With a nod to the washboard (also called a frottoir) player, Grammy-nominated Ledet picks up the pace, and the dancers, surprisingly light-footed in clunky cowboy boots, swirl around the floor like a pot of gumbo getting a big stir.

Credit: Wesley K.H. Teo

Credit: Wesley K.H. Teo

He drops the Louisiana French and switches the lyrics to Kouri-Vini, an endangered language he is devoted to preserving through his music. As someone who has performed all over the world, he has become an ambassador of sorts for Creole culture and language.

Ledet, who is African American, is a shining talent in zydeco music, the traditional dance music of Louisiana Creoles of color, an ethnic group of mixed-race people born to European settlers and Africans during the Colonial era. It blends elements of soul, blues, jazz and gospel and relies heavily on percussion techniques inherent in its African American and Afro-Caribbean roots.

For Ledet, playing the drums is as natural as walking. He comes from a long line of drummers that played for stars like BB King and zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier, Ledet’s musical hero who made several recordings in Kouri-Vini.

Ledet is part of a grassroots resurgence of Kouri-Vini, a historical name for the Louisiana Creole language that has been reclaimed to prevent confusion with other things “Creole,” such as ethnicity and food.

Ledet’s next album, “Médikamen” (Medication), is entirely in Kouri-Vini.

“Music is my medication,” Ledet explained. “Whenever I’m feeling down, it picks me up.”

Today, Kour-Vini has only about 6,000 speakers, but around 1900, it was spoken by much of the Creole population in the 22-parish region of Southwest Louisiana known as Acadiana.

It’s often called “Cajun Country,” but long before the arrival of the Francophone Acadians, or Cajuns, from Nova Scotia in 1755, there was a much larger population of French-speaking Creoles — people born in Louisiana with African and European lineage.

Thanks in large part to musicians like Ledet, a Kouri-Vini renaissance is underway.

Kouri-Vini originated in colonial Louisiana, a result of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The newly enslaved wove together a tapestry of languages based on their native West African languages and the French spoken by owners of the cotton and sugar plantations where they labored. Over time, these pidgin languages evolved into a single organized language: Kouri-Vini — the name derived from the Creole pronunciation of the French verbs “courir” (to run) and “venir” (to come).

Credit: Drake LeBlanc

Credit: Drake LeBlanc

By the early 1900s, it had spilled over the border to Texas, Ledet’s native state. Growing up, he also spent time with family in Parks, Louisiana, where it was also spoken.

“My dad and everybody on his side of the family speaks it,” Ledet said. “I felt like I needed to learn it because a lot of the older people that spoke it have died off. It’s important to keep this language going, or at some point, it will be completely wiped out, and it’s such a part of Louisiana.”

To become more fluent, Ledet takes lessons from Herbert Wiltz, one of the founders of CREOLE Inc., (Cultural, Resourceful, Educational, Opportunities and Linguistic Enrichment), a non-profit organization that preserves Creole culture.

The decline of Kouri-Vini can be traced to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 when the Louisiana territory was acquired by the mostly English-speaking United States. It waned even more during WWI when speaking any language except English was frowned on as unpatriotic.

Ledet isn’t alone in his crusade to keep this minority heritage language alive through music.

Cedric Watson is another Grammy-nominated African American musician who frequently incorporates Kouri-Vini into his performances.

Catch his band Cedric Watson et Bijou Creole at the Hideaway on Lee, a small bar in Lafayette where the dance floor is as packed as a pot of boiling crawfish. This is Watson’s home turf, but it’s easy to imagine him onstage in one of the large overseas venues he’s played, his charisma and larger-than-life personality captivating even back-row listeners.

Like Ledet, Watson’s next album, slated for release this summer, will be sung mostly in Kouri-Vini.

If you’re not partied out, make the short trip to The Blue Moon Saloon & Guest House, a neighborhood bar where locals and visitors come together to show off fast-paced footwork beneath glowing lights that dangle from the ceiling like Spanish moss on the region’s ancient oak trees.

The zydeco band Joe Hall & the Louisiana Cane Cutters keeps things lively with Hall squeezing joyful notes from the accordion and stomping out the beat while the band strums an ebullient guitar rhythm and makes the fiddle sing.

Hall’s family has been speaking Kouri-Vini for more than 250 years.

“Coming from a family of six, we all speak Kouri-Vini,” Hall said. “You still hear it from everyone, young and old, in St. Martin Parish.”

Another spot to hit the dance floor is Vermilionville Historic Village, a 23-acre living history museum on the banks of the Bayou Vermilion in Lafayette. Le Bal du Dimanche (weekly Sunday dances) featuring zydeco and Cajun bands draw dancers from far and wide.

Credit: Denny Culbert

Credit: Denny Culbert

When you need a breather, take a deep dive into the culture from which the music sprang with a guided or self-guided tour of the sprawling attraction that represents Cajun and Creole life from 1765 to 1890.

The schoolhouse offers a glimpse of why Louisiana French and Kouri-Vini are not as widely spoken as they once were. The repeated lines, “I will not speak French in school,” are written on a chalk board, illustrating a common punishment for children who failed to follow school rules and the law of the land after 1921 that dictated public school instruction be solely in English.

That era is long past, so if you pick up enough Kouri-Vini to sing along with the locals, that’s music to their ears.

IF YOU GO

Lafayette, Louisiana, is an eight-and-a-half-hour drive southwest from Atlanta. Or fly direct to Baton Rouge and drive one hour west to Lafayette.

Stay

Hilton Garden Inn Lafayette / Cajundome. Across from Cajundome Arena and Convention Center. $98-$200 a night. 2350 W. Congress St., Lafayette, Louisiana. 337-291-1977, hilton.com/en/hotels/lftcdgi-hilton-garden-inn-lafayette-cajundome

The Juliet Hotel. A newly remodeled boutique hotel in the downtown area. $109-$149 a night. 800 Jefferson St., Lafayette, Louisiana. 337-230-5542, juliethotels.com

Dine

Lumberjack’s Soul Food and More. Southern-style soul food with a Creole twist. Entrees $5-$18. 4310 Moss St., Lafayette, Louisiana. 337-534-0545, facebook.com/Lumberjackchefonline

Luna Bar & Grill. Casual eatery serving seafood and more. Entrees $18-$28. 533 Jefferson St., Lafayette, Louisiana. 337-412-6092, lunabarandgrill.com

Dance

Buck and Johnny’s. An Italian restaurant with a Cajun Flare. $10 admission to Zydeco Breakfast. 100 Berard St., Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. 337-442-6630, buckandjohnnys.com.

Blue Moon Saloon and Guest House. Admission prices vary. 215 E. Convent St., Lafayette, Louisiana. 337-234-2422, bluemoonpresents.com

Hideaway on Lee. $10 cover charge Friday-Sunday. 407 Lee Ave., Lafayette, Louisiana. 337-484-1141, hideawayonlee.com

Vermilionville Historic Village. Living history museum that offers weekly Sunday dances. $10 includes a self-guided museum tour. 300 Fisher Road, Lafayette, Louisiana. 337-233-4077, bayouvermiliondistrict.org/Vermilionville.