Various

Simply Zouk (4CD / Download)

Cat. No.: SIMPLYCD120
Barcode: 698458292025
Playing Time: Over 4 hours

In the past couple of years, Zouk has nudged out salsa as the most popular dance class in the pubs and clubs of Europe and North America. Why? Because salsa may be fun and fit, but Zouk is sensual and up-close; and we all need some sensuality in our lives!

But there’s a lot more to Zouk than just close-dancing at 88 rpm! Zouk’s roots can be found in the nineteenth century courtly dances that the Europeans (especially the French) brought to the Caribbean (more specifically, to Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica and Haiti).

Inspired by the New Orleans and Paris jazz of the ’20s, as well as by vintage Cuban music, the French Caribbean  saw a sophisticated  jazz, rhumba  and beguine scene growing in cities such as Point A Pitre and Fort De France. In time, and via many highways and by-ways, this led to the classic electro Zouk sound of the ’80s in the dance clubs of Paris and the French Antilles, masterminded by supergroup Kassav’ and others.

Meanwhile in the slave-worked sugar plantations, a much more African-inspired sound was taking root: drum ensembles – Gwo Ka in Guadeloupe, Bele in Martinique – would play during religious holidays, at night after work and in the ‘neg’mawon’ (black maroon) hill-settlements, much to the horror of the slave-owning community, who associated drums with subversion and revolution.

Over time, these two very different strands influenced each other in countless ways, taking in echoes of rock, disco, soul, salsa, reggae, calypso, jazz, R&B, electro, House and hip hop along the way.

And so, for the first time ever in one single compilation, here’s the full Story Of Zouk. What does ‘zouk’ mean? The term is simply a creole catch-all for ‘party’. So, here’s your Zouk Party - all present and correct!