- Cascade Zydeco – A non-profit organization devoted to promoting Zydeco music and dance in the Pacific Northwest. With event calendar, genre information, classes and links.
- CCW Productions – Booking agency specializing in zydeco bands, dances and special events; artist profiles, details of services, and contact information.
- Tabasco PepperFest: Zydeco Artists – Pictures and biographies of many important Louisiana musicians.
- Zydeco – Account of the popular accordion-based genre from south Louisiana, the music of the area’s Creoles of Color; explores the relationship with Cajun music. [From the Encyclopedia of Cajun Culture]
- Zydeco Dancing in London – Listing of dances and workshops in London and the South East. Includes a mailing list.
- Zydeco Road – Events in the New York metro area, CD and show reviews, Zydeco musicians and JazzFest photo galleries, and band links.
- The Alligator Express – Holland-based band. Includes profile, photographs, audio samples, performance schedule, and links.
- Alligator Zydeco Band – Performs the music from Louisiana called Zydeco at private events and festivals. Includes background, photos, upcoming performances, and CD information. Based in Pennsylvania.
- Bad Boys Zydeco – California based group. Includes audio samples, definition of the genre, reviews, and detailed biography of Evo Bluestein, including his folk music school programs, performance and workshop schedule, and ordering of music and instructional CDs and videos.
- Black Leather Zydeco – Band based in Tucson, Arizona. With member profiles, pictures, show dates, release details, audio, and links.
- Bonne Musique Zydeco Band – Los Angeles based group that performs at festivals, dances, parties, weddings, and community affairs. Includes band history, performance schedule, audio samples, articles, and links.
- CaptainSqueeze and the Zydeco Moshers – Upstate New York band. Includes tour schedule, band profiles, discography with audio samples, and CD ordering.
- Creole Zydeco Farmers – A brief description of the veteran Louisiana Zydeco band, with pictures and contact information.
- J. Paul Jr Zydeco Nubreedz – Texas-based band. With music, photographs, press, discography and show dates.
- J.B.’s ZydecoZoo – North Florida Zydeco band. Band profile, gig-schedule, discography, and newsletter.
- Le Rue, Pierre – Profile of ex-fiddle player from the Queen Ida and the Bon Temps Zydeco Band, now with his own band and touring widely. Biography, discography, audio samples, and listing of appearances.
- Lil’ Brian and the Zydeco Travelers – Barrett Station, Texas-based band. Band profile, performance schedule, lyrics, audio samples, reviews, CD ordering, and mailing list.
- Lil Porter & the Zydeco Hustlers – A member of the Texas Crawfish Sack, Lil Porter’s sound is described as traditional yet innovative.
- Loup Garou – New York band. With biography, pictures, press, sound clips and schedule.
- Mojo and the Bayou Gypsies – Profiles, audio samples, photographs, merchandise, gumbo recipe, and links.
- Mojo Zydeco – Vancouver, British Columbia based band. Includes news, band history, profiles, photographs, audio, video, and performance list.
- Psycho Zydeco – Includes band history and profiles, photo gallery, discography with audio samples and CD ordering, and links. Based in Australia.
- River City Slim and the Zydeco Hogs – Connecticut based group. Includes profiles, performance schedule, audio samples, CD ordering, photo gallery, and information about the Pine Grove Blues radio show.
- River Zydeco Band – Netherlands based group. Includes concert schedule and photographs.
- Simien, Terrance – Zydeco fusion artist. News, biography, tour dates, reviews, photos, and merchandise.
- Slippery Sneakers – Rhode Island-based band, headed by Robert Graves Leonard. With show dates, background and member profiles, album details, and MP3s.
- SqueezeBox Boogaloo – Sydney, Australia based band. Includes biography, CD information, performance schedule, photographs, and links.
- The Zydeco Boneshakers – Louisiana based group. Includes performance schedule, profiles, and CD information with audio samples.
- Zydeco Brothers – A band that reunited in 1999 and are back performing their own unique style of classic Zydeco music. With biographies, pictures, merchandise, and release information.
- The Zydeco Party Band – California-based group. Includes video, audio samples, photographs, and CD ordering.
- Zydeco-A-Go-Go – Philadelphia band. Includes performance schedule, audio samples, CD ordering, and links.
Zydeco is a form of folk music, originated in the beginning of the 20th century among the Francophone Creole peoples of south-west Louisiana and influenced by the music of the French-speaking Cajuns. It is heavily syncopated, usually fast-tempo, and dominated by the button or piano accordion and a form of a washboard known as a rub-board or frottoir; usually accompanied by guitar, bass guitar and drums;
The music arose as a synthesis of traditional Cajun music with African-American traditions that also underpinned R&B and blues. It was known as «la-la»; «zodico» and various other names. Amédé Ardoin made the first recordings of what later became known as zydeco in 1928. The music was finally brought to the fringes of the American mainstream in the mid-1950s, with the popularity of Beau Jocque, Clifton Chenier and Boozoo Chavis. Rockin’ Sidney’s surprise hit «My Toot Toot» launched a revival of zydeco in the mid-1980s, carried further by the international fame of Buckwheat Zydeco. Young zydeco musicians, such as Chubby Carrier, CJ Chenier and Rosie LeDet began emerging in the early 1990s.
The word «zydeco» is often said to have originated from the French les haricots meaning «the beans» from the song, «Les Haricots sont pas salés», literally «The beans aren’t salted», a reference to the singer being too poor to afford salt pork to season the beans. Others dispute this derivation, considering it derogatory. Some think the name «zodico» has roots in an African language and probably refers to a dance-form.
