Joseph Falcon and his family,Cleoma and Lulubell,  one of the first to record Acadian music

Listen to traditional Cajun Music

Wayne Perry Creole Blues  

Cajun music, an emblematic music of Louisiana, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based, Cajun-influenced zydeco form, both of Acadiana origin. These French Louisiana sounds have influenced American popular music for many decades, especially country music, and have influenced pop culture through mass media, such as television commercials . Cajun music, born from ballads, has transformed to dance music -- with or without words. The music was essential for small get-togethers on the front porch, an all night house dance known as a "bal de maison", or a public dance in a dance hall called a fais do-dos . Fais do-do is a name for a Cajun dance party, originating before World War II. According to Mark Humphrey's notes from the Roots n' Blues CD "Cajun Dance Party - Fais Do-Do", the parties were named for "...the gentle command ('go to sleep') young mothers offered bawling infants." He quotes early Cajun musician Edwin Duhon of the Hackberry Ramblers, "She'd go to the cry room, give the baby a nipple and say, 'Fais do-do.' She'd want the baby to go to sleep fast, 'cause she's worried about her husband dancing with somebody else out there."

Parlez Nous A Boire Artist: The Balfa Brothers Album: The Balfa Brothers Play Traditional Cajun Music: Vols. 1 & 2

'Do-do' itself is a shortening of the French verb dormir (to sleep), used primarily in speaking to small children. Comparable to the American English "beddy-bye", it is still commonly used by French-speaking people.

Zydeco (French: "les haricots", English: "snap beans") is a form of American roots or folk music, that evolved from the jure during the late 1800s call and response vocal music of the black and multiracial French speaking Creoles of south and southwest Louisiana.

During the early 20th century this soulful, heavily syncopated, indigenous roots music was discovered by ethnomusicologists and record labels alike. Usually fast-tempo, and dominated by the button or piano accordion and a form of a washboard known as a rub-board or frottoir, zydeco music was originally created at house dances where the blacks and free people of color of south Louisiana would gather for socializing.

The Balfa Brothers Play Traditional Cajun Music 

The Balfa Brothers (Les Freres Balfas) helped keep traditional Cajun music alive in the 1960s, when it was in danger of disappearing.No band is more important to Cajun Music than the Balfas, and this is their most essential recording.

Dancing to New Orleans 

Acadian Architecture

Cajun Cowboys