Kassav Groupe

[Auriville Cha]

Kassavalso alternatively spelled Kassav, is a French Caribbean band that originated from Guadeloupe in 1979.[1][2][3][4] The band's musical style is rooted in the Guadeloupean gwoka rhythm, as well as the Martinican tibwa and Mend rhythms.[5][6][7] Regarded as one of the most influential bands in 20th-century French West Indies music,[8][9][10] Kassav is often credited with pioneering the zouk musical genre.[11][12][13][14] Their musical evolution is a synthesis of cadence-lypso and compas traditions.[15]

Despite initial resistance from French record labels, which disparaged their early works as excessively "too ethnic," Kassav' tenaciously persevered, collaborating with various West Indian music producers and distributing their music through Sonodisc.[16] The term "kassav" in creole denotes a type of cassava pancake.[17][18][19] The band's inception can be traced to Pierre-Edouard Dcimus and Frddy Marshall, members of the Guadeloupean ensemble Les Vikings, who aspired to innovate the island's traditional music by amalgamating it with contemporary influences.[5][20]

The integration of Georges Dcimus, brother of Pierre-Edouard Dcimus, and Jacob Desvarieux, a guitarist and arranger, significantly contributed to the band's gradual formation, with additional musicians subsequently joining Kassav'.[5][20] Their debut studio album, Love and Kadance, released in 1979, heralded the advent of zouk and served as the archetypical exemplar for the genre.[21]

With a discography of over 50 albums, encompassing both band and solo projects from its members,[22] Kassav' has achieved significant international recognition. They were the first black group to perform in the Soviet Union.[23]

Kassav' was formed in 1979 by Pierre-Edouard Dcimus (former musicians from the Les Vikings de Guadeloupe) and Paris studio musician Jacob Desvarieux. Together and under the influence of well-known Dominican, Haitian and Guadeloupean kadans or compas bands like Experience 7, Grammacks, Exile One, Les Aiglons, Tabou Combo, Les Freres Dejean, etc., they decided to make Guadeloupean carnival music recording it in a more fully orchestrated yet modern and polished style.[24] The name of the band is Antillean Creole for a local dish made from cassava root.[24]

Kassav' is the creator of the fast carnival zouk Beton style.[25][26] The French Antilles' Kassav' was the first to apply the MIDI technology to cadence and fused the genre with funk, and Makossa.[24]

Most authors credit Dcimus, his brother Georges, the band's bassist and Desvarieux as its inventors.[27][28][29] Their first album was Love and Ka Dance (1980).[30][31] The band gained popularity in their much-heralded live performances in the Parisian arena Znith and toured widely.[32] For a band ostensibly operating in a "narrowly focused" Caribbean dance-based new genre, their success and influence on other artists was remarkable, although they were most influenced by a veritable cornucopia of other styles as noted above.

Kassav' continued to gain popularity both as a group and by several members' solo recordings and eventually peaked in 1985 with Yll, which featured the international hit Zouk "la s sl mdikaman nou ni" (meaning "Zouk is the only medicine we have" in French Antillean Creole). With this hit song, zouk rapidly became a widespread dance craze in Latin America and the Caribbean, and was popular in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Zouk performers became known for wildly theatrical concerts featuring special effects, stage spectacles and colorful costumes. One important contribution of Kassav' in concert was the appearance of featured dancers on stage with the band; these dancers were in many ways as much a part of the band as any musician. Kassav' has been noted by its acolytes and aficionados as a dance band par excellence.

Among the strengths of Kassav' that helped lead to the group's success were and are its members' superior musicianship, songwriting and production skills, and worldwide audiences eager for lively dance music more sophisticated than the disco/techno-based styles that otherwise dominated dance music charts in that era. The especially gravelly singing voice of Desvarieux, Dcimus's driving bass, Naimro's and Joseph's inventive keyboards and superior drum-machine-based and Vamur's solid jazz-inflected live percussion, along with dance party-inspiring simple French-creole lyrics are among unique Kassav' "trademarks". During his tenure with Kassav', St. Eloi's soaring vocals were another unique ingredient, and the romantic vocals of Marthely and Naimro's as well as Broard's very strong vocals, a plethora of fun songs, and significant guest appearances including by Stevie Wonder and others are important parts of the Kassav' mix.

They have appeared with Admiral T, a famous reggae dancehall singer, and many other popular artists. Singer-songwriter/keyboardist Jean-Claude Naimro also appeared with world beat artist Peter Gabriel. Lead vocalist Jocelyne Broard has also had a number of successes both solo and as a guest with other artists, being the first woman artist in the Caribbean to win certain music awards; she continues to perform with Kassav' and as a solo artist.

Jocelyne Broard's stunning "amateur" photography of natural scenes and people seen from her unique traveling-artist perspective's island-paradise visuals[33] could be cited among their songs' inspirations. The band's songs with a "political" edge or insinuation are typically double-entendre in the African-American and calypsonian traditions well known in Caribbean dance music from which the music of Kassav' evolved.

Kassav' released another CD in 2007, All U Need Is Zouk, to substantial acclaim with another successful world tour. Nearly 30 years later the same musicians are still arguably great performers .

