Up to and including 2011, there were separate categories for various regional American music forms, such as Hawaiian music, Native American music and Zydeco / Cajun music.

Cajun music gained national attention in 2007, when the Grammy Award for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album category was created.

It features Cajun culture and food, as well as authentic Louisiana musical acts both famous and unknown, drawing attendance not only from the strong Cajun / Zydeco music scene in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York City and California, but from all over the world.

Louisiana French and Zydeco music documentary.

The frottoir, also called a Zydeco rub-board, is a mid 20th century invention designed specifically for Zydeco music.

It is one of the birthplaces of the Afro-creole Zydeco music that has become one of the signatures of Louisiana culture throughout the world.

Zydeco is a musical genre of American folk music roots.

Zydeco combines elements of an older American musical style that began in the late 1700s, Cajun music, a style that consists of French fiddle tunes, Irish Celtic fiddle tunes, German button accordion, Latin rhythms, and Appalachian styles.

Zydeco music was born as a blend of Cajun music and two other " new " American music styles, blues and rhythm and blues.

Zydeco music pioneer Clifton Chenier, " The King of Zydeco ", made Zydeco popular on regional radio stations with his bluesy style and keyboard accordion.

Boozoo Chavis, John Delafose, Roy Carrier, Zydeco Force, Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas, the Sam Brother, Terrance Simien, Chubby Carrier, and many others were breathing new life into the music.

Zydeco music is performed at festivals, schools, performing art centers and large corporate events.

Zydeco music is featured in the video game The Sims: Unleashed when traveling to Old Town on the Shuttle Bus ( while the game loads Old Town ), during building mode in Old Town, as well as other scenarios.

The theme of the game, with its new lots and music, is considered Cajun or Zydeco.

Zydeco derives from the French phrase Les haricots ne sont pas salés, which, when spoken in the regional French, sounds as " leh-zy-dee-co sohn pah salay ".

Zydeco was long familiar to him, from his Creole heritage.

Zydeco comes from African words " zari, zarico, zodico zai ' co " meaning " to dance or dance ".

Zydeco shows major influences from rock, and artists like Beau Jocque have combined other influences, including hip hop.

Zydeco Force was an American zydeco band from Opelousas, Louisiana, consisting of Robby Robinson, Raymond Thomas and the two sons of Lawtell Playboys frontman Delton Broussard: Shelton, and Jeffery Broussard and Delton's nephew Herbert Broussard.

This is evident from the beginning of the film: The opening is an aerial shot of the New Orleans bayou and the cajun band Beausoleil plays " Zydeco Gris Gris " on the soundtrack ( title sequence ).

* 1971 – Rosie Ledet, Creole Zydeco accordion player and singer

In recent years the festival became so popular that there are now several such large summer festivals near the Connecticut-Rhode Island border: The Great Connecticut Cajun and Zydeco Music & Arts Festival, The Blast From The Bayou Cajun and Zydeco Festival, Rhythm & Roots Festival also in California the Cajun / Zydeco Festival ; Bay Area Ardenwood Historic Farm, Fremont, Calif. and The Simi Valley Cajun, Creole Music Festival.

Zydeco fused the traditional Creole roots music sang in French with contemporary sounds making it relevant, dynamic and constantly attracting a new generation of listeners within the Creole community as well as outside the community.

The Creole Zydeco music of Grammy winning artists Queen Ida Guillory, Clifton Chenier, Rockin Sidney Simien, Buckwheat Zydeco and Terrance Simien remain some of the most internationally recognized zydeco music.

John Delafose, Andrus Espree ( aka Beau Jocque ), Boozoo Chavis, Rosie Ledet, Chubby Carrier, Conray Fontenot, Amede Ardoin, Rockin Dopsie, Geno Delafose, Nathan Williams, Keith Frank, Chris Ardoin, Cedric Watson and Jeffrey Broussard are also other well known Creole Zydeco musicians.

* A Brief History of Cajun, Creole, and Zydeco Music

* Contemporary Louisiana Cajun, Creole and Zydeco Musicians

In 1975 he established his Maison de Soulrecord label, devoted to Creole and Zydeco music, including such artists as Clifton Chenier, Rockin ' Dopsie, Keith Frank, Chris Ardoin, Zydeco Force, Jeffery Brousard, and others.

Rosie Ledet ( born October 25, 1971, Mary Roszela Bellard in Church Point, Louisiana, USA ) is an American Creole Zydeco accordion player and singer.

* Buckwheat Zydeco — United States

The first zydeco vest frottoir ( rubboard ) was designed by Clifton Chenier, the " King of Zydeco ," in 1946 while he and his brother, Cleveland, were working at an oil refinery in Port Arthur, TX.

In Zydeco bands, the frottoir is usually played with bottle openers, to make a louder sound.

Along with the accordion, the second main instrument in a zydeco group is a corrugated metal washboard, called a Zydeco Rubboard or frottoir.

One of the few musical instruments invented entirely in the United States is the Zydeco Frottoir ( Zydeco Rubboard ), a distillation of the washboard into essential elements ( percussive surface with shoulder straps ) designed by Clifton Chenier and built by Willie Landry in 1946.

* Major Cajun / Zydeco festivals are held annually in Rhode Island, which does not have a sizable Cajun population but is home to many Franco-Americans of Québécois and Acadian descent.

Opelousas is also the home of Clifton Chenier, the king of Zydeco.

Zydeco music is also a central theme in the German award-winning 2003 film Schultze Gets the Blues about a retired polka-playing miner living in rural eastern Germany, who, after hearing Zydeco music on the radio, without knowing a word of English, embarks on a tragi-comical odyssey to Louisiana.

Zydeco music is featured in the pop song " Cupid Shuffle ".

" Zydeco " is the title of a song by Lil Boosie on his 2010 mixtape, 225 / 504.

It is held each June and has featured national acts like Taj Mahal, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Eric Lindell.

Often, this step pattern is alternated with other styles, during a single song, particularly among those who are regular dancers, in urban and non-traditional settings, or those who are also Zydeco dancers.

The main stage at the 2006 festival ; Buckwheat Zydeco is playing.

That music is mix of Zydeco, Country, Rock & roll, Folk and Blues elements, and often has a hard beat, with repetition of simple phrases in lyrics.

There is also a large Dance Tent that features various group and partnered dance styles until the wee hours of the morning, including Contra Dancing, Swing Dancing, Square Dancing, and Zydeco Dancing.

It is the site of the annual Gulf Coast Zydeco Music Festival.