Zouk Machine

The story so far.

Written and edited by Smokiller

Zouk Machine is a female vocal group from Guadeloupe best known for "Maldòn (La musique dans la peau)". Charts in France traces the group to three singers, Joëlle Ursull, Christiane Obydol and Dominique Zorobabel, who first worked as backing vocalists for Expérience 7 under the name Les Zoukettes. Their first album found success with "Sové Lanmou". Ursull later left for a solo career, and Jane Fostin joined in 1989. Miziknou notes that "Maldòn" held the top spot in French single sales for nine consecutive weeks in 1990 and went platinum with more than a million copies, and Charts in France calls it the best-selling zouk title of all time. The same site describes the group as the most commercially advanced reference point in zouk and a launchpad for many careers in the French Caribbean. In July 2021 the trio was billed at the Nuits du Sud festival in Vence for the first time. The Maldòn album on Deezer also carries "Sové lanmou" and "Pisimé zouké".