Louisiana Zydeco Trail
I never noticed how the syncopated Zydeco music echoes the joyous tripping of horses over rough terrain. But one afternoon in September in the pine forests of Evangeline Parish, Louisiana in the Cajun country, with hundreds of dusty riders down a narrow path, the relationship was impossible to miss. As the horses were on a tractor towing a DJ and a zydeco-howling noise, they stood and swayed in a burst of pace to the tavern floor of Lafayette, 70 miles away.
Finally, the riders - young and old, crowded by cold beers or small children - reached a large clearing in the woods, which quickly filled with horses, platforms, wagons and buggies as the music continued to throb. People were selling barbecue sandwiches and turkey legs on the backs of pickups. A group of women piled on a wagon and serenity performed a line dance in the dust. Young people sang and flirted and held up their beers with a "Wooo!"
The clearing was the halfway point of the Pineywoods Trail Ride, one of zydeco hiking trails that take place in the countryside around Lafayette and in many parts of Texas, Mardi Gras in early December. Exuberant, untouched by corporate sponsors and managed by a dense network of people that the price of their $ 2 beer can, the rides are a traditional way to celebrate the cowboy culture of rural blacks or Creoles (commonly understood as a mixture of black with French, Spanish and / or ancestry Native American).
Originally small business between parents and neighbors, the rides have evolved over decades in events with a dedicated following, but remained largely unknown outside. In recent years, hiking surged in popularity among rural youth, as zydeco musicians have incorporated strains R&B and hip-hop, attracting a new generation that Creole is suddenly cool.
The trip Pineywoods, where more than 2,000 people gathered over three days, began and ended on a farm with an open pavilion opposite that by the end, would be in a sorry mess - benches broken under the weight of people climbing up to get a look at musicians, a dumpster outside of industrial size garbage overflowing celebration. It would be a huge, weird, miles-to-nowhere, the one I had dreamed of for nearly five years.
In July 2006, when my friend Lisa D'Amour and I embarked on a long weekend, music research with Lafayette as our base, we knew all the trails on zydeco had been gleaned from a fan website Louisiana endearing music fan: they existed, they were held regularly on Sunday, somewhere in the region and to find one, you can try to listen to Cajun local radio program. There was no mention of the fact that the program was in French.
Neither a broader Internet search, local newspapers or have us further. But the more elusive trail rides seemed zydeco, most importantly, it has become to find one, even if it meant losing a whole day.
We began our search for an investigation Prejean, a Cajun restaurant in Lafayette with a stuffed crocodile in the entrance and a webcam that allows access to the worldwide perspective of tourists enjoying sassafras shrimp. stupid questions are not a rarity at Prejean, but our server was perplexed. Finally, he suggested taking a half hour to Lawtel, home zydeco clubs such as the iconic Offshore Lounge.
Lafayette is a small town, and you do not need to go far in all directions before things go very country, in places pudding station and music that are open only on Saturday morning. Travel south or east and you'll soon see signs of marsh tours, go north to Lawtel and Opelousas, and that scrub, forests and farms. We knew we had arrived when we saw a sign painted by hand ". Lawtel Welcome, Home Town and Country Riders" We found an old store that sold bait and rusty door key, but when we mentioned hiking, white man behind the counter gave us a blank stare.
In another gas station, a black cashier was more helpful, showing us a man drunk buy a crate of beer on Sunday morning, who kindly led to a large shade tree where a man was shoeing a horse. Several other men were hanging around, one of whom was wearing a rodeo championship belt buckle as big as a chicken fried steak. Lisa and I looked at each other and smiled.
These men, we soon learned, were not of the city and Lawtel Country Riders, now extinct, but another club, runners Lawtel low. And yes, they could take us for a hike.
The riding clubs, we understood, are an integral part of life in Acadiana, the southern part of Louisiana named for the French Canadian exiles who settled. Here, even Mardi Gras is traditionally celebrated on horseback, the riders are hidden. Clubs are a formalization of the loose confederation that has developed between rural African-American kinship, friendship or necessity. The towers themselves are rooted in the traditions of countries such as butchers, butchering or pork.
