Many did not want to believe the news that had just come in the late afternoon of Friday, July 30, 2021: Jacob Desvarieux had died at the University Hospital of Guadeloupe where he had been admitted on July 12 after being infected with Covid-19. Everyone had hoped that one of the founders of the Zouk band, Kassav’ (with Pierre-Édouard Décimus and Freddy Marshall, often forgotten) would win this fight against this terrible virus that has already claimed more than a thousand victims in the Guadeloupean archipelago and more than 6.3 million victims worldwide. Some people also said that the artist had already died for several days…
The guitarist and singer who suffered from diabetes and who had received a kidney transplant, had surrendered. The misunderstanding was total in Kassav’ where members thought that Jacob was solid as a rock and in the population who had seen the musician – who had moreover been vaccinated –promoting the benefits of the vaccine and asking resistant Guadeloupeans to imitate him, in a campaign led by the Regional Health Agency (ARS). But his confidence in vaccination was not enough to save him, even though he had received three doses of vaccine to be well protected. One of the ARS’s best ambassadors had fallen on the battlefield and, as of July 27, 2022, only 40.2% of the Guadeloupean population had received 3 doses of vaccine.
Even today, many wonder if Jacob Desvarieux would still be alive if he had not been vaccinated. Last year, during a conversation with a veterinarian who defends vaccination strongly, he told me that, since the artist had been transplanted, he would have advised him not to get vaccinated but he would have asked him to be very careful by scrupulously respecting the barrier gestures and social distancing…
Jacob Desvarieux was one of those “immunocompromised” people (another term we learned) that is to say, who have a weakened immune system due to “recent surgery, age, heredity, chronic disease or use of certain medications”.
But, Jacob Desvarieux was also one of those people who absolutely wanted to return to their lives before the appearance of Sars-Cov2 and that’s why the artist had gone on tour in Martinique (where he had contracted the disease) and then, at home, in Guadeloupe where he could not perform …
This disease which caused a massacre on our small archipelago of nearly 373, 000 inhabitants (and which has not finished its ravages) seems to have left a little “groggy” population. We sometimes wonder if some people have understood that a relative has died, we also wonder if the fans and even the members of Kassav’ have understood that they will not see again Jacob Desvarieux, one of the pillars of our Zouk music. Will there be in the future, a collective “awakening”, a general awareness? Are we a resilient people, capable of facing the worst disasters and quickly getting back on track to move forward?
One year after the death of the leader of Kassav’, we could hope for a tribute concert, but nothing for the moment. Last March on the France 24 channel, the singer of the band, Jocelyne Béroard, who tells the story of Kassav’ and Zouk in her book entitled “Loin de l’Amer”, announced a great concert to pay tribute to Jacob Desvarieux in 2023. It obviously takes time to understand what happened in July 2021 and to do things well…
Will Kassav’ survive after such a loss? After the departure from the band of Patrick Saint-Éloi in 2002 and his death in 2010, the stroke of Jean-Philippe Marthély in 2020 who is still recovering and last year, the death of Jacob Desvarieux, no one knows. Who will replace Jacob? We see some musicians talking a lot about Jacob Desvarieux, his musical heritage and scratching their guitars but we want to tell them that there is only one Kassav’ and only one Jacob Desvarieux.
Will the other members – Jean-Claude Naimro, who will turn 71 on August 4, Jocelyne Béroard, who will turn 68 next September, and Georges Décimus, who will turn 67 next October – continue to tour the world at a frantic pace? Note that Kassav’ is the first French band regarding international tours. Some would say that the members of the band Buena Vista Social Club from Cuba were not young anymore and that they were active…
Last May 26 in the town of Le François in Martinique, a tribute was organized for the legendary band with a concert bringing together forty Martinican and Guadeloupean artists who performed Kassav’s hits for four hours in front of more than 6,000 spectators… as if it were really the end. Are the two islands competing for the legacy?
One of Kassav’s greatest achievements was to silence all sterile polemics between Guadeloupeans and Martinicans for more than 40 years, if the Zouk band is to continue the adventure, it will be the main challenge for the new members. And then, who will choose these new artists? Pierre-Édouard Décimus and Freddy Marshall, as old guardians of the temple?
