Zydeco!

by Samdel, Ben; Olivier, Rick; Sandmel, Ben; Olivier, Rick

• ISBN13: 9781578061150
• ISBN10: 1578061156
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-03-01
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Mississippi

Summary

In eighty stunning portraits of the genre's leading people and places and through extensive interviews and historical commentary, photographer Rick Olivier and journalist/musician Ben Sandmel have created a book as spirited as the rollicking music it so vividly illuminates. Once an obscure regional tradition, zydeco now enjoys worldwide popularity. In this book two respected veteran observers draw on more than thirty years of combined professional experience to explore zydeco's rural roots and trace its emergence on the global stage. Through Olivier's innovative use of righting and Sandmel's skill as an interviewer, zydeco icons such as Clifton Chenier, Boozoo Chavis, and Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural guide readers through their music, its complex cultural context, and the unbounded joy they find in performing. Zydeco! is the first published collection of fine photographs, lively text, and oral history devoted exclusively to black CreoLe dance music.

Table of Contents

Allons au Zydeco The Place and the People	10	(20)
The Emergence of Zydeco Clifton Chenier: "They Call Me the King"	30	(34)
The World of Rural Zydeco Boozoo Chavis: Creole Cowboy	64	(28)
Gallery of Photographs	92	(18)
Celebrating Creole Identity Buckwheat Dural: Mainstream Ambassador	110	(22)
A Zydeco Odyssey Warren Ceasar's Long Journey Home	132	(8)
Urbane Zydeco Lynn August: "I Like a Challenge"	140	(8)
The Contemporary Spectrum There's Room for Us All	148	(22)
Bibliography	170	(4)
Recommended Listening	174	(4)
Films and Videos	178	(1)
Live Performances in Louisiana	179	(1)
Song Credits	180	(1)
Acknowledgments	181	(2)
Index	183