of tribes affected by the slave trade provide some clues as to the origins of zydeco. In at least a dozen languages from this culture-area of Africa, the syllables "za", "re", and "go" are frequently associated with dancing and/or playing music". It is also possible that "za re go" evolved into les haricots by French-Creole speaking generations unfamiliar with the original language, turning what would have been unfamiliar words into a phonetically similar phrase in the regional language.

The word "zydeco" can refer to the musical