Cajun: France musical instrument

A Cajun accordion is also known as ‘squeezebox’. The squeezebox is a single-row diatonic button accordion that is used for performing the music of Cajun.

Many various accordions were developed in Europe throughout the 19^th century, and pushed out to the whole world. Accordions were brought to Acadiana in the 1890s and became well-known by the early part of the 1900s, eventually becoming a chief of Cajun music.

Many German factories that was manufacturing the diatonic accordions for the united states market were destroyed during the world war II. Because of that, some Cajuns started manufacturing their own musical instruments, based on the popular one-row German accordion, but with adjustments to match the nuances of the Cajun playing pattern. Since the end of World War II, there has been a rise in the number of the Cajun accordion manufacturers in Texas and Louisiana.

The musical instrument is commonly defined as a single-row diatonic accordion, as compared to multi-row musical instruments generally used in Irish, Polka, Italian and other styles of music. The musical instrument has multiple reeds for every button and the number of reed sounding is regulated by four stops or knobs. Louisiana carved accordions are often constructed in small backyard shops like marc Savoy’s Acadian brand and Larry Miller’s Bon Cajun brand.

The most common tuning that is used on the musical instrument is the key of C, but the key of D is also relatively common. Some rare accordions are carved to in the key of B flat.