Concert Review: Buckwheat Zydeco and the Ils Sont Partis Band

My sister, Briana Delaney, and I went to see a concert by Buckwheat Zydeco and the Ils Sont Partis Band. This was part of the 2011 Banners Series. The concert was held in the F.G. Bulbur auditorium on the McNeese State University campus.

We went in and at first the music was loud, but it only took a few songs and sitting directly outside the auditorium for one of the songs for our ear to adjust to the music.

Buckwheat Zydeco is Stanley Dural, Jr. He plays zydeco music, but he also mixes it with funk and gospel. Buckwheat and his band were the first people to release a zydeco album on a major record.

The auditorium was surprisingly not completely full as zydeco is extremely popular in southwest Louisiana. It is the music of the area. It is the music that I consider the type of music that runs through my blood and in my soul, even though I enjoy all kinds of music.

I grew up with this music. I danced to it with my grandpa when he would visit when I was younger. I danced to it with my Daddy's coworkers. It's what I knew and I always enjoyed it.

Briana and I enjoyed the music at this concert, too. There were people of all ages at the concert. Even young children were there, dancing with each other. Two of the children were invited onto the stage to sing part of a song. We think they might have been saying "jelly roll" or maybe it was "Jeleron."

I was glad to hear "Walkin' to New Orleans" and "Waitin' for my Ya Ya."

The concert was $20 for people who did not have tickets. It seems that in general, concert tickets for Buckwheat Zydeco cost from $240 to $360.

If you can afford these tickets, the concert is great. However, if you can't afford the tickets, you can buy CDs from his website and enjoy a few videos that can be found on YouTube. The one thing that is for certain is that this is dancing music!