Zouk is a genre of dance and music that originated in the late 1970s as a blend of musical styles from around the Caribbean, Africa, and North America. This style originated in the French-speaking Caribbean countries of Martinique and Guadeloupe, eventually becoming highly famous in Saint Lucia, Dominica, Haiti, and other Caribbean countries. Zouk became popular in the French Antilles because of its new and unique sound at the time. The style was a combination of various genres played at dance parties. Zouk gets its name from the Caribbean music played at those parties, known as "mizik zouk," which included Haitian popular music styles such as compas and cadence, beguine from Martinique and Guadeloupe, and cadence-lypso, a hybrid of Haitian cadence and Trinidadian calypso popularized in Dominica in the 1970s. The music featured electronic synthesizers and the French Antillean Creole language. The music itself had a quick rhythm and a powerful beat. Zouk's dance compliments the music with wave-like movements, flashy hair movements and the versatility to dance in various moodsMusicians found Zouk easy to play because it combined pre-existing styles. This led to Zouk's popularity spreading beyond Guadeloupe and Marinique into other countries like Brazil, South and North America, West Africa, and Europe, influencing their music and dance culture. This resulted in the development of various Zouk subgenres, like Brazilian Zouk-lambada dance style, Europe’s ‘zouk bass‘ music, and Zouk Love. Zouk was able to spread internationally because of the influence of Kassav, a French Antilles band. flashy hair movements and the versatility to dance in various moods and speeds.
Musicians found Zouk easy to play because it combined pre-existing styles. This led to Zouk's popularity spreading beyond Guadeloupe and Marinique into other countries like Brazil, South and North America,West Africa, and Europe, influencing their music and dance culture. This resulted in the development of various Zouk subgenres, like Brazilian Zouk-lambada dance style, Europe’s ‘zouk bass‘ music, and Zouk Love. Zouk was able to spread internationally because of the influence of Kassav, a French Antilles band.
In 1979, the Guadeloupean musicians Jacob Desvarieux, Pierre-Edouard Décimus, and his brother Georges Décimus came together to create an album. As a result of their collaboration, they decided to form a band. They gathered musicians from Guadeloupe and other islands in the French Antilles, such as Martinique, and created the band “Kassav.” In 1980, Kassav dropped their first album. This album contained elements of popular party music styles from various Caribbean islands. They would take this blend of styles and add a contemporary and studio-produced sound to the music, marketing it as "Zouk." This showed great success with the release of their song “Zouk Is the Only Medicine We Have” in 1984, cementing Zouk as its own Caribbean music and dance genre. Kassav would go on to spread Zouk globally.
In Haiti, Zouk became extremely popular and influential; we see this in a couple ways. Firstly, Zouk affected the traditional Haitian styles of music and dance, such as cadence-rampa and compas. People would often mistake these styles for each other. This happened because both styles shared similar qualities. For example, compas was an upbeat style of music used for dancing. It included African rhythms, jazz elements, a brass band, and was sung in Haitian creole, becoming popular in the late 1950’s. However, this style evolved when Zouk took prominence in Haiti; it started to incorporate musical technology in compas, such as synthesizers, drum machines, and computer software. Because Compas and Cadence-Rampa were popular musical styles at dance parties, they also played a part in creating Zouk’s diversesound. More specifically, a subgenre of Zouk called Zouk Love. This style included aspects of Dominican cadence-lypso and bélé, French Martinican beguine, Guadeloupean gwo ka, and cadence-rampa and compas.
References:
Dudley, S. (2019, January 8). zouk. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/zouk
Guilbault, J. (1993). Zouk: world music in the West Indies. University of Chicago Press.
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THE DANCE, VIEWER. “A Brief History of Zouk - Part 1 of 2 - SDC.” YouTube, YouTube, 12 Aug. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=34Km6BDKMBY.
Evans, Xenia. “What Is Zouk Music? A Brief History.” WHAT A TUNE, WHAT A TUNE, 10 Jan. 2023, whatatune.com/what-is-zouk-music-a-brief-history/#:~:text=The%20word%20comes%20from%20French,’)%20meaning%20’dance’.
MasterClass. “Kompa Music Guide: A Brief History of Kompa Music - 2024.” MasterClass, www.masterclass.com/articles/kompa-music-guide. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.
Mendez, Hugo. “Zouk-Love.” Haitian Music, www.haitianmusic.net/popular-haitian-music/zouk-love/. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.
Done by Deandre Guevara