1700-1799Louisiana

Cajun

Also known as Cajun French music

A rooted south Louisiana dance tradition with Acadian origins, Cajun music keeps its pulse in fiddle and accordion lines, French lyrics, and a repertoire that balances old-country intimacy with floor-filling drive.

Origins and context

Emerges from Acadian descendants in south Louisiana, shaped by local French-language dance culture and contact with neighboring musical traditions.

Louisiana

How to listen

Listen for

Accordion and fiddle trading the lead
Waltz versus two-step motion
Cajun French phrasing and old dance-band swing

Mood

Warm
Dancing
Rustic
Bright

History

Cajun music grows from the musical life of Acadian settlers who were expelled from Canada in the 18th century and resettled in Louisiana. The early tradition centered on fiddle-led dance music, then absorbed the accordion in the late 19th century; by the turn of the 20th century, accordion and fiddle had become the music’s most recognizable leads. (loc.gov) Recorded Cajun music took shape in the late 1920s, with Joseph Falcon’s 1928 commercial recording of “Lafayette” (“Allons…Lafayette”) often cited as a landmark. In the decades that followed, the style shifted with changing tastes and crosscurrents from Western swing, Creole music, and other Gulf South traditions, then surged again as later artists and ensembles helped carry the older sound into modern concert life.