Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, December 19, 1996 - Creole Music has more information on the history of Zydeco music.

Here's an excerpt:

"Like Cajun music, the seeds of zydeco were planted on wooden porches, beneath shade trees, in small rural clubs or wherever Acadiana's Creole families gathered for weddings, anniversaries, holidays, or Saturday house parties.

Some of the first Creole musicians to touch the rest of the country and eventually the world with the early sounds of zydeco were accordionist Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin and fiddler Canray Fontenot.

Ardoin and Fontenot were the catalysts in the transformation of so-called "la la music," that is, Creole house party music, into what is now termed "traditional zydeco music." Ardoin and Fontenot carried the zydeco standard until after World War II when the electrified sounds of the original King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier, began attracting crowds to clubs and festivals.

Chenier added a mix of blues and jazz to the la la gumbo pot and developed a sound that today's zydeco musicians refer to as "traditional." By the mid-1970s, Chenier and his Red Hot Louisiana Band had developed a cult following, on the West Coast, England and Europe.

Peers like Good Rockin' Dopsie, Boo Zoo Chavis, John Delafose, and Good Rockin' Sydney helped Chenier spread the spice of Acadiana's Creole life through their music. However, it wasn't until Good Rockin' Sydney's "Don't Mess With My Toot-Toot" that a zydeco selection actually made it onto America's pop music charts"...
-snip-

As to the referents "Creole" and "Black Creole" as currently used in Louisiana and as historically used [for people as opposed to the linguist's term "creole language"] see the series of articles at
http://www.carencrohighschool.org/LA_Studies/Black_Creole_Articles.htm

That website also has links to articles on Cajuns. See this excerpt from the homepage of that website. That excerpt provides a definition of "Cajun" and other information about this project:

"Cultures of Acadiana; A Look at the French, Cajun, Black Creole, and Native American Cultures of Louisiana

This site is a result of ongoing study by the Louisiana Studies (Sociology) classes of Carencro High School [Carencro is pronounced karen crow] of the cultures of Acadiana. Acadiana is a 13 parish (NOTE to non-Louisianians: our parishes are the same things as your counties) area in south Louisiana where French exiles from Nova Scotia (known to them as Acadia) settled after their deportation by the British in 1755. The descendents of those exiles are now known as Cajuns (a corruption of the name "Acadians"). The town of Carencro developed from one of the earliest Cajun settlements and is located immediately north of the city of Lafayette, considered by many to be the unofficial capital of Acadiana.

The Cultures of Acadiana site contains over 425 articles and features on Cajuns, Black Creole, Native American, and "French but non-Cajun" cultures. Additional sections on Cajun/Creole Humor and Mardi Gras have been added..."

-snip-

It's noted in that page that the website was "developed by the Louisiana Studies (Sociology) classes of Carencro High School (1996-2000) and maintained by CHS' Web Mastering classes (2000-2001)."

I don't find any information about whether the site has been an ongoing project since 2002.

Since I know nothing about the geographical location of Lafayette, Louisiana compared to New Orleans, I was curious about the impact of the devastation of the 2005 hurricanes Katrina & Rita on the city of Lafayette, Louisiana, on Carencro High School. As a result of googling, I found out that Lafayette must not be near New Orleans as Baton Rouge is the nearest city to Lafayette with a population of 200,000+ and Houston, Texas is the nearest city to Lafayette of a population of 1,000,000+.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Lafayette-Louisiana.html

But there's no doubt, that Hurricane Katrina & Hurricane Rita have had a profound effect on the people who made Zydeco music and on zydeco culture.

I'm interested in learning more about the history and the present day realities of Zydeco music & other cultural indices.

I'll post what I find here and hope that others do the same.