Zouk

Zouk (or Zouk béton) is a fast, rhythmic, carnival style of music originating from the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, popularized by the French Antilles band Kassav' in the 1980s.

Elements of gwo ka, tambour bélé, ti bwa and biguine vide, including the full use of the MIDI synthesizer and sampling technology, are prominent in zouk. The style lost ground in the late 1980s due to the strong presence of kadans or compas, the main music of the French Antilles.

Today, zouk is the French Antilles compas music, also called zouk-love.^[2]

Etymology

The word zouk means "party" or "festival" in the local Antillean Creole of French, although the word originally referred to, and is still used to refer to, a popular dance, based on the Polish dance, the mazurka (mazouk), that was introduced to the French Caribbean in the 19th century.

Actually the Creole word zouke, sekwe, zouke, etc. from the French verb "secouer" meaning "shake intensely and repeatedly" was used by Haitian artists who toured the French Antilles during the late 1970s and 1980s.^[3]

The dictionary Le Petit Robert gives the following definition of zouk: "Very rhythmic music and dance originating in the Lesser Antilles (Guadeloupe and Martinique) in 1980".

History

Music authors Charles De Ledesma and Gene Scaramuzzo trace zouk's development to the Guadeloupean gwo ka and Martinican bèlè (tambour and ti bwa) traditions.^[4]

Zouk was a brief experiment; an attempt to develop a proper local music that would lessen or even eradicate the méringue-kadans or compas influence from the French Antilles. When the MIDI technology came out, Kassav' used it fully creating new sound in both their fast zouk béton and kompa. The Antilleans were all over with zouk, but as other bands from the Caribbean and Africa added the MIDI technology to their music people got use to it. Because it was a jump up beat the fast zouk béton faded away; and Antilleans would continue to play and dance méringue-cadence or compas. After all French Antilleans and Dominicans are important players of the méringue-compas or cadence style. However, the problem is the fact that musicians from Martinique and Guadeloupe have calculatedly labeled compas as zouk in order to stay in the game; creating a big confusion in Africa, Cabo Verde, Angola, Brazil, Portugal and other places. French Antilles Kassav', the originator of the zouk béton is a superb compas band that has taken kompa to many places.^[5]

Kassav'

In 1978, Pierre Edouard Decimus relocated in Paris after a successful career in the French Antilles. Pierre Edouard Decimus was on the verge of retirement from the music business until he and his brother Georges Decimus met fellow Guadeloupean Jacob Desvarieux, a popular guitarist/songwriter known in Paris as a studio wizard. The idea was to internationalized kadans. The surroundings of the Paris music recording technology gave him the idea of making "just one more record". Subsequently, Pierre Edouard Decimus, his brother, and Jacob Desvarieux pulled together a team of Paris-based Antilles musicians and created a compas group named Kassav.

Kassav' was formed in 1979 by Pierre-Edouard Décimus (former musicians from the Les Vikings de Guadeloupe) and Paris studio musician Jacob F. Desvarieux. Together and under the influence of well-known Dominican, Haitian and Guadeloupean kadans or compas bands like Experience 7, Grammacks, Exile One, Tabou Combo, Les Freres Dejean, Zekle, etc. the band continued to grow as a solid compas band. kassav' created a style "zouk" by experimenting an eleven-piece gwo ka unit and two lead singers, tambour bélé, ti bwa, a steady monotonous bass with full use of the MIDI technology.

The original Kassav' was all Guadeloupean but was later joined by Martiniquans Jean-Claude Naimro, Claude Vamur, Jean-Phillipe Marthely, Jocelyne Béroard and Guadeloupean Patrick St-Eloi. In the 1980s they took Caribbean music to another level by recording in the new digital format. Kassav which created the fast carnival jump up music "zouk" style remains mostly a great compas band.

They continued to grow more popular, both as a group and with several members' solo careers, finally peaking in 1984 with Yélélé, which featured the international hit "Zouk-la-sé Sel Médikaman Nou Ni". With this hit, zouk rapidly became the most widespread dance craze to hit Latin American in some time, and was wildly popular even as far afield as Europe and Asia. Zouk became known for wildly theatrical concerts featuring special effects spectacles, colorful costumes and outrageous antics.

Zouk as popularized by Kassav' is based on a consistent pulsating beat (tambour bélé and gwo ka), the "tibwa" rhythmic pattern played on the rim of the snare drum with the "chacha" or hi-hat, rhythmic guitar's, a full-horn section and Keyboard synthesizers.^[6]

Zouk-love or compas

Zouk-love is the French Antilles cadence or compas, characterized by a slow, soft and sexual rhythm. The lyrics of the songs often speak of love and sentimental problems.

Notable French Antillean zouk artists

• Kassav'

See also

• Kizomba
• Zouk-lambada
• Music of Martinique and Guadeloupe
• Caribbean music

References

External links

• Official Site for Kizomba, Tarraxinha, Zouk and Semba
• La Kiz
• BrazilianZouk.Info - portal about zouk festivals, people, music and many more
• Zouk at DMOZ