Tracing the roots of zouk

In 1983, Kassav’, a band from the Antilles in the Caribbean, released Zouk La Se Sel Medikamen Non Ni (Zouk Is The Only Medicine We Have). It became the first Antillean record to sell 100,000 copies. Kassav’ went on to top the French pop charts with a string of gold albums, drew bigger crowds at their concerts than Prince and put Antillean music firmly on the international musical map.

I saw Kassav’ perform in Tokyo in 1988 and it was my first experience of Antillean music or in this case, zouk music which developed in Guadeloupe and Martinique in the late 1970s. The band sang in French Creole and they told me that their music was rooted in local folk traditions based on folk percussion styles like gwo ka (a large drum), quadrille dances from the colonial era, cadence (originally from Haiti) and popular music developed in the islands during the 50s…