The Best of Chiktay

Chronique

Chiktay, named for a spicy Creole hors d'oeuvre of grilled fish, cucumber, onion, avocado, and indigenous fiery fresh peppers, came together in Guadeloupe during the zouk explosion of the 1980s. They have produced consistently tight, high-quality zouk albums that have featured a particularly strong lineup of musicians from Henri Debs and his studio. This is the cream of their albums, and it's filled with 15 rock-solid zouk tracks. There's no filler here. Their brand of zouk is always in touch with its roots in cadence and Haitian music, while pushing the genre into new places. They never lapse into repetitive cloned zouk love. Zouk chire (the more hard-edged version), zouk love (slower and better for dancing hip to hip), and a keen sense of the roots of Antillean swing have contributed to their wide popularity. This is what has kept Chiktay vital and one of the premier groups of Guadeloupe-Martinique. The Best of Chiktay is a tropical joy to dance to and to listen to. The chiktay is usually accompanied by a rum punch. Highly recommended.
© Mark Romano /TiVo