Zydeco, Cajun Make a Tasty Melting Pot

History tells us that Cajun and zydeco musicians can play side by side, and enjoy it. Creole accordionist Amedee Ardoin and Cajun fiddler Dennis McGee were pioneers in the 1920s and ‘30s, and in the ‘60s, Cajun fiddler Dewey Balfa recorded with zydeco player Rockin’ Dopsie.

Those high-profile examples, however, have been the exception to the rule. More often than not, there’s a line between the two camps, one that mirrors the racial tensions that remain in parts of Louisiana.

Zydeco is predominantly the music of the area’s blacks and Creoles; Cajun comes from the descendants of white French settlers who fled Nova Scotia over 200 years ago. Sadly, now rarely do the two sides mix.

The nationally touring Bayou to Bourbon Street tour, which made a local stopover in front of a small but enthusiastic gathering Monday night at the Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana, is an ambitious attempt to break down barriers of music and race.

Featuring zydeco act Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie, traditional Cajun band Balfa Toujours and jazz- and blues-based pianist Henry Butler, the racially mixed triple-bill provided as a case study in healthy race relations. (In addition, Carson-based zydeco act Lisa Haley & the Zydekats opened this show with an entertaining, party-minded set.)

Despite their apparent differences, booking Geno Delafose and Balfa Toujours together actually makes a whole lot of sense. Even though Delafose, son of zydeco legend John Delafose, plays a brand of zydeco incorporates elements of soul, R&B;, rock and country, he also has a firm understanding of the genre’s roots and its historical ties to the Cajun culture.

His latest album, 1998’s “La Chanson Perdue (The Lost Song),” not only enlists the core of Balfa Toujours--singer-guitarist Christine Balfa and her husband, accordionist-vocalist Dirk Powell--it reaches back to the older Creole and Cajun songs of Amedee Ardoin, the Balfa Brothers, Alphonse “Bois Sec” Ardoin and Canray Fontenot.

Balfa Toujours’ “Balfa Forever” album continues the legacy of Christine’s father, Dewey Balfa, the revered fiddler and singer of the legendary Balfa Brothers who died in 1992. Also featuring fiddler-vocalist Kevin Wimmer, Balfa Toujours hails from La Pointe, La., and is steeped in traditional songs of life on the Louisiana prairies.

The band members sang almost every selection in French, but it drew the English-speaking audience in with short but revealing song introductions. For instance, Powell described “Les Tracas de Todd Balfa” (Todd Balfa’s Troubles) as “an unbelievable calamity of love gone bad for one of Christine’s cousins.”

Balfa Toujours’ essence was beautifully captured during an intimate rendition of the traditional tune “Le Reel de Courville” (Courville’s Reel).

Tapping the unadorned purity of the old-time Cajun sound, Balfa exchanged her acoustic guitar for the triangle she played in her father’s band and joined fiddlers Powell and Wimmer for a spirited instrumental that drew a thunderous ovation from the appreciative audience.

Although all the evening’s performers were generally impressive during separate sets, what made Monday night’s concert as a whole so inspiring was the interaction when Balfa Toujours, Delafose and Butler played together. And not just jammed, but reinvented songs during about half of Balfa Toujour’s 45-minute set. And they closed the show with another spirited half-hour communal jam.

It was only fitting that Delafose, who pounded the skins for 15 years in his father’s band, played drums behind Balfa Toujours for a rollicking version of “Bernadette.”

Afterward, New Orleans pianist Butler joined the party. His booming, soul-drenched voice and scintillating piano rolls added even more firepower to the proceedings, particularly the already explosive instrumental “Les Flammes d’Enfer” (The Flames of Hell).

The energizing collaboration ended with an unexpected twist: Powell leading everyone through a lighthearted, rockabilly-ish number called “Keep Your Hands Off Others That Don’t Belong to You.”

* IN CALENDAR: Ralph Stanley showed at a concert in Orange why he’s a bluegrass giant. F6