ZydecoOnline Launches Its Website
Zydeco Historical & Preservation Society Web
Project Aims To Preserve Zydeco Music and Creole Culture.
June 4, 2004
by Rod Sias
www.ZydecoOnline.com
Uniting the Zydeco Nation
Welcome to ZydecoOnline.com! We are proud as well as deeply humbled to be developing and lauching such a unique and important project on the eve of the 21st Annual Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival.
ZydecoOnline.com is an Interactive Internet project that will bring together authoritative information about Zydeco Music as well as Creole History and Culture. The project will serve the needs of the emerging online Zydeco community and act as a digital bridge that will link the traditional offline Zydeco community. A worldwide community we identify as the Zydeco Nation.
ZydecoOnline will serve the needs of the Zydeco Community by hosting and facilitating an educational forum, a platform for discussion, and a means through which information about Zydeco Music, as well as Creole Heritage, History and Culture will be disseminated.
ZydecoOnline.com will offer interactive, online companion pieces about Zydeco Music and artist, Creole history and culture, streaming video, audio clips, slide shows, interviews, schedules of public appearances, and festivals. In essence, our goal is to become the world's best online destination that will give the Zydeco Nation as well as new and casual Zydeco Enthusiast the best experience rural Southwestern Louisiana and Texas Creole culture has to offer.
I have often been asked the question "How is ZydecoOnline different from other websites or other projects that showcase the talents of Zydeco Musicians?" ZydecoOnline is unique because we recognize that Zydeco (also known as La La music) is the central thread weaving the past, present, and future of a rich, diverse, and rural black Creole Culture-a culture forged in the fire of slavery, depression, sharecropping, and Jim Crowism.
ZydecoOnline is certainly not the first step in preserving, protecting and developing Creole Culture. There are many unnamed and unheralded individuals and organizations who have worked to ensure that the rural Creole Culture of Southwest Louisiana and Texas survives and is passed on to future generations.
ZydecoOnline is one important step in articulating the story of a people whose cultural expressions and aspirations (until recently) have been routinely dismissed, exploited or reduced to a commodity to be bartered and sold. We believe that in order to honor Zydeco Music and the black Creole culture from which the music developed, and ensure its healthy development, it is essential that the story be understood and told from the perspective of the true custodians of the culture-the people of southwest Louisiana.
This does not mean that we uplift the Creole culture of rural southwest Louisiana without understanding and providing an honest critique of the social conditions, the historical and present day complexities that shape the culture, nor does this mean that Zydeco Music solely belongs to Southwest Louisiana. Zydeco music is being played all over the world and is being developed in many interesting and exciting ways. However, empowering people to understand and tell their own story with their own sensibilities, whether that story be told be told on a Texas Trail Ride or somewhere in St. Landry Parish, helps place the culture on solid ground and help preserves the spirit and soul of Creole culture in the face of unchecked commercialism and materialism.
It has been 21 years since the Treasures of Opelousas (a group of local citizens from various parts of Southwest Louisiana who were concerned that an important part of Creole culture, zydeco music was dying a slow death) organized the Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival (the first and oldest Zydeco Festival in the world). I was personally influenced in many profound ways by the organizers of the festival. My father, James Sias, was part of that original group. I watched my father along with many other people contribute their time, talents, and financial resources, often without recognition or appreciation to making the festival a success.
I watched my father, along with Mr. Oliver "Chief" Jackson and other volunteers clear overgrown grass in the fields of Plaisance, Louisiana and build the first festival stage. I remember Mrs. Vanessa Green and the valuable expertise and experience she provided during the first years of the festival. Mrs. Regina Tatum and the Ladies Auxiliary of the Knights of Peter Claver worked tirelessly to make popcorn balls to sell at the festival. Mr. Wilbert Levier and Mrs. Vera Hunt were a long-standing presence at the early festivals.
