the genes of a song -

Music is like a family tree. The style of singing, the rhythm, what instruments are used, the palette of notes - you could think of these as genes. Someone who is well familiar with musicians of different generations might recognize a guitar riff from a blues guy three generations back. There might be an Eastern European strain, or an instrument that is found only in Korea. Our music teacher in high school, Ms. Lee, taught us how to identify various genres of music, and I sometimes listen for the attributes she pointed out.

Randol's, a restaurant in Lafayette, Louisiana, has a dance floor. In the evenings, local bands play - usually Cajun music which I've thought of as Louisiana Acadian French - also known as chanky-chank. Sometimes after eating, we've stayed and listened as dancers move around the floor. Plaintive Celtic melodies unexpectedly surface from the Cajun music, with the accordian used like the drone of bagpipes. Mexican and German accordian is strong. There are the Louisiana French lyrics. You can hear blues repetitions. The blues has origins from African chants. Zydeco has a lot of African-American and Creole influence. The word zydeco is the local spelling of 'les haricots' - French for snap beans. 'Les haricots sont pas salé' the song goes.

The area I grew up in prided itself on its Cajun roots, and there is that and there is so much more. You can hear the family tree in the local music.