Mention ”Cajun” to most people, and the first thing they`ll think of is the spicy food that has taken over the menu at trendy restaurants in recent years. But to accordion player and singer Wayne Toups, ”Cajun” describes an entire culture, one that teeters on the brink of extinction.
Toups, who brings his Zydecajun band to Schaumburg`s Prairie Center for the Arts on Saturday, says: ”There is a special feel in Acadiana (the rural area west of New Orleans originally settled by French immigrants) different from the big city. It`s a way of cooking, a way of working, our own way of speaking, kind of a broken up half-French.
”It`s so strange there, like we`re living in our own little paradise. My daddy could barely speak English, so I had to learn French. I learned the language out of respect for older people. If you can walk into a building around there and speak French, you`re telling them, `Our language will not die` ”
To keep the Cajun musical vocabulary alive, Toups has made his songs more accessible by intensifying traditional Cajun waltz and two-step arrangements with a harder-driving rhythm section.
”We add drums and some Southern rock to give this music a breath of fresh air. Radio is full of rap-I`m not knocking it-and rock and country, so you have to bear down and kind of force-feed the young listeners with something that will make them at least twitch an eye and say, `Maybe I could dance to that.` That`s a step toward the future.”
So far, the strategy seems to be working. Toups is signed to Mercury Records, which has released four albums, including the recent ”Fish out of Water.” But Toups says he is in no danger of selling out to achieve mainstream success. ”There`s a fine line that I will not step over. No one can make me. The famous words: `money talks`-that won`t work for me.”
And what is that fine line that defines the Cajun way of life? ”That`s very hard to put into words,” Toups replies. ”We might not come from a whole lot of money, or live on big lands, but we have love. We live to love, love to live, and we scratch to survive. I wouldn`t trade being a Cajun for the world.”
Despite its limited geographical origins, the universal appeal of Cajun music was proven to Toups last year when his band toured Southeast Asia.
”When we got to Fiji Island,” he says, ”the native (islanders) were a little conservative at first, but we had them jumping and screaming by the end. It made me think, they can`t understand a lot of what I`m saying, but they can feel it.”
Wayne Toups and Zydecajun will perform at 7 p.m. at the outdoor stage of the Prairie Center for the Arts` Municipal Center, 201 Schaumburg Ct., Schaumburg. Free admission. Call 894-3600.
