Biography - Mad Minute Music · and commitment, musical research and sense of party, All U Need Is Zouk is sharpened for these kinds of peaks. New studio album ‘All U Need Is Zouk’

KASSAV’Biography

The legend of zouk

"The West Indian band Kassav' has largely influenced the music of the record [Amandla]on which Marcus Miller, Tommy LiPuma and I are working." Miles Davis

Kassav’ All U Need Is Zouk !

A new album from Kassav' is always like a vintage Bordeaux, like Bastille Day fireworks,like a World Cup final: you have tasted it before and know the rules, it feels like youalready know which feelings you are about to experience. And each time, you areoverwhelmed, you start clapping as if it were the first time…

You might say “this is just another album from Kassav’,” however with All U Need IsZouk, you cannot escape the fact that this album is unique.

You are overcome by a festive impulse of dance and powerful feelings, the impression ofsurfing on the world sound wave, and the sensation of actually being in Guadeloupe andMartinique… All of the familiar elements of Kassav’s music are present in All you need isZouk and you find yourself absorbed into a new story, a new sound and a new fervour.

Recorded last spring and summer in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Barbados, Paris andBrussels, All U Need Is Zouk is a portrait of the greatest West Indian band, celebratingthree decades of influential music. The creators of Kassav’, Jacob Desvarieux andGeorges Décimus, together with Jocelyne Béroard, Jean-Philippe Marthély and Jean-Claude Naimro, have released their fifteenth studio album (individually the bandmembers’ have released about sixty live albums and solo records). Didier Lozahic, thefaithful sound engineer, brings to life the studio recording and Chris Chavenon brings itall together into the final mix.

The enthusiasm of the first album, Love and Ka Dance, (released in 1979) is still there.Added to this is the strength and trust earned by hundreds and hundreds of concertsthroughout the world and the fact of being famous far beyond the Caribbean. Kassav’sinfluence has stretched across Africa, the Indian Ocean, the suburbs of every westerncity and has even reached the smallest Pacific islands …

Indeed, zouk music cannot be invented with impunity. Few people (even in the WestIndies) believed in this great dream that would bring these small Creole francophoneislands into the world concert scene. Despite any doubt, Kassav’ did it, taking inspirationfrom a traditional rhythm of carnival, the mas a sen jan (from the name Saint John, abutcher and a mask group leader in Pointe-à-Pitre during the years between the twoworld wars), on which they throw in funky bass, rocky guitar, salsa brass, heavykeyboards, drums from the countryside and their islands’ suburbs, and a mixture ofCreole languages from Guadeloupe and Martinique… A revolution? Maybe even more…

Kassav' hit the West Indies like a hurricane, the equivalent to the combination of theglamour of Elvis Presley, the greatest hits of the Beatles and the lyrics of Bob Dylan. At

the beginning of the 80s, the West Indian society was completely overturned: everyonedanced to this brand new frenzy, everyone sang in unison these choruses that lookedreality straight in the eyes (you must listen to Syé bwa or Zouk-la sé sèl médikaman nouni). Everyone in the West Indies was proud of its artists’ successes throughout the world.Stadiums in Africa had never seen such large crowds for artists from another continent.Miles Davis refers to zouk as a major bombshell. Jocelyne Béroard placed the Creolelanguage in the Top 50 with Kolé séré in duet with Philippe Lavil. Kassav' was the firstblack band to sing in USSR…

…And the adventure continues today. Kassav’ is at the pinnacle of popularity in itscommunity and everywhere the West Indian music hits the crowd; in New York, Miami,all over Africa and throughout the Caribbean islands. A unique art league of hedonismand commitment, musical research and sense of party, All U Need Is Zouk is sharpenedfor these kinds of peaks.

New studio album ‘All U Need Is Zouk’ international release 3/12/07

‚ 1st single ‘Doubout Pikan’

‚ Video link: introduction of the band «!Kassav’ the band of all records »http://streamos.warnermusic.com/wmedia/wmifrance/warnermusic/kassav/teaseralbum/kassav.wmv

‚ www.myspace.com/kassav

‚ www.kassavmusic.com

Promotional Contacts:-Sales manager and TV promo Catherine Scarpi +33 1 56 6044 09 [email protected] promo +33 156 6044 19 [email protected] Community: Evelyne Marlin /Art & Son communication +33 148 3263 77Karine Lagrenade!: [email protected] and [email protected] National press and radio network Isabelle Rodier/Nin-Nin Rose +33 147 0819 [email protected] and jenny [email protected]

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Biography - Mad Minute Music · and commitment, musical research and sense of party, All U Need Is Zouk is sharpened for these kinds of peaks. New studio album ‘All U Need Is Zouk’