In need of some virtual sunshine? Zouk is a dance music movement hailing from the French Caribbean in the early 80s, spearheaded by the pioneering band Kassav’, their zouk béton of Martinique and Guadeloupe originally featuring percussive, fast tempo with loud horn section and later synth keyboards. It was a fusion of various French Antillean dance music styles of the 20th century, including kadans (cadence), konpa and biguine. It also evolved and became known as zouk chiré or zouk hard. Gradually the movement spawned other softer sub-genres with midi keyboard sounds, such as zouk-love.
Kassav’ was formed in Guadeloupe in 1979, with core members Jacob Desvarieux, Jocelyne Béroard, Jean-Philippe Marthély, Patrick St. Eloi, Jean-Claude Naimro, Claude Vamur, and Georges Décimus. Some of them also produced solo albums. The genre is best as a live experience, but below are samples of the band’s vibrant style, including one of their big hits, Sye Bwa, and a entire playlist of other evolving zouk styles.
So then, any more on zouk songs and its culture? Feel free to suggest examples, or even from film, art, or other contexts in comments below.
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