CHAPTER 21 | CAJUN AND ZYDECO MUSIC 519
of twelve-string guitar, points to its Mexican roots. Rounding out the ensemble
is an electric bass and drums, indicating the infl uence of mid-twentieth-century
popular styles such as rhythm and blues. The four instrumentalists share vocals,
often in the close harmonies of traditional Mexican songs. Conjuntos play polka-
style dance music with lyrics refl ecting the realities of life on both sides of the
Texas-Mexican border.
“Soy de San Luis” (LG 21.2) was written by Santiago Jiménez, part of a multi-
generational family of norteño musicians. Its lively polka rhythms encourage the
listener not to take too seriously the song persona’s plight: a native of San Luis
Potosí, Mexico, he has crossed the border to Texas, where there is plenty of work,
but in San Antonio he meets a young Texan woman (tejanita) who bosses him
around, takes his money, accepts gifts from other men, and winds up south of
the border and asking him for more money. In disgust, he leaves her to the devil
and goes back home, where men wear the pants.
The recording here is by Santiago’s elder son, Leonard “Flaco” Jiménez, per-
haps the best-known norteño musician, famous for his collaborations with rock
stars such as the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. In the 1990s he was a member of
the Texas Tornados, a bilingual Tex-Mex “supergroup” that also included Tejano
country singer Freddy Fender and white rockers Augie Meyers and Doug Sahm.
His recording of “Soy de San Luis” stays close to traditional norteño style, evi-
dent in the fl ashy adornos or instrumental interludes between stanzas; neverthe-
less, his use of blues licks suggest that he does not restrict himself to traditional
Mexican and German infl uences.CAJUN AND ZYDECO MUSIC
As discussed in chapters 4, 5, and 12, music in New Orleans developed in a unique
way thanks to the city’s blend of French, Spanish, Anglo-American, African, and
Caribbean infl uences. But that rich interaction was not limited to New Orleans;
rural Louisiana was the site of similar interchanges. Whereas the urban music
culture of New Orleans was oriented toward the classical and popular spheres,
rural music making in Louisiana has retained closer ties to the traditional
sphere. That is especially evident in the music of the state’s Cajun population
and in the zydeco music of rural black Louisianans.
Cajuns are the descendants of Acadians, the residents of the portion of
France’s North American empire once called Acadia—present-day Nova Scotia
and nearby territories. When the British took possession of Acadia in 1710, French-
speaking refugees began to fl ee, and many more left in the Great Expulsion dur-
ing the French and Indian War in the 1760s. The many thousands of Acadian
refugees who settled in Louisiana (still a French possession at that time) became
known as Cajuns. Many became farmers, while others specialized in fi shing
the swamps and bayous prevalent in the state’s southern parishes, where most
Cajuns live today. While they retained many traditional folkways— including
their language, a dialect known as Cajun French—over time they absorbed infl u-
ences from their neighbors of Spanish, English, and African descent.
Cajun music, like the French Canadian music from which it is descended,
is centered on fi ddle-based dance music that resembles Celtic reels and jigs.LG 21.2Cajun music172028_21_514-530_r2_mr.indd 519 23/01/13 11:18 AM