2023-10-08 09:46:34
Let it be said, Kassav is back! No more doubts, uncertainties and even questions. Kassav is back on the world’s musical stages. The announcement of the continuation of the tour which began last May put an end to a period of questions. It must be said that discussions were going well regarding the future of the group, despite this mini tour this summer.
The bets were even open. Was this the swan song? The nagging question kept coming back: Was Kassav, this legendary zouk group really going to survive Jacob Desvarieux, co-founder and soul of the group swept away by Covid in 2021, especially since he has to deal with unavailability of Jean-Philippe Marthély, his chief “ambianceur”, prevented for medical reasons?
Challenge and resilience
Some people thought it was a waste of time. This group which made the entire planet dance and thrill generations of fans would never be able to recover from this abysmal void caused by the disappearance of its charismatic guitarist and the absence of its vocal leader. Never this group which was built with texts anchored in the realities of the Caribbean and the world, which knew how to impose Creole in its songs, with this catchy music which feeds on the rhythms of Guadeloupean gwo-ka and ti- bwa Martinique, who knew how to transcend the well-defined codes of West Indian music to make it more international, might not return to his best level.
Others, more numerous and more optimistic, bet on the group’s capacity for resilience by adopting this old adage which ensures that “when the roots are deep, the tree does not give way under the storm” and also liked to think that Like great teams in sport, great groups never die.
Suffice it to say that this new announced tour is both a challenge and a challenge. Because following a warm-up tour which led the group to perform in Saint Lucia as part of the jazz festival of this Caribbean island last May, then in Arles at the Théâtre Antique, at the Nuits de Fourvière in Lyon in June , and finally in Belgium in August, the real challenge begins – where it all began – with the services announced in Guadeloupe (November 18, 2023), in Martinique (November 25, 2023), in Reunion (December 9, 2023) and as a final bouquet in Paris (May 18, 2024).
Kassav constituting the overseas public
A real challenge because Kassav will be confronted with a predominantly overseas audience from whom he is inseparable even if he has since conquered the world. Certainly, the group founded in 1979 by Jacob Desvarieux, Georges and Pierre-Edouard Décimus has become legendary and has gone beyond the borders of the Antilles. Certainly, it has allowed zouk to tour the world and put Guadeloupe and Martinique on the musical map of the planet, but the fact remains that it is also constitutive of this public which saw its birth and who gave him birth and growth. As such, getting back in front of him in the conditions described is a real challenge.
A challenge which, without a doubt, will be met without too much difficulty and with mastery as Kassav is still full of musical talents, as this group is unique and as its spirit, its music, its successes still resonate in the heads and even more in the hearts of the overseas public, especially since they will not be asked to perform the timeless and imperishable successes of Jacob Desvarieux. Who said Kassav was dead?
E.B.
Kassav « Be our Enmé »
Tribute concerts to Jacob Desvarieux
November 18, 2023: Palais des Sports de Gosier – Guadeloupe
November 25, 2023: Appaloo’s Arena – Le François – Martinique
December 9, 2023: Espace Salahin – Saint-Pierre – Reunion
18 mai 2024 : Accor Arena – Paris
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