Zydeco

Zydeco is a musical genre evolved in southwest Louisiana by French Creole speakers which blends blues, rhythm and blues, and music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles and the Native people of Louisiana.

Origin of term

Though disputed, it is commonly suggested that "zydeco" derives from the French phrase Les haricots ne sont pas salés, which, when spoken in the Louisiana Creole French, sounds as "leh-zy-dee-co nuh sohn pah salay". This literally translates as "the snap beans aren't salty" but idiomatically as "I have no spicy news for you." The earliest recorded use of the term may have been the country and western musical group called Zydeco Skillet Lickers who recorded the song It Ain't Gonna Rain No Mo in 1929.

Initially, several different spellings of the word existed, including "zarico" and "zodico". In 1960, musicologist Robert "Mack" McCormick wrote liner notes for a compilation album, A Treasury of Field Recordings, and used the spelling "zydeco". The word was used in reviews, and McCormick began publicizing it around Houston as a standard spelling. Its use was also accepted by Clifton Chenier - who had previously recorded "Zodico Stomp" in 1955 - in his recording "Zydeco Sont Pas Salés", after which Chenier himself claimed credit for devising the word.