The Zouk

Zouk is a popular musical genre from the French West Indies. Discovered in the 1980s in the Martinique and Guadeloupe region, this music continues to make more and more people dance. If you have a strong desire to listen to good pieces of zouk and to dance to this frenzied rhythm, go to Martinique.

Several sources have attempted to locate the origin of the name Zouk. For some this term is the derivative of an 18th century dance called mazurka. For others, this name is the name given to a place in the 1960s where different folk dances were practiced. But despite all this, this musical genre will only become known in the 80s with the discovery of the group Kassav whose members were mainly of Martinican and Guadeloupean origin. It is therefore since this period that zouk has become the most popular musical genre of the French islands.

The term zouk defines the musical style and the dance that accompanies it, both were created at the same time. Indeed, dancing the zouk involves the formation of a couple determined to share a moment of confidence and exchange by following a rhythmic and bewitching rhythm. This dance of “stuck-tight” requires a close rapprochement between the two dancers to harmonize the whole.