A style of highly rhythmic dance music, zouk has its roots in both traditional styles of music and high-tech recording and amplification processes. Created in the late 1970s in Guadeloupe and Martinique, the islands of the French Antilles in the West Indies, it is a Caribbean style that owes much to the music that West African slaves brought with them to the Caribbean.
The word “zouk” is old Creole slang for party, but also refers to the sound systems that cadence (Antillean pop music) was played on in the 1960s. Zouk integrates dance music with lyrics sung almost exclusively in French or the Creole dialect of French. While zouk had many fans in the French-speaking islands of the Antilles, it was not until the heavy-metal guitarist Jacob Desvarieux took up residence in Paris and formed his band Kassav with Pierre Decimus, that the style began to be known outside the islands.
Desvarieux had spent only a limited amount of time in the French Antilles, but most of the members of Kassav were Guadeloupean musicians living in Paris, and their new exciting style of playing made an immediate impact. Desvarieux’s rock input may also have helped to make the rhythms of zouk popular in Europe and the West.
Zouk draws from the rich musical heritage of many nations, and blends African styles, Caribbean pop, and American funk. In its highly rhythmic, loping beat can be heard gwo ka, the drum and voice music of Guadeloupe, and chouval bwa, the percussive style of Martinique. Added to this was the biguine, Martinique’s mellow jazz style, and cadence, the pop style that developed in the French Antilles in the 1950s and 1960s. Drawing from so many influences, it is not surprising that zouk can range from highly percussive, driving dance music to slow ballads that resemble cabaret singing.
One of the defining elements of zouk is the creation of “space” in the music by avoiding an overwhelming density of simultaneous musical parts. This means that musicians leave “holes” in the music into which lyrics, electronic samples, and instrument solos can be inserted. These holes let zouk artists incorporate styles from African worldbeat to American blues and rap.
One highly popular band playing zouk is the Zouk Allstars. The band centres around Dominique Gengoul, Jean-Luc Alger, Frederic Caracas, and Charles Maurinier, each of whom has made an indelible mark on zouk music. To call them prolific is a gross understatement; pick up any ten zouk albums, and it is likely that one or more of their names will appear on at least seven as either producers or instrumentalists.
Zouk Machine, formed by Jocelyn Beroard from Kassav, incorporates many American rhythm-and-blues elements into its music. Its trio of three women singers from Guadeloupe have made the band extremely popular in both Paris and the Antilles. One of the trio, Joëlle Ursull, made one of France’s top-selling pop records, “Black French.” Because Zouk Machine “Americanized” the zouk sound, even singing some lyrics in English, it was thought in the late 1980s that it would be the band to bring zouk to a worldwide (especially U.S.) audience. Unfortunately, this did not prove to be the case.
Zouk records usually come out twice a year in the Antilles, timed either for summer vacation or for the Christmas holidays leading into Carnival. Most recordings are done in Paris, although there are small studios in Guadeloupe and Martinique that also release zouk albums. Most releases from zouk artists are treated to only one pressing by record producers, so that recordings become hard to find after their initial release.
James Tuverson
SEE ALSO:
CARIBBEAN; DANCE MUSIC; FUNK; ROCK MUSIC; SALSA.
Guilbault, Jocelyne, with Gage Averill, Edouard Benoit, and Gregory Rabess.
Zouk: World Music in the West Indies
(Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1993).
Zouk Allstars: Top Niveau;
Zouk Love: Le Meilleur Du Zouk Love;
Zouk Machine: Kreol.