Zouk

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Zouk is a style of music and dance found in the Caribbean . Another dance style called Zouk is cultivated in Brazil . Zouk means "celebration" in Creole . Zouk is shaped by French and African influences. Gentle Zouk is also often called Zouk love . In Africa, Afro-Zouk is produced in the Ivory Coast and in the Republic of Cape Verde ( Cabo Zouk ).

History and style

The music and the dance that followed developed in the French Caribbean ( Martinique , Guadeloupe , Haiti ) in the 1970s. The term itself was coined in 1972 by Henri Guédon , who released his album Cosmo Zouk that same year .

The French Zouk is based on styles of music like the combo. The accompanying dance looks like a very long merengue . The dance, similar to a slower lambada , is particularly popular in Brazil , the Netherlands , Spain and the UK . In Germany, the first Zouk Festival was held in Bremen in 2008.

Zouk arrived in Brazil at a time when the Lambada wave was just over. Many lambada dancers began to dance to the new Zouk music. This changed the dance, it adapted to the new music. Different styles have developed. The two main directions are:

  • Zouk Brasil: people tend to dance to slow music. You dance “long-short-short-long-short-short”. The style comes from Rio .
  • Zouk Lambada or Lambazouk: This style is vaguely similar to Lambada. It is danced relatively quickly. Sometimes you dance “short-short-long-short-short-long”. One of the Lambazouk strongholds is Porto Seguro in northeastern Brazil.

Both styles are related, they are very different from the Caribbean and African way of dancing the Zouk.

Brazilian dance teachers eventually brought the new Zouk dance to Europe, Australia, Asia, and North America. Both music and dance are constantly evolving. Today Zouk is not only danced to Zouk music, but also to R&B, Pop, Oriental, and slow reggaeton. Characteristic for the dance are large, flowing movements, with waves and cambrés (from French cambrure , "bend, curve"). Brazilian Zouk as a partner dance offers a high aesthetic value and joy for the dancers, especially due to the feeling of flow, connection, expression, sensuality, playful richness and versatility.

Zouk is now also danced in many large cities outside the Caribbean. Zouk workshops and parties often take place in conjunction with salsa events. The quick zouk is similar to the Congolese soukous .

Well-known musicians (selection)

Other well-known performers are Mika Mendes , Elji Beatzkilla , Djodje , Ricky Boy , Philipe Monteiro , Gama and Tó Semedo . Many of them live in Portugal, France or the Netherlands .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jocelyne Guilbault Zouk: World Music in the West Indies. Chicago 1993, p. 33.