire revealed that the Cajuns may have had to endure more than what their mainstream narrative leads one to believe. He reports that the American and French planters, who were at the top of the hierarchy, sometimes took control of the plantations from the Cajuns and eventually forced this group to live within the swamps and marshlands (Maguire 39). Tisserand cites a quote from Harpers Weekly to illustrate the disdain that the French establishment had for the Cajuns: “They were behind the age in everything … So little are they thought of – that the niggers, when they want to express contempt for one of their own race, call him an Acadian nigger” (2). In spite of the differences between the African slaves and the Cajuns, they shared common experiences in the fields. The common experiences eventually transmitted to the dance halls by way of...