ZOUK LAMBADA

“It's Funky!  It's Hot  It's Sexy”

Zouk is a style of rhythmic music originating from Haiti, later spreading to the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. It has its roots in Cadence music from Dominica, as popularised by Grammacks and Exile One. Zouk means 'party' in the local creole of French with English and African influences, all three of which contribute the sound.

Lambada is a dance which became internationally popular in the 1980's. The exact origin of the dance is somewhat disputed but it is known to have begun in Brazil and has forerunners such as the forró, sayas, the maxixe, and the carimbó.

Lambada entered the global mainstream when the Brazilian pop group Kaoma recorded a number one worldwide summer hit "Lambada" which sold 5 million singles in 1989. This song was actually an unauthorised translation of the song "Llorando se fue", from the Bolivian group Los K’jarkas.

The association of Lambada and the idea of "dirty dancing" became quite extensive - the appellative "forbidden dance" was and is often ascribed to the Lambada - mostly due to the 1990 movie Lambada.

After 1994 the Brazilian music style (also called Lambada), which gave birth to the dance, started to fade away, and the dancers began to use other musical sources to continue practicing the Lambada dance. Among these rhythms were the Flamenco Rumba (such as from the Gipsy Kings) and some Arabian music. Today the majority of Lambada is danced to Zouk music and the dance evolved so much from its original form that there is an ongoing discussion whether the Zouk-Lambada is a new type of dance or just the natural evolution of the Lambada of the early 90's.

Also referred to as Lambazouk, Lambada Zouk and quite simply as Zouk in Brazil, this modern version of the Lambada evokes the body and mind into a trance like state for the dancer, leaving the spectator mesmerised.

Zouk Lambada, like many other couple dances (i.e. salsa, merengue, tango, jive, swing, samba, bachata, forro etc) has evolved into what it is today… one of the most beautiful Latin dance styles hitting the dance-floors across the world.