Zouk
Zouk is a style of rhythmic music originating from the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. Zouk means "party" or "festival" in the local Antillean Creole of French, although the word originally referred to, and is still used to refer to, a popular dance, based on the Polish dance, the mazurka, that was introduced to the French Caribbean in the 19th Century. In Africa, it is popular in franco and lusophone countries. In Europe it is particularly popular in France, and in North America the Canadian province of Quebec.
Zouk arose in the early to mid-1980s from the cadence-lypso of Dominica, as popularized by Grammacks and Exile One. Elements of gwo ka, tambour, ti bwa and biguine vidé are prominent in zouk. Though there are many diverse styles of zouk, some commonalities exist. The French Creole tongue of Martinique and Guadeloupe is an important element, and are a distinctive part of the music. Generally, zouk is based around star singers, with little attention given to instrumentalists, and is based almost entirely around studio recordings.
Zouk arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s, using elements of previous styles of Antillean music, as well as imported genres.
Zouk styles
Zouk in the Caribbean (Traditional way)
Caribbean zouk, is a dance performed in the Caribbean, most often in the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. It is danced basically by changing the weight from one leg to the other in the music, which many teachers of dance simply call the time. The choreography is simple and little elaborated.
The dance steps of Caribbean zouk dance style differ significantly from the Brazilian zouk-lambada dance style. In Caribbean zouk two steps are performed on the music ("1-2, 1-2, etc"), where in Brazilian zouk three steps are performed on the music ("1-3-4, 1-3-4, etc"). This changes the dynamics of the dance.
Zouk-love
A special style within the zouk is zouk-love, where the music is more dramatic and slow. Zouk-love has its origins in a slow tempo form of Cadence sang by Ophelia Marie of Dominica.
The music kizomba from Angola and cola-zouk from Cape Verde are also a derivative of zouk, which sounds basically the same but has more computerized sound, although there are notable differences once you become more familiar with these genres.
Popular zouk-love artists include French West Indian artists, Patrick St. Eloi, Edith Lefel, Nichols, Harry Diboula or Haitian artists like Alan Cave, Ayenn and Daan Junior, Italian artist like Gianni Miele, Netherlands based Suzanna Lubrano and Gil Semedo, or African artist like Philipe Monteiro.
Compas-love
Compas-love is a fusion of zouk-love with Compas, also known as Zouk-Compas "New Generation". It is almost identical to Zouk-love but a bit faster, it features more live instruments, and it relies heavily on the Haitian Compas guitar. Sometimes it resembles pure compas, sometimes it can just be a blend of Zouk-Love, compas, and RnB. This style of zouk is more popular in France, and the Caribbean. Caribbean, Cape Verdean and African zouk artists usually feature each other via compas-love songs. Popular Compas-Love artists includes artists like Jacky Rapon in song like "Mi Amor" , Ludo in song like "Weekend", Jackito in song like "Je l'aime a mourir" and Priscillia in song like "Dis le moi", Ali Angel in song like "Zouk Bordel 2003", and Iron in song like "Mr DJ" . These songs are available through youtube.
Afro-Zouk
There is also Afro-Zouk, unlike zouk-love or compas-love, Afro-Zouk features elements from soukous and sometimes relies on the soukous guitar. Popular Afro-Zouk artists include artists like Monique Séka, Oliver N'Goma, Diboué Black.
Zouk R&B or New Generation
Today, there is an alternative of Zouk influenced by the American R&B. It is a mixture of R&B and Zouk Love. This trend has taken birth in Paris with artists such as Slaï, Thierry Cham, Jane Fostin, Ali Angel, Medhy costs, Nichols, Kimberlite Zouk, Warren, Marvin, Kaysha, Elizio, Teeya, Soumia Linsha and etc, but it is also Jean-Michel Rod is the precursor of Zouk R&B (Zouk RNB, Zouk R'NB) or "américanisé" with their song "Le Ou Lov", "Sof will," "Stop", "Cigaret", "Chut j'taime" "Mwen'm not," "And I love her" and "Ella". This trend seems to now the accession of the French public due to the success of Slaï, Thierry Cham, Medhy costs, and Pearl Déesses Lama.
Some purists did not like the name "Zouk R&B" and prefers "Zouk Nouvelle Génération", and that this new trend is very popular among young people of Cape Verde.
Ragga-Zouk
Due to the popularity of raggamuffin or Dancehall in the French Antilles, French Antillean dancehall artists started fusing ragga with zouk music. This fusion of music is call ragga-zouk.