Splice Sessions Afro Zouk

For this pack, producer Ismaila Talla, aka ISS 814, took the raw sounds we encoded form our Anguilla Sessions and reworked them into one-shots and loops in the style of Zouk music through a more modern West African lens.

Zouk is a type of dance music traced back to various Caribbean musical styles, including dancehall and folk. Pioneered by the French Antillean (aka The West French Indies) band Kassav in the early 1980s, it was originally characterized by a fast tempo (120–145 bpm), a percussion-driven rhythm, and a loud horn section. Musicians form Martinique and Guadeloupe eventually added MIDI instrumentation, which established the prominence of electronically synthesized sounds the genre became known for, and that you’ll hear in this pack. Because of the French connection between Martinique and West Africa, particularly Senegal, Zouk has become a popular genre and prominent influence in West Africa. ISS 814 put his iconic spin on these sounds, slowing things down a bit form traditional zouk to deliver one-shots and loops that feel modern and hit-ready.