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↑zydeco n, also attrib
Also sp zadico, zodico, zottico, zydico[Appar < LaFr zaricot green beans (by metanalysis of Fr les haricots), from the appearance of this word in var metaphorical senses in Creole folk songs]orig southern Louisiana, eastern Texas, now widely known
A kind of dance party; a style of dance music usu featuring accordion, fiddle or banjo, and washboard, assoc with Louisiana Creole culture; see quots.
- 1949 in 1996 Amer. Music 14.502 swLA, [Transcript of recording:] At the church bazaar or the baseball game,/ At the French La-La, it’s all the same,/ If you want to have fun, now, you got to go,/ Way out in the country to the Zydeco.
- 1949 Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 3 Sept 10/1 Houston TX, Reese Fontenet will sponsor a fifteen minute program of Zadico music, featuring Jumping Houston and his accordion over KGBC next month.
- 1955 in 1996 Amer. Music 14.500 Houston TX, On Saturday night, somebody holds a ‘zottico’ in his home. Out come the accordion, banjo and rub bo’d. . . Off they whirl in a folk dance similar to the square dance.
- 1962 NY Times (NY) 21 Oct sec X 14/3, [Record review:] A delight and surprise is the music of French-speaking Negroes who went to the Houston–Dallas area with their Zydeco music, . . usually played to the accompaniment of washboard, fiddle and concertina, or accordion.
- 1969 Leadbitter–Shuler From Bayou 15 sLA (as of 1953), Boozoo played a German button accordian in a style known in this part of the country as Zodico.
- 1978 Galveston Daily News (TX) 21 Sept sec C 2/3, The Gay Paree Social and Charity Club will hold a Friday Night Zodico. . . Music will be by John Vallier and his Zodico Team.
- 1979 Ibid 25 Apr sec C 3/6, Knights of St. Peter Claver . . to sponsor a Zadico Dance . . ; music by John Vallier and his Playboys.
- 1986 in 1996 Amer. Music 14.493 csLA (as of c1926), They—long time ago, they used to give them zydecos, see? . . they would give a zydeco every two weeks.
- 1986 Pederson LAGS Concordance , 1 inf, seLA, Zydeco = “string-bean music”.
- 1990 Galveston Daily News (TX) 18 Feb sec B 8/1, Knights of Peter Claver—A Mardi Gras Zydico will be held 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
- 1995 Karr Liars’ Club 211 eTX, A town with no music but country and zydeco.
- 2005 Hollander 52 Weeks 124, After the first time we saw a Zydeco band at the legendary Stanhope House in New Jersey, Todd told me about The Kingdom of Zydeco documentary.