Mark Knopfler's recent concert opened with a song I didn't know. I real belting number that Terry Wogan used to call hooligan music. I found out later that it was called "Cannibals" and featured on the "Golden Heart" album which is the only one of his I do not possess. It was the first he released after he folded "Dire Straits".
It is typical of music called zydeco which evolved when French speaking black slaves arrived in Louisiana in the 18th century. A hybrid of blues, swamp pop, R&B and traces of Afro-Caribbean rhythms, it sits alongside Cajun as the dance music of this part of the south. How do I know all this? A couple of years ago I was searching for one of my favourite songs called "Promised Land" by Johnnie Allan. I could only find it on an album called "Alligator Stomp", a mixture of Cajun and Zydeco classics. The sleeve notes give an informative summary of this type of music.
"Promised Land" is a brilliant Chuck Berry R&B composition played with "frantic accordion solos", which instrument is typical of Zydeco. Clifton Chenier was the King of Zydeco and appears twice on the album. He is given a name check in the Paul Simon song "That was your mother" on his "Graceland" recording. Simon even uses the accordion and washboard typical of Chenier's band.
To come full circle, the Mark Knopfler song includes accordion and Louisiana gets mentioned in his sleeve notes. His major influence was Lonnie Donegan whose recordings include "Bring a little water Sylvie" in 1956, his first release with his own musicians after leaving Chris Barber's traditional jazz band with whom he recorded "Rock Island Line" in 1955. Both songs, and others he later recorded, are attributed as compositions, or arrangements, to Huddie Ledbetter. Who played accordion and was born in ......... Louisiana.
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