Traditional Cajun Music

Traditional Cajun music is the French-language dance music of the Acadian-descended communities of south Louisiana, built on the single-row diatonic accordion, fiddle, guitar and triangle. Its repertory of waltzes and two-steps, sung in Cajun French, developed in house dances and dancehalls from the nineteenth century, absorbing blues, country and Western swing influences without losing its core sound. *Amédé Ardoin*, *Iry LeJeune*, *Nathan Abshire* and the *Balfa Brothers* define its recorded canon, and the style remains the foundation of modern Cajun and zydeco performance.