Zydecajun (zydeco + Cajun)

American Cajun singer Wayne Toups has called his brand of music “zydecajun” (zydeco + Cajun). The name “Zydecajun” is also the formal name of his group that recorded an album in 1985. Toups’ “zydecajun” also adds rock music to the mix.
 
The untrademarked term “zydecajun” is almost exclusively associated with Wayne Toups, but potentially could be a music genre shared by many musicians.
 
     
Wikipedia: Wayne Toups
Wayne Toups (born October 2, 1958, Crowley, Louisiana) is one of the most commercially successful American Cajun singers. He is also a songwriter. Wayne Toups has been granted numerous awards and honors throughout his career including 2010 Festivals Acadiens et Créoles dedicated in his name, Offbeat Magazine Album of the Year recipient. Member of The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, Gulf Coast Hall of Fame, and Cajun French Music Hall of Fame, 55th Annual Grammy Award winner.
 
Biography
Wayne Toups was born into a family of rice farmers in Crowley, Louisiana. He first picked up an accordion when he was 13 and quickly began winning local accordion contests. He has combined Cajun music, zydeco, R&B, and rock into a genre he calls Zydecajun. He sings in both English and Cajun.
   
OCLC WorldCat record   
Zydeco baby My friend
Author: Wayne Toups; Zydecajun (Musical group); Kajun Records.
Publisher: Crowley, La. : Kajun Records, 1985.
Edition/Format:   Music : 45 rpm : Romance [Other]
 
OCLC WorldCat record
ZyDeCajun
Author: Wayne Toups
Publisher: Crowley, La. : Kajun Records, 1986.
Edition/Format:   Music LP : English
 
Google Books
Cajun Country
By Barry Jean Ancelet, Jay Dearborn Edwards and Glen Pitre
Jackson, MS: University of Mississippi Press
1991
Pg. 163:
Wayne Toups preserves the spirit of his heroes, who include Belton Richard, Lawrence Walker, and Walter Mouton, while developing his own “ZydeCajun” sound, a fusion of zydeco and Cajun styles.
   
Google Books
High Fidelity
Volume 37, Issues 2-11
1987
Pg. 72:
Meanwhile, the biggest trend on the bayou today is dubbed Zydeco Cajun, which is most simply defined as white Cajuns playing black zydeco or Creoles playing Cajun. Wayne Toups’s ZyDeCajun (Kajun 5032) is an impressive example.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Zydecajun instrumentals
Author: Jose Suescun; Beau Jocque; Fernest Arceneaux; Sammy Naquin; Jude Taylor; All authors
Publisher: [Metairie, LA] : Mambito Records : Dist. by Jose Suescun Music Distribution, 2002.
Edition/Format:   Music CD : CD audio : English
 
Google Books
The Accordion in the Americas:
Klezmer, Polka, Tango, Zydeco, and More!
By Helena Simonett
Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press
2012
Pp. 58-59:
Despite its name, Zydecajun did not combine zydeco and Cajun music so much as it fused Cajun music with other popular music.
 
The Courier of Montgomery County (TX)
Grammy-award-winning Zydecajun father featured at festival
Posted: Thursday, October 8, 2015 4:00 am
By Meagan Ellsworth
(...)
In fact, it’s a combination of Cajun, Zydeco, Southern Rock and a little soul he’s coined as “Zydecajun.”
 
“It’s a musical blend of genres,” Toups said. “I put it into a lil’ bowl and started stirrin’ the music with passion and the squeeze box and coined the blend.”
 
He sings the music half in the Cajun French dialect and half in English. Toups said it gives him an opportunity to explain the meaning of the music to the younger generation through the four to five styles of music he grew up listening to.