"Looking for live Cajun music, I stopped in Opelousas at the Plantation Lounge." A man name Walt sent him to a place called Eric's in Lafayette once there Heat-Moon asked the bartender where he could find "chanky-chank," as Cajuns called their music, and she sent him to literally the middle of nowhere to a bar called Tee's. Little did Heat-Moon know he was looking for music that has been around since the late 18th century. He got lost and was about to give up and turn around when he heard the lively sound of Cajun music travel out of Tee's open doors. The music was calling him to come and enjoy what he's worked so hard to find like a lighthouse calling sailors to safety. "Inside, under dim halos of yellow bug lights, an accordion (the heart), a fiddle, guitar, and ting-a-ling (triangle) cranked out chanky-chank." Heat-Moon stayed all night and talked to Seipel and Dee Paul and enjoyed the lively sound of Cajun music he worked so hard to find and feeling so relaxed and at home.
One of French Louisiana's most essential
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The accordion wasn't added until 1925 when they were tuned to C and D keys, making Cajun music easily heard over the noisy crowds at parties and get togethers. Some of the old tones couldn't be transcribed from the fiddle to the new style of the accordion. The accordion was also sturdy enough to last through the semi-tropical weather that smothered south Louisiana. Cajun music is also really distinctive. It can be melancholy or lively, even could be both. Cajun music is really unique that’s why many people enjoy going to Cajun Music Festivals. Cajun music once just thought of as chanky-chank music has become really popular on TV and radio because of its unique sounding instruments like the fiddle, accordion, and triangle. The guitar also found its way into Cajun music by the 1920s to help support the
Rachel M. Harper’s The Myth of Music intentionally weaves together 1960s era jazz music and a poor African American family via metaphor and allusion to show a deep familiar bond between father and daughter.
For centuries, music has been defined by history, time, and place. To address this statement, Tom Zè, an influential songwriter during the Tropicália Movement, produced the revolutionary “Fabrication Defect” to challenge oppression as a result from the poor political and social conditions. On the other hand, David Ramsey discusses, in mixtape vignettes, the role of music to survive in New Orleans’ violent setting. Furthermore, “The Land where the Blues Began”, by Alan Lomax, is a film and perfect example to understand under what musical conditions profound ways of communication are made to stand the hard work of cotton plantations. As a result, music plays a crucial role in the sources’ cultures and its creation relies on particular conditions such as the social
Northup’s father was a slave to the Northup family but was freed when the Northup family moved to New York State where slavery had been abolished. As a child he worked his father’s farm and worked as a rafts man in upstate New York. When Northup was a young man he married Anne Hampton on Christmas day and they had three children (Wilson, 1853). Northup was an excellent fiddler and when he was asked to join a travelling musician band for good wages he eagerly agreed. The lure was a wage of a dollar a day and thre...
Blues for New Orleans: Mardi Gras and America’s Creole Soul. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, c2006.
The challenging and interesting life of a Cajun is characterized by family, music, housing, food, wedding, and ?traiteurs?, just to name a few. Cajun life began in the 1700?s and still exists today. Though a bit has changed since the early Cajuns arrived, the culture is still thriving. Acadiana is the best place to have a taste of the true Cajun culture and forever will be a colorful part of history.
