<p>
Cofounder of the legendary zouk band Kassav, Jacob Desvarieux, <a href="https://la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/martinique/jacob-desvarieux-cofondateur-du-groupe-musical-kassav-est-mort-1070293.html" target="_blank">died
at 66 from COVID in Guadaloupe on July 30</a>. He had been hospitalized
since July 12.<br>
</p>
<p>The zouk vanguard
group Kassav started in 1979, launching the singer, musician,
arranger and producer to the level of “legend of Antilles music.”
Their music was a potent mix of jazz, Caribbean folk, rumba, soukous,
discos and funk, and it topped charts in the Caribbean, Europe and
Africa in the ‘80s, although more well-known in the Francophonie
than in the English speaking world.<br>
</p>
<p>As the band was
cresting international fame, The <em>Beat</em> magazine caught up with
Desvarieux and Kassav, and now seems like a good time to revisit
Desvarieux at the height of his powers.
<br>
</p>
<p>Check out <a href="https://afropop.test.ejaedesign.com/articles/best-of-the-beat-on-afropop-zouk-magic-music-of-the-french-antilles-part-one" target="_blank">part 1
right here</a>, and <a href="https://afropop.test.ejaedesign.com/articles/best-of-the-beat-on-afropop-zouk-part-two-the-magic-of-kassav" target="_blank">part 2 right after</a>.</p>
