Kassav'

Kassav', also 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 Mendé 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 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.^[5][20]

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'.^[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]