Louisiana accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco has died

NEW ORLEANS » Musician Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural Jr., who rose from a cotton-picking family in southwest Louisiana to introduce zydeco music to the world through his namesake band Buckwheat Zydeco, has died. He was 68.

His longtime manager Ted Fox told The Associated Press that Dural died Saturday. He had suffered from lung cancer.

Fox said the musician and accordionist died at 1:32 a.m. Louisiana time at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center in Lafayette, Louisiana. He gained fame by introducing zydeco music of southwest Louisiana to the world.

“This is one of the world’s true genius musicians. A completely natural musician who could just fit in in any scenario,” Fox said.

As news of his death spread, friends from around the world paid their respects.

“Buckwheat Zydeco embodied a genre and represented a community with his signature playing style that brought distinctly creole zydeco music to fans across the globe,” said Neil Portnow, who heads The Recording Academy. “The world lost a music heavyweight today.”

Zydeco music was well known across southwest Louisiana where people would often drive for miles to small dancehalls where zydeco bands featuring an accordion and a washboard would rock the crowds for hours.

But Dural took zydeco music mainstream, launching a major-label album — the Grammy-nominated “On a Night Like This,” — with Island Records in 1987.