Cajun cuisine is a fusion of food from different regions with very rich histories, such as France, Canada, and the southern U.S. It was originated by peasants of French ancestry. These immigrants settled in the "Acadian" region of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia from 1604 to 1654. By 1755, the population of these settlers had grown to about 15,000. They survived on cereal crops such as wheat, barley and oats, and garden vegetables including field peas, cabbage, and turnips. This diet was supplemented by domestic livestock, wild game, and fish. (History of the Cajuns. (2001). www.terrebonneparish.com)
Cajun music has a folk-like beat that places the accordion at the center of the rhythm. Cajun music originated from the United States of America but more specifically, the state of Louisiana. This music came to Louisiana through the French-speaking immigrants that settled there. These immigrants once called the Acadians, or Cajuns, found a new home in Louisiana after being expelled from Nova Scotia (Ancelet). Due to their harsh exile from Nova Scotia, much of Cajun music describes death and desperation. Soon after arriving in Louisiana, the Cajuns began incorporating the sounds of the surrounding cultures into their music (Edmondson, 173). Acculturation contributed greatly to the origin and development of Cajun music due to its borrowing of sounds and instruments from a variety of different cultures. They started incorporating the Native American’s singing style as well as the Spanish guitar into their own original music (Ancelet). This created the unique sounds of Cajun music that we know and listen to today. Paired with their music, the Cajun culture also created their own unique Cajun dance style. Their dances incorporated waltzes, and
Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the most famous German composers of his time. All of his work was mostly during the baroque era. The baroque period was from 1600 to 1750 and it is known to be one of the most diverse musical periods as opposed to the other classical music eras. It was in this era that “included composer like Bach, Vivaldi and Handel, who pioneered new styles like the concerto and the sonata.”(Classic FM) Johann Sebastian was born in the midst of the Baroque era as he was born on March 31, 1685 in Thuringia, Germany. Johann came from a family of musicians, which is how he himself became one as well. It was his father who showed him how to play his first instrument, which was the violin. His father was also a well-known musician in his town as he “worked as the town musician in Eisenach.”(Johann Sebastian Bach) It is known that Johann Sebastian went to a school that taught him
These songs would utilize a musical pattern known as the tresillo which is a three stroke pattern that is the most basic rhythmic pattern found in the habanera, and is a major musical component of Ragtime. These musical interactions would live on and be an important factor in New Orleans rich and unique culture. Congo Square remained an active musical setting up until the beginning of the Civil War where things settled down for a time and the musical spirit of New Orleans remained silent but came back greater than it ever was
Whenever someone thinks of Louisiana, they probably imagine crawfish boils, steaming seafood, and some type of gumbo or jambalaya. While many people know of the Cajun cuisine, not everyone knows about the history and the influence the Acadians had on the style of cooking. Acadians were simple people who lived off the land of Louisiana. They fished in the waterlines and cultivated crops that they used in their cooking. By manipulating what was available to them and creating unique dishes, the Acadians inadvertently developed an unprecedented cuisine. The history, culture, and cooking style would later influence and create the modern day cuisine, known as Cajun.
When country music bean in America, there were no professional musicians. The typical musician sang only to entertain himself, his family, or at local events. At first, most country music was sung unaided or played on a lone fiddle or banjo. At the turn of the century, Sears, Roebuck & Co. began advertising affordable guitars in its nationally available catalogs, as well as sheet music and songbooks. The mandolin also became available and soon string bands were being formed with different combinations of instruments.
According to Albert Murray, the African-American musical tradition is “fundamentally stoical yet affirmative in spirit” (Star 3). Through the medium of the blues, African-Americans expressed a resilience of spirit which refused to be crippled by either poverty or racism. It is through music that the energies and dexterities of black American life are sounded and expressed (39). For the black culture in this country, the music of Basie or Ellington expressed a “wideawake, forward-tending” rhythm that one can not only dance to but live by (Star 39).
Music has shaped the lives of people throughout history. Even in its earliest forms, music has included use of instruments. One of the oldest musical instruments known is a variation of the flute; the original flute is thought to date back nearly 67,000 years ago. Tonight we are going to move throughout the eras with a history of instrumental music. This concert will begin with the Renaissance Era and continue through time until we have reached modern instrumental music.
Small, Christopher. Music of the Common Tongue: Survival and Celebration in African American Music. Hanover, NH: U of New England, 1998. Print
For me personally, music appreciation is defined as looking at different pieces of music and musical forms, and learning to find appreciation for them. This appreciation is formed not only by listening to several pieces of music, but by learning to understand what you may be listening too. This involves introducing yourself to many pieces of music and learning to interpret, what makes each piece different and unique. Understanding the historical background and societal changes that have taken place during the creation of the musical piece, is also an important factor to consider. Music is not only creative, but it also makes up part of a societies history. Music is an art form that connects different societies and cultures together, it possess the amazing ability to make us into one.