Zydeco Madness

Zydeco Madness, composed in 2006, is a response to the tragic events surrounding the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Susman, who had lived in New Orleans for a year and a half, was horrified by the politicized reaction to the devastation: “We all saw horrific news reports of people’s stuff floating, drifting and burning in currents slick with oil. I had this vision of someone’s accordion floating in this mess, and morphing into some giant monster accordion dripping with the fallout of toxic sludge.” This vision propelled him to compose Zydeco Madness, for Bayan, a large button accordion. In contrast to the other tracks, Zydeco Madness is unabashedly disjunctive and agitated; Susman has explained that “the piece is episodic, jump-cutting from one event to the next like a news report.” (from the liner notes to the album A Quiet Madness)

Zydeco is Creole-based music indigenous to Louisiana. The lead instrument of a Zydeco band is accordion and the music itself over the years has integrated a wide variety of popular music forms. Rather than trying to copy the sound or instrumentation of a Zydeco band, the emphasis is on rhythm.

Zydeco Madness, originally composed for accordion, was given its first performance in this version for strings by the San Jose Chamber Orchestra with Barbara Day Turner, conducting at Le Petit Trianon in San Jose, California in 2009.

To the forgotten of Hurricane Katrina.