Bayou in Brooklyn

By Meredith Deliso

Bring on the gumbo, Creole and Cajun music — the Big Easy is coming to Jalopy.

From May 6 to 7, the borough’s unofficial roots music home celebrates authentic Cajun, Zydeco and blues music with the Bayou ’n’ Brooklyn Music Festival.

“The community is what I was attracted to, the idea that when people get together, they eat, they play music, they dance, they celebrate, they tell stories,” said Deborah Monlux, a Park Slope-based musician who’s putting on the festival at the Columbia Street venue. “This is not to be confused with rock swamp pop. These are the bands that are playing traditional tunes.”

To that end, there will be two days of guitar, fiddle and accordion workshops, community jams, a gumbo dinner, and, of course, music, as accordionist Jesse Lege and his band, the Bayou Brew, Cleoma’s Ghost, the Big Road Blues Band, the Catahoula Cajun Band, the Magnolia Cajun Band, and ZydeGroove turn Jalopy into a dancehall with their bayou-born sounds.

“It just grabs you and you’re in it,” said Lege. “It’s good, joyful dancing music. It’s just going to be one heck of a party in Brooklyn.”

Bayou ’n’ Brooklyn Music Festival at Jalopy [315 Columbia St. between Hamilton Avenue and Woodhull Street in Red Hook, (718) 395-3214], May 6, 5 pm-1 am and May 7, noon-1 am. Tickets $12 in advance. For info, visit www.bayou-n-brooklyn.com.