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The Zydeco Historical and Preservation Society, Inc.

Documenting and Preserving Everyday Creole Life in Southwest Louisiana and Texas

The Zydeco Historical and Preservation Society, Inc. is a grassroots, not for profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to the preservation, understanding, and development of Zydeco music, history, and culture as well as rural black Creole culture of Southwest Louisiana and Texas. The Z.H.P.S. Inc. was established in 2000 in Opelousas, Louisiana (Zydeco Capital of the World) by citizens concerned about the loss of irreplaceable segments of Zydeco Music and Creole heritage that included structures, oral traditions, collective community memories and fabric, and the facilitation and healthy development of present day Creole culture of Southwest Louisiana and Texas. You can learn ABOUT US HERE.

What is Zydeco Music?
Zydeco Music is a unique form of musical expression that originated in rural southwest Louisiana. Locally known as "la la" music, Zydeco music was formed and forged in a time best forgotten--a time when African-Americans had to struggle in the fields from sunup to sundown as sharecroppers so that their children might reap a better life. It was these backbreaking hard times that help to define one of the most vibrant and successful musical traditions in the world. The phrase "Zydeco sont pas sale'" means "The snapbeans are not Salty" in Creole French, and the music draws upon French, Creole, West African, Cajun, Caribbean, and R & B musical traditions. Zydeco Music is characterized by the use of the accordion, spoons, scrubboard, fiddle and triangle. To learn more about Zydeco Music visit one of our projects at www.ZydecoOnline.com.

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