Event

Planet Zydeco

SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015 - PLANET ZYDECO
7:30 pm, doors open 7:00 pm
BYOB & BYOF
$12 advance, $15 at the door

Sandywoods Center for the Arts
43 Muse Way, Tiverton, RI
www.sandywoodsmusic.com

Planet Zydeco captures the essence of traditional rural-style, accordion-driven dance music as it is played in zydeco clubs and dance halls in southwest Louisiana. The Planet's funky syncopated sound includes accordion, twin electric guitars, bass, drums, and rubboard. The rubboard, or frottoir, as it is known in Louisiana, is made of corrugated metal, worn like a vest, and played with spoons or bottle openers, and is a rhythmic trademark of the zydeco sound.

Half a century ago in the rural juke joints of southwest Louisiana, black Creole accordion players like Clifton Chenier and Boozoo Chavis combined traditional Cajun tunes with the percussive feeling of the blues, a hint of country, and a good helping of R&B to create driving, high-energy music that kept the patrons on the dance floor until dawn. The term "zydeco" is derived from the Depression-era saying, "Les haricots sont pas sales," when people were too poor to afford salt for the snap beans. A truly American musical form, zydeco continues to grow in popularity throughout the world, with regional festivals devoted to the music and its infectious style of dance.