Today, clubs are the basis for organizing hiking zydeco, compete to attract more riders and hire the best bands and DJ's. Die-hard riders bring their horses every weekend, even if it means the tow across state borders, but most rides are obscure from the outside. Even as the popular Step-N-Strut, held in St. Landry Parish in early November, which has evolved into a music festival that attracts several days thousands of people, not yet well known outside the circuit.
Finally, the riders - young and old, crowded by cold beers or small children - reached a large clearing in the woods, which quickly filled with horses, platforms, wagons and buggies as the music continued to throb. People were selling barbecue sandwiches and turkey legs on the backs of pickups. A group of women piled on a wagon and serenity performed a line dance in the dust. Young people sang and flirted and held up their beers with a "Wooo!"
The clearing was the halfway point of the Pineywoods Trail Ride, one of zydeco hiking trails that take place in the countryside around Lafayette and in many parts of Texas, Mardi Gras in early December. Exuberant, untouched by corporate sponsors and managed by a dense network of people that the price of their $ 2 beer can, the rides are a traditional way to celebrate the cowboy culture of rural blacks or Creoles (commonly understood as a mixture of black with French, Spanish and / or ancestry Native American).
Originally small business between parents and neighbors, the rides have evolved over decades in events with a dedicated following, but remained largely unknown outside. In recent years, hiking surged in popularity among rural youth, as zydeco musicians have incorporated strains R&B and hip-hop, attracting a new generation that Creole is suddenly cool.
The trip Pineywoods, where more than 2,000 people gathered over three days, began and ended on a farm with an open pavilion opposite that by the end, would be in a sorry mess - benches broken under the weight of people climbing up to get a look at musicians, a dumpster outside of industrial size garbage overflowing celebration. It would be a huge, weird, miles-to-nowhere, the one I had dreamed of for nearly five years.
In July 2006, when my friend Lisa D'Amour and I embarked on a long weekend, music research with Lafayette as our base, we knew all the trails on zydeco had been gleaned from a fan website Louisiana endearing music fan: they existed, they were held regularly on Sunday, somewhere in the region and to find one, you can try to listen to Cajun local radio program. There was no mention of the fact that the program was in French.
Neither a broader Internet search, local newspapers or have us further. But the more elusive trail rides seemed zydeco, most importantly, it has become to find one, even if it meant losing a whole day.
We began our search for an investigation Prejean, a Cajun restaurant in Lafayette with a stuffed crocodile in the entrance and a webcam that allows access to the worldwide perspective of tourists enjoying sassafras shrimp. stupid questions are not a rarity at Prejean, but our server was perplexed. Finally, he suggested taking a half hour to Lawtel, home zydeco clubs such as the iconic Offshore Lounge.
Lafayette is a small town, and you do not need to go far in all directions before things go very country, in places pudding station and music that are open only on Saturday morning. Travel south or east and you'll soon see signs of marsh tours, go north to Lawtel and Opelousas, and that scrub, forests and farms. We knew we had arrived when we saw a sign painted by hand ". Lawtel Welcome, Home Town and Country Riders" We found an old store that sold bait and rusty door key, but when we mentioned hiking, white man behind the counter gave us a blank stare.
In another gas station, a black cashier was more helpful, showing us a man drunk buy a crate of beer on Sunday morning, who kindly led to a large shade tree where a man was shoeing a horse. Several other men were hanging around, one of whom was wearing a rodeo championship belt buckle as big as a chicken fried steak. Lisa and I looked at each other and smiled.
These men, we soon learned, were not of the city and Lawtel Country Riders, now extinct, but another club, runners Lawtel low. And yes, they could take us for a hike.
The riding clubs, we understood, are an integral part of life in Acadiana, the southern part of Louisiana named for the French Canadian exiles who settled. Here, even Mardi Gras is traditionally celebrated on horseback, the riders are hidden. Clubs are a formalization of the loose confederation that has developed between rural African-American kinship, friendship or necessity. The towers themselves are rooted in the traditions of countries such as butchers, butchering or pork.
Today, clubs are the basis for organizing hiking zydeco, compete to attract more riders and hire the best bands and DJ's. Die-hard riders bring their horses every weekend, even if it means the tow across state borders, but most rides are obscure from the outside. Even as the popular Step-N-Strut, held in St. Landry Parish in early November, which has evolved into a music festival that attracts several days thousands of people, not yet well known outside the circuit.
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Louisiana,
North America,
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United States
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