“It had a vibe. A good vibe.” -Student from Delaware Creole 4 Kidz! residency
Welcome to our Creole Culture Lab, the place where Creole for Kidz and the History of Zydeco was incubated 24 years ago!
Creole for Kidz and the History of Zydeco program, is an innovative and high quality multicultural performing arts program that has reached over 500,000 K-12 and college students, parents and educators at 100’s of schools, art centers and festivals around the globe! It has helped inform and engage student, youth and family audiences in Australia, Mali, Paraguay, Seychelles, Dominican Republic, Russia, Ukraine and all over North America.
Simien not only entertains, but also helps raise the cultural IQ of his youth, student and family audiences. He has led the charge to educate student audiences about Creole culture and zydeco music -from the remarkable Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City to Berklee College of Music, Boston – to the prestigious Ordway Performing Arts Center in Saint Paul, MN.
Don’t just take our word for it, but instead hear Dare County Arts ED, Chris Sawein talk about the success of the program (x3) in the OBX! (Outer Banks, NC). Through week long residencies with many layers of educational outreach at schools, performing art centers, libraries and band rooms, Simien has done his part to inspire students everywhere to gain greater appreciation for and become more knowledgable about American, and Black Roots Music.
Creole for Kidz and the History of Zydeco CD is centered on the history and evolution of this unique American roots genre. Zydeco is the traditional, indigenous music of black and mixed race, French speaking Creoles of south Louisiana. Period.
When Taj Mahal talks, Terrance listens and takes Taj’s considerable knowledge into the lab.
This important project all started with a conversation Terrance had with his good friend and ethnomusicologist, Taj Mahal, who insisted Terrance tell his story through song. When Taj talks, people generally listen – intently! Especially Terrance. Simien had long been frustrated by the lack of representation and resources dedicated to the Creole culture in his own state. Over the years there has been a concerted effort and a huge amount of resources dedicated by cultural organizations and elected leaders, to raise the awareness about the Cajun or Acadian culture and its rich history, but the Creoles had largely been left out of the conversation. In the late 1990’s Terrance got busy. He hunkered down, did months and months of research and wrote original songs and narration for his recording project of the same name.
He and his team then developed study guide materials for teachers who wanted to go deeper with their students in advance of the school time performances. Download our nine page study guide here Simien’s agents at the time were thrilled to be able to offer this program, the only one of its kind – to the performing arts presenters they were currently working with. In no time there were dozens of performances scheduled in the first year the program toured. Some educators and presenters have called Simien’s approach as stealth learning, which is just a fancy term for educating students when they aren’t really aware they are being taught, because they’re having so much fun!
This program, CD and study guide is for anyone of any age who’s culturally curious and who wants to become better informed! However, it was originally designed as a tool to help prepare students, parents and educators for the Creole for Kidz! school time and matinee performances. Educators can have confidence that the information is accurate and well researched. We also used the gold standard, a Kennedy Center template for designing performance materials for young audiences. Reaching the K-12 demographic is vital to building cultural literacy and the next audience who has respect and appreciation for music genres that are not popular music. As technology hits us with massive amounts of content daily, so much gets lost, diluted and even forgotten: that’s why we are obsessed with history and know how much history matters.
The companion CD is an expressive collection of stories and original music for the entire family to enjoy together! The Creole for Kidz and the History of Zydeco CD from which the live performance was inspired, is narrated by our longtime friend, respected community leader, former state Senator and Opelousas mayor, Donald Cravins. The narration tracks offer a rare glimpse into this unique and complex rural culture that has been under represented and misunderstood for years. An outspoken advocate for his Creole culture and zydeco music, Don Cravins along with his brother Charles, hosts the longest running zydeco radio show on the air in Lafayette, but heard all over the surrounding rural Creole communities as well as streaming online.
Simien truly embodies “The Spirit of Creole Country”
He and his band mates engage diverse and often not as diverse, student audiences all over the globe. Whether it’s a melting pot of diverse cultures in south Florida, Northern Virginia or the D.C. area or a more culturally similar community in the U.S. heartland, audiences everywhere have responded enthusiastically to this dynamic program. In fact, Simien’s educational outreach now make up 40% of the group’s total performances as seen here in this partial listing of Creolefor Kidz! performances.
Berklee College of Music.
In 2012 Terrance and the Zydeco Experience were the first zydeco group to be presented at Berklee College of Music, as part of their American Roots Music and African Studies visiting artists program. It was a great success! If you are a college interested in expanding your students knowledge of American Roots music, call Berklee American Roots Music for their thoughts and input. Don’t take our word for it, but we can tell you that the professor whose class Terrance presented to, called the booking agent immediately following their visit to express how amazing and effective the presentation was!
Disney and Zydeco.
In 2009 Simien got a call from a really great man who is now President of Walt Disney Music, to collaborate on a song with Randy Newman for their Oscar nominated “The Princess & the Frog” animated film. This was historical for Disney and for young African American girls, who for the first time had a princess of their very own – created in their image. It was definitely time and this is still a very big deal for Louisiana and New Orleans as this was the first time Disney set a story in a specific city, educating millions of families about New Orleans and its unique culture. It focused not only on the traditional Disney love story, but also on the music and culinary traditions of New Orleans including the French Quarter, Creole gumbo, jazz, gospel and zydeco. All firsts for Disney! See for yourself and hear the word zydeco actually spoken in the film as well!
“Hey cousin Randy, you ready for a little bayou zydeco?“
The images of a caterpillar accordion, played by Simien, and a rigid bug underbelly frottoir (zydeco rubboard) also played by Simien, are truly magical! And just like that, zydeco became immortalized in a Disney classic film! Simien’s student audiences everywhere sing along with the band when they perform the song from he film that Terrance collaborated on, “Gonna Take You There”! In fact since the film debuted, we’ve discovered that for many people this film was there very first introduction to zydeco. A world of gratitude for that as well, Disney.
Meet the new Disney critters: Apollo the raccoon on accordion and Gritty, (the girl!) rabbit on rubboard.
In June 2024, Disney opened a brand new ride based on the film, “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure” in Walt Disney World, Florida. In November 2024, they’ll open the same ride at Disneyland in California. 50 million people visit these parks each year, giving us millions more opportunities to build and educate the next audience of roots music lovers!