Introduction

Learn the words robust, traverse, acculturation, quell, plaintive and 5 more words in a new vocabulary building episode ‘Let the Good Times Roll,’ from English Plus Podcast.


Audio Podcast


Let the Good Times Roll – Cajun Music

It’s difficult to resist tapping toes, let alone dancing feet, when the hard-driving rhythms and robust tones of Cajun music throb and pound. Indigenous to the Louisiana bayous where it developed, this unique sound was nourished by the New World. Like jazz, rock, and the blues, Cajun music is a unique synthesis of cultural elements. Its lyrics come from French folklore, while its wailing singing style can be traced to the chants of Native Americans. Spanish explorers contributed the guitar, German immigrants supplied the accordion, and African Americans reshaped the fiddle dance tunes with percussion techniques. Lively and infectious, Cajun music traverses cultural, generational, and language barriers.

To the Cajuns, however, music is much more than entertainment; it is a link with their treasured but tragic history. The word Cajun is an alteration of the word Acadian, which refers to the seventeenth-century French colonists who settled in Nova Scotia. Although the Acadians declared neutrality in the rivalry between France and England for dominion of North America, the British demanded loyalty when they claimed the area in 1715. In a mass deportation executed with cold ruthlessness, British soldiers collected thousands of French Canadians, packed them into boats, and shipped them to widely dispersed areas.

Many of the exiled Acadians settled in remote southwestern Louisiana, where their isolation allowed them to evolve into a distinct, tight-knit ethnic group. When the oil development and road-building programs of World War I brought modern America rushing in, however, the Cajun parishes could no longer resist acculturation. In the headlong attempt to become part of the larger society, the language and music were discouraged, quelled, and all but forgotten.

In the mid-1970s, many Americans became interested in searching for their roots. As part of this heritage movement, Cajun music was rescued and validated as an important folk-music tradition. Today, it is one of the fastest growing regional sounds in the United States. In addition to being played in live concerts, in clubs, and on the radio, Cajun songs appear in movie scores, in the introductions for television situation comedies. and in commercials. Having survived centuries of adversity, isolation, and persecution, the music tells plaintive stories about loneliness and lost love. Yet there is nothing depressing about this music. Set against what the Cajuns call a “chanky-chank” beat, the songs urge everyone to sing, dance, laugh, and “let the good times roll.”


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Episode Transcript

0:03
Welcome to a new English plus episode. This episode is all about vocabulary building. And as we usually do, we will learn 10 new words every time in context. And our context or story for today is about Cajun music. Let the good times roll. You can practice what you will learn in this episode on my website, there’s a link in the description that will take you to the custom post I created for this episode, you will find a lot to learn on my website English plus podcast.com. And better yet, if you are a patron you will get exclusive Episodes Series and resources to take your English and learning to the next level. You can find all the links you need in the description of the episode. And now without further ado, let’s talk about Cajun music, like the good times roll. But first, let me tell you about the words we’re going to learn. In today’s episode. We’re going to learn the words robust indigenous synthesis, traverse dominion, ruthless acculturation, quell, validate and plaintive. So you’re interested? Of course you are. The topic is great. The words are very interesting. Let’s dive in and talk about Cajun music. Let the good times roll.

