Kassav

Kassav'
Origin	Paris, France
Genres	Kadans/Compas Cadence-lypso Zouk
Years active	1979–present
Labels	GD Productions/Sonodisc, Epic, CBS, Warner France (distribution)
Website	http://www.kassav-official.com/
Members	Jocelyne Béroard Jacob Desvarieux Jean-Philippe Marthély Jean-Claude Naimro Georges Décimus
Past members	Patrick Saint Eloi Pierre Edouard Décimus Claude Vamur

Kassav' is a Caribbean band formed in Guadeloupe in 1979. The core members of the band are Jocelyne Béroard, Jacob Desvarieux, Jean-Philippe Marthély, Patrick St. Eloi, Jean-Claude Naimro, Claude Vamur and Georges Décimus (who left to form Volte Face and returned). Kassav' have issued over 20 albums, with a further 12 solo albums by band members.

The music of Kassav is an extension of cadence-lypso or compas bands, such as Grammacks, Exile One, Les Aiglons and Experience 7 of the 1970s.

Kassav' was formed in 1979 by Pierre-Edouard Décimus (former musicians from the Les Vikings de Guadeloupe) and Paris studio musician Jacob F. Desvarieux. Together and under the influence of well-known Dominican, Haitian and Guadeloupean kadans or compas bands like Experience 7, Grammacks, Exile One, Les Aiglons, Tabou Combo, Les Freres Dejean, Zekle, etc., they decided to make Guadeloupean carnival music recording it in a more fully orchestrated yet modern and polished style. The name of the band is Antillean Creole for a local dish made from cassava root.

Kassav', whose music repertoire is 90% compas, is the creator of the fast carnival zouk style. The French Antilles' Kassav' was the first to apply the MIDI technology to compas "digital compas".

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Wikipedia