I watched Mr. Wilbert Guillory, Ms. Liz Savoy, Mr. Clarence Ardoin and a very young Mr. Paul Scott work relentlessly for many years to promote not only the Zydeco Festival but also Creole culture in general. Father A. J. McKnight provided much needed spiritual leadership and inspired people to look within themselves and see their self worth in the midst of local, regional, and national social, political and economic change.
Holy Ghost Catholic Church became ground zero for the revival of Zydeco Music by exposing and introducing this aspect of Creole Culture to a new generation of young people influence by the explosion of mass produced R &B, Funk, and pop music, the emerging hip-hop movement, and mass modernization. Names that have faded in the annals of zydeco musical history (Clifton Chenier, Amede Ardoin, Hiram Sampy, Major Handy, John Delafose, Bois Sec Ardoin, Marcel Dugas, Wilson Citizen and Goldman Thibodeaux to name a few) were talked about with a new reverence and enthusiasm.
I remember the many conversations expressing excitement as well as apprehension about the magnitude of the many tasks that needed to be completed. Many people who participated in organizing the first zydeco festival as the well as the zydeco musicians who participated in the first festival never imagined the significance of their actions, for some it was the most radical and daunting direct action in their entire lives.
The experiences of that first group were by no means an easy journey. The Treasures of Opelousas and many other people before the Treasurers of Opelousas gave us the knowledge and sensibilities available to them. Our understanding of the everyday experiences of the Treasures of Opelousas teach us that zydeco music and Creole culture run deep within each of us.
Understanding and preserving irreplaceable segments of Zydeco and Creole heritage including structures, oral traditions, collective community memories and social fabric help all of us to truly honor and respect Creole culture.
The face of Zydeco Music has changed and is continually changing, incorporating new influences and new cultural elements. Zydeco Music no longer belongs solely to the black Creoles of rural Southwest Louisiana. However, we have a responsibility and charge to facilitate a healthy development of Zydeco music Creole culture and protect its legacy. ZydecoOnline is one important step in that journey. So, welcome to a new chapter in Zydeco Music and Creole culture. We invite you to join us in this exciting journey.
Zydeco Historical & Preservation Society Web
Project Aims To Preserve Zydeco Music and Creole Culture.
June 4, 2004
by Rod Sias
www.ZydecoOnline.com
Uniting the Zydeco Nation
 |
| ZydecoOnline.com is the world's first interactive internet project dedicated to the understanding and preservation of Zydeco Music and Louisiana and Texas Creole Culture. ZydecoOnline.com is a project of the Zydeco Historical & Preservation Society, Inc. |
ZydecoOnline.com is an Interactive Internet project that will bring together authoritative information about Zydeco Music as well as Creole History and Culture. The project will serve the needs of the emerging online Zydeco community and act as a digital bridge that will link the traditional offline Zydeco community. A worldwide community we identify as the Zydeco Nation.
ZydecoOnline will serve the needs of the Zydeco Community by hosting and facilitating an educational forum, a platform for discussion, and a means through which information about Zydeco Music, as well as Creole Heritage, History and Culture will be disseminated.
ZydecoOnline.com will offer interactive, online companion pieces about Zydeco Music and artist, Creole history and culture, streaming video, audio clips, slide shows, interviews, schedules of public appearances, and festivals. In essence, our goal is to become the world's best online destination that will give the Zydeco Nation as well as new and casual Zydeco Enthusiast the best experience rural Southwestern Louisiana and Texas Creole culture has to offer.
I have often been asked the question "How is ZydecoOnline different from other websites or other projects that showcase the talents of Zydeco Musicians?" ZydecoOnline is unique because we recognize that Zydeco (also known as La La music) is the central thread weaving the past, present, and future of a rich, diverse, and rural black Creole Culture-a culture forged in the fire of slavery, depression, sharecropping, and Jim Crowism.
ZydecoOnline is certainly not the first step in preserving, protecting and developing Creole Culture. There are many unnamed and unheralded individuals and organizations who have worked to ensure that the rural Creole Culture of Southwest Louisiana and Texas survives and is passed on to future generations.
