Lori, Linda, and Andrea

Beginning in the 1990s, Lori, Linda, and Andrea, each in their own way, discovered Cajun and Zydeco music. ¹ They plunged enthusiastically into the thriving circle of fans in the Bay Area, eventually leading them on a quest for personal transformation. Ten years later, all three are settled permanently in Louisiana, where they joined a growing circle of relocated French Louisiana music enthusiasts. Using networks that they create and sustain, these transplants ² play a crucial role in renewing local musical practices while also contributing to the diffusion of the region’s music outside of Louisiana’s borders. They participate in new processes of hierarchization that help transform the role of fans, in the music itself, and in the various musical styles associated with the region. The itineraries of these three transplants also illustrate their transformation from fans into residents and from dancers into musicians, as well as from being motivated by passion and commitment to becoming permanent residents with local roots who can exist independently of fellow transplants.