An-Ba-Chen'n La is yet another quality
Kassav album produced during the zouk explosion of the 1980s. Here we find other members of the group contributing to the songwriting. This is rock-solid zouk, with its foundation in percussion, is termed chire, for hard versus soft as in zouk love. The material is varied and doesn't fall into the cloned sound that eventually infected much of zouk. The young voices of Patrick St. Eloi,
Jean-Philippe Marthely, and
Jocelyne Beroard are clear and vibrant. A huge complement of musicians and back up singers on the album creates a wave of sound that is both primal and powerful. The arrangements continue to be fresh and full of twists. "Mwen-Malad-Aw" was eventually covered by Margareth Menezes on her 1990 Elegibo album. Bone marrow zouk that never gets tired. Highly recommended. ~ Mark Romano