Kassav’

About

Kassav’, also alternatively spelled Kassav, is a French Caribbean band that originated from Guadeloupe in 1979.
The band’s musical style is rooted in the Guadeloupean gwoka rhythm, as well as the Martinican tibwa and Mendé rhythms. Regarded as one of the most influential bands in 20th-century French West Indies music, Kassav is often credited with pioneering the zouk musical genre. Their musical evolution is a synthesis of cadence-lypso and compas traditions.

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. The term “kassav” in creole denotes a type of cassava pancake. The band’s inception can be traced to Pierre-Edouard Décimus and Fréddy Marshall, members of the Guadeloupean ensemble Les Vikings, who aspired to innovate the island’s traditional music by amalgamating it with contemporary influences.

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

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

Kassav’ was formed in 1979 by Pierre-Edouard Décimus (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.

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

Albums/Songs:

• 1979 Love and kadance
• 1980 Lagué mwen
• 1981 Kassav n°3
• 1982 George Décimus with Kassav’ (joint album George Décimus / Kassav’)
• 1983 Kassav
• 1983 Kassav n°5
• 1983 Passeport
• 1984 Ayé
• 1985 An-ba-chen’n la (2× Gold)
• 1987 Vini Pou (Gold and Platinum)
• 1989 Majestik Zouk (2× Gold)
• 1992 Tékit izi (2× Gold)
• 1995 Difé

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