What started as a bad joke birthed a tradition among the untraditional.

The Seattle Cajun band's name, How's Bayou, fused the greeting "how's by you?" with the word for the sluggish streams that push through the Southern countryside.

Since then, other Cajun bands hatched outside Louisiana, where the music originates, have continued the trend, says How's Bayou accordion player Dave Lang. who with a chuckle lists several.

There's OK Bayou, Bayou Self and Bayou a Beer.

How's Bayou, one of the oldest "gringo" Cajun bands in the United States, will perform at Rendezvous in the Park at Moscow Thursday night.

Even though Lang's band formed on the other side of the country it strives to render true the mixed spirit of Southern culture.

"It's strong danceable music with a rhythm that makes you want to move," Lang explains. "It makes people smile."

The Cajuns descended from French colonists who found safe haven in the English colonies after they were exiled from Acadia, now Nova Scotia, by the British in the 18th century.

The people combined elements of French, black and Indian cultures to create Cajun music.

How's Bayou plays a mixture of traditional Cajun, including French vocals; zydeco, an exotic-sounding black variant of the music; and swamp pop, Cajun infused with country and rock.

Lang, a 65-year-old aerospace engineer, started playing Cajun music with How's Bayou 20 years ago.

He was inspired after the Seattle Folklore Society sponsored a visit by Cajun music masters Dewey and Rodney Balfa and Marc Savoy. They stayed at his home and played for him.

"That was our initial exposure that won our hearts over," Lang explains in a phone interview from his Seattle home.

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He took up the accordion, his "stomach Steinway," and a band followed not long after.

The other five band members play the fiddle, bass, guitar and rub board. None are full-time professional musicians.

Two members work at a bookstore, one is an artist and another runs a landscaping business.

"We play just for the love of it," says Lang.

Like him, several have made multiple forays to backwoods Louisiana dance halls to see and hear musicians who were born into the music.

Cajun music started getting popular outside the region after people took notice of the culture's food, says Lang. Tunes started appearing in advertisements and there was a surge of interest in the 1980s, which continues today.

Back in Seattle, How's Bayou keeps as busy as it wants to be, even though it doesn't advertise.

There's around six Cajun bands in Seattle today, he says. He's taught most of their accordion players.

"Taught myself out of a job," he jokes.

It's the dance scene that people of all ages seem to enjoy.

"(They are) younger and older people that seem to have an interest and bent towards traditional sounds rather than the Top 40 fare."

Rendezvous' night of Cajun music, "Creole Cafe," also will feature HeartFriends and Fil‚.

Gates open at East City Park at 4:30 p.m. and music begins at 5:15 p.m. Tickets are $8 in advance and $12 at the park.

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