Zydeco

Zydeco is the accordion-driven dance music of southwest Louisiana's Black Creole community, built from French two-steps and waltzes electrified with blues, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. The piano accordion — or the smaller button accordion — trades punches with the corrugated rubboard, the frottoir, over a rhythm section borrowed from R&B, while singers shout in Louisiana Creole French and English. *Clifton Chenier*, the self-crowned King of Zydeco, defined its modern form on #Arhoolie# in the 1960s and 1970s; successors including *Buckwheat Zydeco*, *Queen Ida* and *Boozoo Chavis* carried it to festivals and Grammy recognition worldwide.