This international symposium entitled “Zouk : trajectories, imaginations and perspectives” and dedicated to Kassav’ will take place during two days in Martinique : on Wednesday, June 19, from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm and from 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm on the campus of the Université des Antilles in Schoelcher ; on Thursday, June 20, from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm and from 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm in the town hall of Schoelcher.
Several figures will attend the opening of the symposium among them Odile Marcelin-François-Augrin (vice-president of the Martinique Area), Cécile Bertin-Élisabeth (dean of the Literature and Social Sciences Faculty), Gerry Létang (Director of CRILLASH, Centre of interdisciplinary Research in Literature, Languages, Arts and Social Sciences), Luc Clémenté (mayor of the town of Schoelcher), Christian Rapha (mayor of the town of Saint-Pierre), Pierre-Édouard Décimus (president of honor of the symposium, musician et founder of Kassav’ with musician Jacob Desvarieux in 1979), Jocelyne Béroard (guest of honor of the International Zouk Festival and Kassav’ singer), Roselyne Astasie (president of Lynnaj Art Event), Jean-Marc Rosier (president of Mélanges Caraïbes) etc.
During this international meeting with foreign contributors (Japan, Cameroon etc.), there will be speeches and debates but also and a travelling exhibition on zouk, a presentation of books on Caribbean music, musical interludes and the screening of the documentary titled “Jocelyne, Mi tchè mwen” about the singer of the zouk band, Martinican Jocelyne Béroard.
These two days are organized in several parts including : zouk and its drums ; zouk: language and interculturality ; zouk: a developing culture ; zouk and its international exposure ; zouk and its spreading ; cultural approach to zouk.
Some highlights
- “Zouk and Creole language: how the Caribbean love song has gone from French to Creole and revolutionized it” by Raphaël Confiant
- “The question of Creole poetics in Kassav’s zouk songs” by Corinne Mencé-Caster
- “Zouk: the story of a Caribbean identity affirmation to an example of music-linguistic hybridity” by Freddy Marcin
- “Zouk, an element of identity: from global to local and from local to global” by François Biyélé
- Kassav’ or the development of cultural and creative industries in Guadeloupe-Martinique and Guiana: observations and perspectives 40 years later” by Alain Maurin
- “Zouk…ééé lékòl : dare zouk at school” by Mirna Bolus
- “Zouk and its connection with Biguine” by Michel Béroard
- “Jocelyne, Mi chè mwen” (1h28m) documentary by Maharaki
- “The ramifications in the diaspora of Zouk in the Americas” by Frédéric Lefrançois
- “The sacred in music. Zouk: confirmation or dilution? Ethnomusicological analysis” by François Bingono
- “The reception of Caribbean music in Japan” by Miho Watanabe
- “The true history of Zouk and its weight in contemporary music” by Ayénonla Romain Assogba
- “Kassav’ and the radio in Guadeloupe: a new kind of development and influence in the programmes” by Jude Sahaï
- “Can the 21st century Zouk be an international kreyòl pop music?” by Maëlla Kancel
- “Kassav’ or when the stars of the Caribbean go to the firmament of the world” Louis Solo Martinel
- “Kassav’, the global resonance of the Creole cultures by zouk”, by Alex Laupèze
- “The construction of the Caribbean identity: the example of Zouk” by Malissa Conseil
- “Kassav’ : a paradigmatic line of musical aesthetic in the meta-archipelago” by Gérald Désert