1:28
It’s difficult to resist tapping toes let alone dancing feet when the hard driving rhythms and robust tones of Cajun music throb and pound indigenous to the Louisiana bayou where it developed this unique sound was nourished by the new world like jazz, rock and blues. Cajun music is a unique synthesis of cultural elements. Its lyrics come from French folklore. While its whaling singing style can be traced to the chants of Native Americans. Spanish explorers contributed the guitar German immigrants supplied the accordion and African Americans reshape the fiddle dance tunes with percussion techniques lively and infectious. Cajun music traverses cultural, generational and language barriers to the Cajuns. However, music is much more than entertainment. It is a link with their treasured but tragic history. The word Cajun is an alteration of the word Acadian, which refers to the 17th century French colonists who settled in Nova Scotia. Although the Acadians declared neutrality in the rivalry between France and England for dominion of North America. The British demanded loyalty when they claim the area in 1715. In a mass deportation executed with cold ruthlessness, British soldiers collected 1000s of French Canadians pack them into boats and ship them to widely dispersed areas. Many of the exiled Acadians settled in remote Southwestern Louisiana, where their isolation allowed them to evolve into a distinct tight knit ethnic group. When the oil development and road building programs of World War One brought modern America rushing in, however, the Cajun parishes could no longer resist acculturation. In the headlong attempt to become part of the larger society. The language and music were discouraged, quelled, and all but forgotten. In the mid 1970s, many Americans became interested in searching for their roots. As part of this heritage movement, Cajun music was rescued and validated as an important folk music tradition. Today, it is one of the fastest growing regional sounds in the United States. In addition to being played in live concerts, in clubs and on the radio, Cajun songs appear in movie scores in the introductions for television situation comedies, and in commercials. Having survived centuries of adversity, isolation and persecution. The music tells plaintive stories about loneliness and lost love. Get there is nothing depressing about this music set against what the Cajuns call a chunky Chang beat the songs urge everyone to sing, dance, laugh and let the good times roll. Or like they say it in French, let’s say bon Tong hooray. So that was the story that was the context, which is a great story by the way, and the music is great really worth listening to and learning about this culture which is so rich, but let’s get back to what we are here for. We are here to learn 10 new words in context, right. Let me remind you again, what these words are robust, indigenous This synthesis, perverse dominion, ruthless acculturation, quell, validate and plaintive. Are you ready? Let’s get to that after a short break, don’t go away

5:17
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6:27
So we’re back with our words. And let’s start right away with a very first word robust, R OB you st robust. Now let’s take a look at how we use this word in context. We said it’s difficult to resist tapping toes, let alone dancing feet when the hard driving rhythms and robust tones of Cajun music, throb and pound. Well what do we mean by robust? What are you talking about? Robust? Are we talking about something that is weak? No, we’re talking about something that is strong and healthy, powerful, tough, potent, that is robust, our OB ust robust, strong took that was our first word. The second word is indigenous INDIGNO U S indigenous. Let’s see how we use that in context. We said indigenous to the Louisiana bayou where it developed we’re talking about Cajun music, of course, this unique sound was nourished by the New World. So when we talk about indigenous people, what do we mean by that indigenous people or indigenous music like in this case, because mind you that we can use the word indigenous to describe people or things so indigenous people or things belong to the country in which they are found rather than coming there or being brought there from another country. So it’s like saying native or original. So that was indigenous. Now let’s move to the next word synthesis, syn th e s i s synthesis. Now how did we use that in context, we said like jazz, rock and blues. Cajun music is a unique synthesis of cultural elements. Because remember, we talked about a mixture of different cultural elements in this type of music. So it is a synthesis. a synthesis of different ideas or styles is a mixture or combination of these ideas or styles, like amalgamation, combining integration or something like that. That’s the word synthesis. That’s a new word to add to your active vocabulary bank. And now for another word traverse T r A v e r s e traverse. How do we use that in context we said lively and infectious. Cajun music traverses cultural, generational and language barriers. So when we talk about traverse, it is usually said when you just move from one area to another when you go across if someone or something traverses an area of land or water, they go across it, but here we’re talking about music. So it is kind of the same thing, but not in the literal sense of the word just like traversing just like walking. No, it kind of like expands, it goes across it spreads. It does not stop at the boundary of one culture. No, it reverses cultural, generational and language barriers. That’s the sense of the word. Alright, that is traverse. What about the next word? Dominion? Dmin I O N dominion. How do we use that in context, we said although the Acadians declared neutrality in the rivalry between France and England for dominion of North America, the British demanded loyalty when they claim the area in 1715. So when we talk about dominion, we mean simply control or authority. The rivalry was between France and England for what? For dominion for control of North America. And we all know the history of it. And maybe I can tell you about the history of it in another episode, but they were fighting for control for dominion of North America. That’s a new word. What about the next word? Ruthless rut? H L. E. S. S, how do we use that in context we said in a mass deportation executed with cold ruthlessness British soldiers collected 1000s of French Canadians pack them into boats and ship them to widely dispersed areas. So to take people from where they actually belonged and send them to different places I mean, you know, just like you’re breaking the community apart, that is ruthless. So what is the meaning of ruthless then if you say that someone is ruthless, you mean that you disapprove of them because they are very harsh or cruel and will do anything that is necessary to achieve what they want? And that is exactly what happened or what the British did to those Acadians they were shipped to widely dispersed areas that is ruthless that is barbarous, brutal, cruel, that is the word ruthless remember it remember the context it will make it a lot easier for you to remember the meaning of the word okay. Now we come to the next word acculturation ACC you lt you are a t i o n. It comes from culture of course, but what is acculturation me? First let’s take a look at how we use it in context. We said when the oil development and road building programs of World War One brought modern America rushing in however, the Cajun parishes could no longer resist acculturation. So what does that mean? acculturation is the process of becoming adapted to a new or different culture with more or less advanced patterns. It’s like assimilation or naturalization or nationalization. So when a new culture comes in, they try to make you adapt to this culture make you become like them make you change your identity. So it is not always a good word acculturation might be positive in some ways. Of course, when you take the good things from the new culture is always a good idea. But you always have to keep or to preserve your roots not to be fully assimilated in this new culture. But anyway, that’s the word acculturation it’s up to you to decide whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing. And now we’re left with three more words quell, validate and plaintiff. Let’s start with Quill, qu e ll quill. Let’s see how we use that in context. We said in the headlong attempt to become part of a larger society, the language and music were discouraged, quelled, and all but forgotten. So the language and music were discouraged and quelled. What does that mean quelled? Well, we use this word to talk about opposition. Here, it is not exactly opposition, but it works the same way it was suppressed, to quell opposition or violent behavior means to stop it, to suppress it to crush it, to put it down. And that is exactly what happened to Cajun music at some time. But hopefully, later on, especially in the 1970s, all kinds of things cultural things related to legacy and heritage were revived. And here we come to this point, we said as part of this heritage movement, Cajun music was rescued and validated as an important folk music tradition.

