A Collection of DJ friendly edits from around the world tweaked for maximum dancefloor usage (largely Antillean retro zouk)

JOSH FB (aka Discothèque Tropicale) EDITS

Edits

By legendary Guedeloupe zouk artist Edith Lefel from her 1988 record 'La Klé' - first of a series of edits me and the Discothèque Tropicale crew are working on, hope you enjoy it x

Edith Lefel - Etiw Doudou (JOSH FB / Discothèque Tropicale Edit)

Taken from the iconic Hibiscus Records' 1990 release of zouk/reggae fusion band 'Shango'. The Bamboo Beat album is a straight up killer record with 'Irie' being one of my all-time favourite tracks ever put out.

I changed the intro, cut out some parts and rearranged bits to make the breakdown you can hear at 0:31 for example. Hope you enjoy the edit, more to come... :)

Shoutout to my good pal and fellow zouk digging nerd Bedoui for turning me onto the record. It's sadly very rare, I'd love to be able to reissue it on my label 'Discotheque Tropicale' one day so more people could listen to this wonderful work of music x

Shango - Filinn' (JOSH FB / Discothèque Tropicale Edit)

Taken from the 1992 release on the legendary label 'Debs' from zouk duo Guy Houllier & Yves Honoré. Dug out in Paris from one of the most impressive private collections of Caribbean music I've ever seen - was great to see the record lived up to its impressive artwork... these guys clearly had some style!!

Intro is adjusted to be more club ready with several other tweaks here and there. As always big thanks to anyone who checks this out - I hope you enjoy!

Guyves & Co - Danje (JOSH FB / Discothèque Tropicale Edit)

Discovered courtesy of our good friend Under Radaar / Arthur - aka the zouk wizard I aspire to be! 

Taken from a truly wonderful 1988 zouk record from Barbados released on the iconic Hibiscus Records. En Nou Alle Zouké is also glorious, but this slower and more emotive track also deserves some serious attention!

Amazing horns, vocals, guitar riffs and melodies - what a Jam. Catch the OG on our Discotheque Tropicale youtube channel - It is amazing! his one has an altered intro, an interlude removed, more horns and is just a but more dancefloor/DJ ready. 

Thanks for checking it out, hope you enjoy x

Fil Pak - Moin Ké Diw (JOSH FB / Discothèque Tropicale Edit)

A real legend of the game! Jean Philippe Marthély has a huge discography, and since 1981 has been part of the legendary zouk band Kassav'!

The influence of this super-group on music not only in the Caribbean, but also across West Africa and beyond cannot be overstated. The pioneering collective of incredible Antillean musicians basically founded the zouk genre, and Jean Philippe has been a choice vocalist for decades.

This edit I dedicate to my grandmother Lulu. With the title and vocals to me sounding like "To Lulu" especially in the call response chorus, this was immediately the first thought that came to mind. Just like this track she had incredible positive energy and was a force to be reckoned with, may she rest in peace. Thank you to Hunee for the continued inspiration!

I hope you like it - as always if you're reading this and listening to the track.. a huge thank you to you all x

Jean Philippe Marthély - Touloulou (JOSH FB's 2-U Lulu Edit)

Greatly composed track by Dany Play and Guy Remy with some beautiful solo vocals of Dany Plays own daughter Ké Karine.
https://www.discogs.com/release/23670488-Dany-Play-K%C3%A9-Karine-Insuportable

Josh tipped the record to me, mainly for the A2 track Sa Dan L'Anmou (definitly make sure to check out that gorgious zouk love track as well). But after flipping the record and hearing Songe for the first time I immidiatly fell in love with the enegry of the track.

Did some cutting and pasting; removed a slowing down part, made a new intro and rearranged the track. Also beefed it up a little to lower end of the frequency spectrum since the recording sounded a bit hollow at first. So in short I tried to make it somewhat more DJ and dancefloor friendly.

All credits to all the artists that created the track, without them this was never put into the world! 
Last thing, please always makes sure to get to the end for that super sexy sax solo of Alain Hatot.

Dany Play / Ké Karine - Songe (vrøge edit)

High energy zouk edit from the first album of the drummer of Kassav'; Claude Vamur.

He has been a drummer for the greater part of his life. Before joining Kassav' he was mainly focused on jazz. But in this track you will most definitely hear his love for the drums and zouk.

I did a lot of rearrangements and skipped most of the first part of the track. The middle and end is where the real party energy is and I tried to use that througout the entire 4 minutes. Also reused the shaker and added a very slight kick for some more cluby experience.

Claude Vamur (Colo) - Azizouk (vrøge edit)

Not a real taxi service but a magical music group from Martinique that produced some quality early year zouk tracks.

Taken from their first album released in 1988 that they also named Taxi Kréol, I took the Tropicana (Rainbow) track for some rework.

https://www.discogs.com/release/10225419-Taxi-Kr%C3%A9ol-Taxi-Kr%C3%A9ol

Used the drum solo as both the intro and outro for the edit and rearranged some bits to give it a bit more constant vibe for the dancefloor. Big oldskool zouker to give the dancefloor a lil kick.

Taxi Kréol - Tropicana (vrøge edit)

New edit out! A cherished  first collaboration between myself and my zouk padawan and good friend Vrøge. On top of our regular zouk discussions, we've also shared many special moments on the dancefloor together, so an edit together has been on the horizon for a while now!

This one is a gorgeous, bumpy 90s digi-zouk floorfiller with gorgeous horns, sultry vocals and a hefty low end. Self released in 1991, 'Zouk +' was sadly only album put out by Georges Pronzola (aka Gustamberg), would have loved to hear more of his beautiful music!

When planning a visit to the Netherlands I sent over the track with the idea of creating the edit together in person. Mesmerised by the track Youri quickly agreed to the idea, after which we of course completely forget about the whole thing and I flew home 😂. 

However, eventually we remembered and had a blast collaborating online to create the edit! After a few iterations we feel it's finally ready to share, and were delighted to early support from Hunee a few weeks ago! Hope you enjoy :)

Gustemberg - Les Antilles (JOSH FB & vrøge edit)

Record loving selector DJ based in London (and formerly Edinburgh). I love sticking my head in crates and learning more about the amazing music that can be found across the world. 

I'm a bit of retro zouk specialist (checkout my zouk show on My Analog Journal for more) but also have a great interest in soca, highlife, makossa, PALOP music, bubblegum, kwaito, latin freestyle and beyond - I enjoy celebrating globally sourced groovy records to fill dancefloors, and deliver an experience that makes club goers smile while they move

My mission is to spread this wonderful music and the talented artists that contributed to its creation with as many as people as possible! 

I run a clubnight and reissue / edits label along with a few friends called “Discothèque Tropicale”. Music to bring the boogie, fill the floors and put smiles on faces! 

I do the programming for London based radio station LOOSE FM where I also run the radio shows ‘The Listening Bar’ & 'Musical Backpacking' focussing each show and the record digging on a specific genre, theme or area. 

Pls ask for IDs I’ll always give them! Don't be a stranger, drop me a DM on Instagram anytime I always love to connect with fellow music lovers from around the world. Send me music pls 🙌

Music is a universal language with the power to break barriers and bring people together ❤️ 

jtsfryerbloom@gmail.com for bookings or probs faster to whack me a message on insta (@joshffb). Much Love, JOSH FB xx