The frottoir — sometimes spelled froittoir — is a percussive, rhythmic instrument omnipresent in zydeco music, and played, to a much lesser extent, in Cajun music. Also called the rubboard, washboard, and scrubboard, the frottoir takes its name from the standard French verb frotter , meaning ‘to…
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Most people recognize Mardi Gras as parades, masked balls, and other urban events, but in Cajun Country, a unique side of Mardi Gras takes place in the countryside and dates back centuries. In Acadiana, a region surrounding Lafayette, many towns celebrate the ancient Carnival tradition of courirs…
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Zydeco is a continuously evolving Louisiana music genre that blends elements of many Black American folk and pop styles, including blues, rhythm and blues, gospel, jazz, rock and roll, soul, funk, hip-hop, and rap. Though scholars surmise that zydeco contains deeper historical roots in West African…
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For more than four decades, muralist Robert Dafford has been transforming blank walls into stories that line city blocks. His work spans continents, but much of his heart and brushstrokes remain rooted in Lafayette and the culture of Acadiana. “I’ve always been drawn to big scale,” he says. “When…
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By this point, even a cursory description of what goes into and what comes out of a traditional or modified boucherie can be overwhelming. By and large, what we're talking here about are foodstuffs that, even accounting for only the most popular in Acadiana, are unknown to foreigners. And, to be…
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In South Louisiana, food is never just food. It’s memory, ritual, and survival all rolled into one. Few traditions capture that truth more vividly than the boucherie , the communal butchering of a hog that fed families, sustained communities, and built a cuisine still central to Cajun and Creole…
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In the heart of Lafayette’s Freetown neighborhood, inside a studio layered with decades of creativity, Francis Pavy has been quietly shaping the visual soul of South Louisiana. Since the 1980s, Pavy has been creating bold, narrative-driven works inspired by the music, folklore, and lived experiences…
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The mission of Vermilionville's Living History and Folk Life Park is to give visitors a hands-on, sensory tour of life for early Acadians, Creoles, and Native Americans in South Louisiana. With each stop throughout the village, there's more than what meets the eye. In every corner of the park, some…
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Few families embody Cajun music and culture like the Savoys. From Marc Savoy’s first handmade accordion to Ann’s groundbreaking scholarship and GRAMMY-nominated performances, the family has dedicated their lives to preserving and evolving Acadiana’s traditions. Across generations, the Savoys have…
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In a region renowned for its rich cultural soundtrack, the ways musicians acquire their instruments is rarely, if ever, discussed. Yet without those instruments—many of them specialized for the musical world of South Louisiana—the music would not exist. Today, it might be easy enough for a working…
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