Zouk

The islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe produced the music genre known as Zouk. This musical style combines elements from cadence, biguine, compas and calypso music. It is a product of African and European musical influence. Zouk is to the French Antilles what Soca is to Trinidad and Tobago. It is a music that the Martinican community holds as an emblem of cultural pride as it draws from local traditions. It’s lively tempo is energizing and the music can easily allure you.

Zouk, means ‘party’, and it emerged in the 1980s. Early zouk was distinguishable from the other Antillean music because of it’s excessive use of synthesizers which created a ‘studio’ sound. The music, however, still retained traditional rhythms and instruments and incorporated the creole language of the Islands. Modern day zouk has a more electronic sound. Zouk has a huge fan base outside of Martinique, especially in France.at least as well-known outside Martinique. The genre was made popular by the band ‘Kassav’.