M Ted, thanks for the Haitian flags link.

With regard to your comment on the African origin of the word "sideco", if it is associated with juju music, and if the choice of which African language dictionary you saw that word listed is either Yoruba or Swahili, I'd pick door #1.

Swahili is a Eastern Africa & Central African language. Yoruba is a language is a West African language. Nigeria, West Africa is the birthplace of the music/dance genre "juju".

But just because the word "juju" is listed in a Yoruba dictionary does not mean it comes from that language. "Sideco" could have been [and I think probably was] adopted [borrowed]by Yoruba speakers who heard Louisiana/Texas, USA Zydeco music. I figured they're allowed to do that. Look at English. It borrows a heck of a lot of words from other languages.

See this excerpt from Afro-pop Worldwide-juju:

"For many years the most popular style in Nigeria, juju music evolved from Yoruba folklore and a variety of international elements. Early in the century, Lagos was a place where local peoples encountered freed slaves from the New World. Together they created a recreational music that came to be known as palm wine music, as it usually accompanied drinking. Banjos, guitars, shakers and hand drums supported lilting topical songs and produced local celebrities, notably "Baba" Tunde King, apparently the first to call his music juju."

-snip-

Note the comment about juju music evolving from Yoruba folklore and a variety of international elements.

This comment identifies "Latin American rhythms" as the 'international elements' that Yorubas incoporated to make juju music.

"Juju music surfaced from the lower classes of Nigeria as an alternative to the Highlife style that was played in urban hotels and costly nightclubs. Juju, on the other hand, named after the sound of the talking drum, was Yoruban street music played in working class palm wine bars, villages and at traditional events. Juju came to mean common, unsophisticated music, an exciting fusion of Western pop, Latin American rhythms and traditional African music and praise poetry that incorporates electric guitars and synthesizers with such indigenous instruments as talking drums. Lyrically, juju is rooted in the Yoruba tradition of singing about social and cultural issues through proverbs and parables."
http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/staticpages/index.php/jujumusic

-snip-

All of this to say, until I hear and read more about whether sideco is a traditional or borrowed Yoruba word, I'm stickin with the
"les haricots sont pas sale'/"the snapbeans they are not salty" story.

I guess it helps to also know that French was the language used for the earliest Zydeco songs. I'm not sure if that's been mentioned yet.

Anyway, I'm loving how all these different music genres have become a part of a Zydeco thread.

It takes a village to---sorry that's a whole nuther subject.

:o)