ZydecoOnline is one important step in articulating the story of a people whose cultural expressions and aspirations (until recently) have been routinely dismissed, exploited or reduced to a commodity to be bartered and sold. We believe that in order to honor Zydeco Music and the black Creole culture from which the music developed, and ensure its healthy development, it is essential that the story be understood and told from the perspective of the true custodians of the culture-the people of southwest Louisiana.
This does not mean that we uplift the Creole culture of rural southwest Louisiana without understanding and providing an honest critique of the social conditions, the historical and present day complexities that shape the culture, nor does this mean that Zydeco Music solely belongs to Southwest Louisiana. Zydeco music is being played all over the world and is being developed in many interesting and exciting ways. However, empowering people to understand and tell their own story with their own sensibilities, whether that story be told be told on a Texas Trail Ride or somewhere in St. Landry Parish, helps place the culture on solid ground and help preserves the spirit and soul of Creole culture in the face of unchecked commercialism and materialism.
It has been 21 years since the Treasures of Opelousas (a group of local citizens from various parts of Southwest Louisiana who were concerned that an important part of Creole culture, zydeco music was dying a slow death) organized the Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival (the first and oldest Zydeco Festival in the world). I was personally influenced in many profound ways by the organizers of the festival. My father, James Sias, was part of that original group. I watched my father along with many other people contribute their time, talents, and financial resources, often without recognition or appreciation to making the festival a success.
I watched my father, along with Mr. Oliver "Chief" Jackson and other volunteers clear overgrown grass in the fields of Plaisance, Louisiana and build the first festival stage. I remember Mrs. Vanessa Green and the valuable expertise and experience she provided during the first years of the festival. Mrs. Regina Tatum and the Ladies Auxiliary of the Knights of Peter Claver worked tirelessly to make popcorn balls to sell at the festival. Mr. Wilbert Levier and Mrs. Vera Hunt were a long-standing presence at the early festivals.
I watched Mr. Wilbert Guillory, Ms. Liz Savoy, Mr. Clarence Ardoin and a very young Mr. Paul Scott work relentlessly for many years to promote not only the Zydeco Festival but also Creole culture in general. Father A. J. McKnight provided much needed spiritual leadership and inspired people to look within themselves and see their self worth in the midst of local, regional, and national social, political and economic change.
Holy Ghost Catholic Church became ground zero for the revival of Zydeco Music by exposing and introducing this aspect of Creole Culture to a new generation of young people influence by the explosion of mass produced R &B, Funk, and pop music, the emerging hip-hop movement, and mass modernization. Names that have faded in the annals of zydeco musical history (Clifton Chenier, Amede Ardoin, Hiram Sampy, Major Handy, John Delafose, Bois Sec Ardoin, Marcel Dugas, Wilson Citizen and Goldman Thibodeaux to name a few) were talked about with a new reverence and enthusiasm.
I remember the many conversations expressing excitement as well as apprehension about the magnitude of the many tasks that needed to be completed. Many people who participated in organizing the first zydeco festival as the well as the zydeco musicians who participated in the first festival never imagined the significance of their actions, for some it was the most radical and daunting direct action in their entire lives.
The experiences of that first group were by no means an easy journey. The Treasures of Opelousas and many other people before the Treasurers of Opelousas gave us the knowledge and sensibilities available to them. Our understanding of the everyday experiences of the Treasures of Opelousas teach us that zydeco music and Creole culture run deep within each of us.
Understanding and preserving irreplaceable segments of Zydeco and Creole heritage including structures, oral traditions, collective community memories and social fabric help all of us to truly honor and respect Creole culture.
The face of Zydeco Music has changed and is continually changing, incorporating new influences and new cultural elements. Zydeco Music no longer belongs solely to the black Creoles of rural Southwest Louisiana. However, we have a responsibility and charge to facilitate a healthy development of Zydeco music Creole culture and protect its legacy. ZydecoOnline is one important step in that journey. So, welcome to a new chapter in Zydeco Music and Creole culture. We invite you to join us in this exciting journey.
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