

An edition of Cajun and zydeco dance music in Northern California (2008)
Modern Pleasures in a Postmodern World
By Mark F. DeWitt
Publish Date
2010
Publisher
University Press of Mississippi
Language
eng
Pages
317
Description:
"Cajun and Zydeco Dance Music in Northern California traces how this region of California has been able to develop and sustain dances several times a week with more than a dozen bands. Description of this active regional scene opens into a discussion of several historical trends that have affected life and music in Louisiana and the nation. The book portrays the diversity of people who have adopted Cajun and Creole dance music as a way to cope with a globalized, media-saturated world." "Ethnomusicologist Mark F. DeWitt innovatively weaves together interviews with musicians and dancers (some from Louisiana, some not), analysis of popular media, participant observation as a musician and dancer, and historical perspectives from wartime black migration patterns, the civil rights movement, American folk and blues revivals, California counterculture, and the rise of cultural tourism in "Cajun Country." In so doing, he reveals the multifaceted appeal of celebrating life on the dance floor, Louisiana-French style."--Jacket.