13:45
So our word of course here is validate Val ID ate. What does that mean to validate something such as a claim or statement means to prove or confirm that it is true or correct to approve of it, to certify it to confirm it to endorse it. That’s the meaning of validate Cajun music was rescued and validated was endorsed. And of course, the same happened for other heritage movements. But luckily, this actually saved this kind of music from extinction. Now we come to the last word for today’s episode, plaintiff plain t i v e plaintiff. Now let’s see how we use that in context. We said having survived centuries of adversity, isolation and persecution. The music tells plaintiff stories about loneliness and lost love. When we talk about plaintiff we’re not talking about something happy of course, we’re talking about something that sounds sad. A plaintiff sound or voice sound sad, something sorrowful, pathetic melancholy. Well, that is the theme of your music, of course and the theme of the songs but the music itself is not depressing at all. It’s really nice. If you still don’t know anything about Cajun music, please look it up. Of course you can find it on YouTube or wherever you find your music, listen to it. It’s really something you need to listen to, you need to get to know it’s really something special. But anyway, that was our word plaintiff. And that brings me to the end of our episode for today. I hope you liked the theme or the story we talked about today about Cajun music, let the good times roll. And I hope you learned some good words you can add to your active vocabulary bank. That’s everything I wanted to share with you in this English plus episode. Don’t forget to visit my website English plus podcast.com. To first practice what you’ve learned in this episode, and to check the great learning opportunities you can find there there is the activity center with daily fun activities, quizzes and logic and math puzzles. And if you decide to become a patron on Patreon, there’s a lot more available only to patrons like the daily audio courses and the exclusive audio series among many other benefits you get when you become a patron. All the links you need are in the description of the episode. What are you waiting for? Take your English and learning to the next level and never stop learning with English plus podcast.com. Thank you very much for listening to this episode. This is your host Danny I will see you next time.

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<a href="https://englishpluspodcast.com/author/dannyballanowner/" target="_self">Danny Ballan</a>

Danny Ballan

Author

Danny is a podcaster, teacher, and writer. He worked in educational technology for over a decade. He creates daily podcasts, online courses, educational videos, educational games, and he also writes poetry, novels and music.

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