Get ready for all out zydeco at public radio signal WXPN of Philadelphia. The station has received a Pew arts grant ($360,000) for a year long “Zydeco Crossroads” project. The Zydeco rollout will include free World Cafe Live concerts, performances by the local music/dance ensemble Allons Danser, and a documentary about the genre by filmmaker Robert Mugge, auteur of many docs about musicians.
Plus: no less than thirteen one hour shows on zydeco produced by Herman Fuselier, Lousiana based aficianado on the music.
You may be hoping for a definition of zydeco at this point. Here’s the summary XPN sent us in its press release about the project. zydeco is:
“regional music of southwest Louisiana, known for its energetic rhythms driven by lively accordion and rub board instrumentation, joyful dancing and deep roots in Spanish, Creole and Native American cultures that are today being influenced by hip-hop and R&B.”
It should be noted that WXPN is the home of World Cafe, hosted by David Dye. A Zydeco Crossroads website is in the offing, we are told, followed by lots of zydeco stuff in September, and culminating in a Zydeco Crossroads Weekend at some point in late 2015, during which the new Mugge film will be unveiled.
