Mardi Gras came early to the Bradford area Friday evening as Grammy award-winning artist Terrance Simien brought a blend of New Orleans funk-reggae-flavored-world-blues-American zydeco roots music.
Terrance Simien & The Zydeco Experience performed at the Bromeley Family Theater at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, kicking the concert off with a song about peace.
Next on the list was a waltz, one Simien said was probably 150 years old.
Then he and his band performed Zydeco, a popular music of southern Louisiana that combines tunes of French origin with elements of Caribbean music and the blues.
Simien’s music is steeped in the Creole tradition. Tripsavvy.com defines Creole as someone born in the colonies. Creole is also an identification for people of color of mixed African and European descent.
During the show, people danced up in front of the stage. And Simien threw out beaded necklaces –– in yellows and greens and other colors, and he took off his own necklaces and tossed them to the concert-goers, too.
“Do we really want to feel the spirit?” Simien asked the audience.
Individuals clapped and cheered.
“Stand up and feel the spirit,” Simien said.
After the group finished its performance and left the stage, people whistled for more music. The musicians returned, and Simien dedicated the encore to Fats Domino, an American pianist and singer-songwriter of Louisiana Creole descent whom Simien performed with in the late 1980s.
Simien sang “Amazing Grace” –– and asked the audience, “How’re you feeling now?”
People began cheering and clapping.
To the audience, Simien said the Lord Almighty has been good to him. And he asked everyone if the Lord has been good to them as well.
“Let me hear ‘Amen, Amen,” Simien said.
As part of the encore, he also sang “Down by the Riverside” and “Shout.”
Today, Simien and the Zydeco Experience band have performed in more than 7,000 concerts in more than 45 countries. The group has also performed in Erie, Philadelphia and Reading.
Also on Friday, Terrance Simien & The Zydeco Experience performed Creole for Kidz & the History of Zydeco at Bromeley Family Theater.
