• Traditional Cajun instruments are the fiddle, accordion, triangle and guitar.musician playing a ukelele image by Pix by Marti from Fotolia.com
  
  Cajun music developed in southern Louisiana in the late 1700s, when immigrants from France and other European countries blended their musical influences with those of Native Americans, African Americans and the Spanish. Zydeco is close relative of Cajun music with a bluesier sound. There are three basic tunes in Cajun music, the one-step, the two-step and the waltz. The main instruments used to play Cajun music are the fiddle, accordion, triangle and steel guitar.
  
  

Traditional Cajun

• Traditional Cajun music incorporates the waltz and two-step dances with influences from traditional ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada who migrated to Louisiana in the late 1700s. This type of Cajun music uses few instruments, including the accordion, fiddle and triangle.
  
  

Country Texas Swing Cajun

• Influenced heavily by Texas country music, this style of Cajun music replaced the accordion as the main instrument with the fiddle, steel guitar and piano. This style developed during the 1940s and has a tempo similar to that of swing music. A popular rhythm in country Texas style Cajun music is the "jig," illustrated by the music of the Red Stick Ramblers and the Hackberry Ramblers.
  
  

Dance Hall Cajun

• This style began in the post-World War II era in the late 1940s, developing from traditional Cajun influences with the addition of the electric fiddle, bass guitar, drum kit and the steel, electric and acoustic guitar. Examples of musicians playing in this style are Jesse Lége and the Basin Brothers Band.
  
  

Contemporary Cajun Music

• Contemporary Cajun music, developed during the 1980s, follows a less traditional influence of rock, blues, soul and zydeco. Instruments in this style of Cajun music are predominantly the accordion, electric guitar, washboard and keyboard. Wayne Toups, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, and Roddie Romero and the Hub City Allstars perform contemporary Cajun music.
  
  

Cajun Renaissance

• Cajun renaissance music is a more modern type of music with influences from traditional Cajun style combined with modern elements of folk, blues, jazz, southern country pop and bluegrass styles. This legato, or more relaxed, type of Cajun music is favored by bands such as Beausoleil, Jambalaya Cajun Band and Eddie LeJeune.