Originally formed solely of Guadeloupean artists (Decimus, Desvarieux, St-Eloi), within a few years Kassav' also embraced band members of Martinican ancestry (Broard, Naimro, Marthely); their music is mostly compas that delved deep into synthesized sounds after exploring many acoustic timbres, with rhythms based fundamentally in a gwo ka (French Caribbean folkloric drumming/chanting) context, especially in earlier recordings. It has been suggested that their success was largely outside of the large U.S. music market due to a nearly total absence of English lyrics; instead, they use a very localized version of Crole Franais unique to Guadeloupe and Martinique, very distinct from European French or even Haitian French Kreyl. Their choice of language however did not limit their artistic vision, and it remains carnival-like and eminently danceable; the success of Kassav' was ongoing in the 2010s.

On 30 July 2021, Jacob Desvarieux, 65, died at the University Hospital of Abymes in Guadeloupe. He had been medically induced into a coma for almost a month. His death was attributed to COVID-19 by media reports.[34][35][36]

Kassav' est un groupe groupe musical franais[1], originaire de la Guadeloupe, prcurseur d'un nouveau genre musical, le zouk, dont le rayonnement a t international[2]. C'est le groupe franais les plus clbre au monde, avec des records dans de nombreux domaines : une longvit qui donne le tournis (45 annes d'existence), plus de 2000 concerts lives, jusqu' 3 tournes mondiales par an certaines annes, 5 millions d'album vendus (auxquels il faut rajouter toutes les cassettes audios qui ont circul via le piratage en Amrique et en Afrique), et une machine tubes...[3] Il est form en 1979 sur la base d'un rythme de gwo ka guadeloupen, du ti bwa martiniquais et du mend. Le mot kassav fait rfrence la cassave (galette de manioc) en crole[4].

Kassav' est considr par la presse spcialise comme le groupe prcurseur ayant introduit le zouk en dehors des Antilles[5]. De ce fait, Kassav' est considr comme le crateur du genre musical qu'est le zouk[6]. Les premiers albums du groupe, considrs l'poque par les majors franais comme tant trop ethniques sont produits par divers producteurs de musique antillaise, et distribus gnralement par Sonodisc. Kassav' est clbre l'international, et a jou sur les cinq continents[7]. Il a donn des concerts aussi bien en rpublique du Congo qu'au Sngal, aux tats-Unis, au Japon et mme en URSS, devenant le premier groupe noir jouer l-bas[8].

Le groupe sort son nouvel album en 1981, Numro 3 sur lequel, la monture dfinitive du groupe commence apparatre avec Douglas Mbida aux claviers et l'arrive de Jean-Philippe Marthly et Jean-Paul Pognon aux chants. En 1982, aprs un quatrime album (sans titre), Kassav' se dmembre et permet chacun de ses chanteurs de sortir des albums solo. Kassav' est toujours l mais en accompagnement. Suit celui de Georges Dcimus Avec Kassav' et Cie sur lequel un nouveau venu vient chanter : Patrick Saint-loi qui lui-mme sort un peu plus tard Misik ce lanmou. Patrick Saint-loi qui rejoint le groupe en 1982, s'impose ds lors comme le crole lover et mnera une carrire solo en parallle. En 1983, la mouture dfinitive du groupe est faite. Jocelyne, Jean-Philippe et Patrick aux chants, Jacob aux guitares et chant, Jean-Claude aux claviers, Georges la basse, Claude Vamur la batterie. Par ailleurs, le groupe fait appel deux danseuses : Catherine Laupa et Marie-Jose Gibon et galement une section de cuivres qui fait la particularit de Kassav'. Ralph Thamar vient apporter sa contribution au cinquime album du groupe qui sort en 1983, sur le titre My doudou. La machine est en route. Georges Dcimus concocte un nouvel album solo La Vie l'instar de Jacob Desvarieux avec Banzawa et Jean-Philippe Marthly avec Ti coq. Cela ne les empche pas de travailler pour le collectif car en fin d'anne sort Passeport, un autre album de Kassav'. Jacob Desvarieux sort son nouvel album en 1983, Oh Madiana avec la chanson ponyme qui deviendra un grand succs du groupe[14][source insuffisante].

Aprs un plerinage en Afrique, Jacob et Georges sortent un album intitul Gore du nom de l'le d'o partaient de nombreux esclaves africains vers les Antilles. Sur cet album les sonorits africaines sont omniprsentes et marquent galement un tournant dans le son Kassav'. En 1987, le groupe Kassav' sort un nouvel opus, Vini pou qui sera disque de platine. Sur cet album, on trouve de nombreux tubes teints d'un son africain comme Sy Bwa et Vini pou. C'est galement l'anne o le groupe signe avec Sony music (CBS l'poque) et permet Kassav' de s'manciper tant au niveau des moyens qu'au niveau de la crativit. Cependant en signant avec Sony Music, leur contrat stipulait qu'aucun album solo ne devait sortir avant trois ou quatre ans afin d'installer le style Kassav'. Kassav' poursuit sa tourne qui l'amnera en juin 1988 en Nouvelle-Caldonie, o un accueil glacial leur est rserv. En effet, l'un des membres du groupe aurait annonc reverser la moiti de ses recettes aux indpendantistes[18]. Cette tourne permettra galement au groupe de se produire la premire fois au Japon[19].

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