What is Cajun music?

Cajun music is French music from southwestern Louisiana. There are three types of French music in southwestern Louisiana:

• Cajun music is music that is performed or has been created by the Cajuns, the French settlers that were kicked out of Nova Scotia by the British and ended up in southwestern Louisiana. Cajun music is almost always sung in French. The most famous Cajun band is Beausoleil , but there are too many Cajun bands to list. Cajun music traditionally uses violins (fiddles), accordions, guitar and 'tit fer (trianges), but it is not uncommon to find musicians encorporating bass, steel drums, banjo, harmonica and various percussion instruments. Cajun music can also be unaccompanied ballads. Cajun music is vibrant, changing with the times, but there are still numerous musicians who play traditionally.
• Creole music is the music of the French speaking blacks in southwestern Louisiana. While today Creole music commonly utilizes the same instruments as Cajun music, Creole music might also use additional instruments such as the washboard. Early Creole music made use of little in the way of instrumentation, often being unaccompanied or accompanied with homemade intruments. It is very important to note that there has been a lot of exchange between Cajun and Creole musicians, with a lot of influence in both directions. Some of the most popular Cajun songs come from Creole traditions. Some well-known Creole musicians are "Bois Sec" Ardoin and Canray Fontenot . Unfortunately this musical style is disappearing as the older generation dies and the younger generations move to Zydeco music.
• Zydeco, a musical style deriving from the Creole tradition, is the most popular music from Louisiana today and is what most people think of when they think of Cajun music. Zydeco is often sung in English, and usually uses the piano accordion versus the button accordion or melodeon, which is used in Cajun and Creole music. Some well-known Zydeco musicians are Clifton Chenier and Buckwheat Zydeco .

The reason that I have chosen to call this section "Cajun Music" is because it is the style that I prefer. Out of the 81 albums that I have that fall into these three categories, the vast majority are Cajun, several are Creole, and a few are Zydeco.