Zouk (club)

Zouk is one of the oldest and most popular nightclubs in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.^[1] The club is named after the French Creole word for 'party'. It has won the Singapore Tourism Board's "Best Nightspot Experience" award 6 times, between 1996 to 2007. Zouk is also ranked number 10 on DJ Magazine's list of Top 100 clubs in the world in 2006, 2007 and 2010.

Events

ZoukOut is an annual music dance festival held in Singapore since 2000.^[2][3] One of Asia's biggest music dance festivals, it is organised by Zouk Singapore. DJs that have performed at ZoukOut include Paul Van Dyk, 2ManyDJS, Masters at Work, Gilles Peterson, Richie Hawtin, Sven Vath, Peter Kruder, James Lavelle, Armin Van Buuren and Stereo MCs. In 2008, ZoukOut saw its largest turnout of 26,000 in attendance, an increase of 3,000 attendees in 2007. ZoukOut has also won the Singapore Tourism Board’s “Best Leisure Event Experience” award thrice, between 2005 and 2008.

ZoukOut 2010 celebrated 10 years of the festival in December 2010. It was held on Saturday, 11th December at Siloso Beach, Sentosa Island from 8pm-8am. The three headline acts performed at ZoukOut 2010 were multi-platinum selling artiste David Guetta, world renowned trance DJ Tiësto and Grammy award-winning DJ Jazzy Jeff.

During the Grand Prix Season 2010 in Singapore, Zouk held a special event, Zouk Celebrates The Grand Prix Season Singapore 2010, which featured two acclaimed DJs, Frenchman Martin Solveig and Canadian Tiga.

Locations

The sister club of Zouk in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, opened in 2004.

The three old warehouses that make up the original Zouk were built in 1919 on the Singapore River. Thoroughly renovated, the houses now feature three interconnected clubs:

• Zouk (1991), with a large dancefloor and state-of-the-art sound and lighting, catering to a variety of artists
• Velvet Underground (1994), a quieter, more relaxed lounge that plays house and soul
• Phuture (1996), a more avant-garde bar specializing in broken beats and hip-hop/RnB.

The clubs have proven popular with Singapore's party-going crowd and regularly attract performers from all over the world. Its famous Mambo Jambo theme nights are considered a must-go for a beginning clubber.

In 2004, Zouk opened a sister club at Ampang Road (Jalan Ampang) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Zouk KL features four rooms: Zouk and Velvet Underground styled on the original, plus the Loft and Terrace bars.

A beach dance party called ZoukOut is organised at Sentosa in December each year. On December 10, 2005, 18,000 people attended the party. ZoukOut 2006 outdone itself once again drawing a record 20,000 party-goers to Sentosa on December 11, 2006.^[1] 26,000 party-goers attended Zoukout 2008.

Mambo Jambo

Mambo Jambo, commonly known as Mambo nights, is a theme clubbing night held every Wednesday at Zouk in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. It is highly popular among the younger segment of the clubbing crowd in Singapore, and a Mambo experience is often regarded as an initiation ritual for many beginners into the local clubbing scene.

Origins and Development as a clubbing institution

While Zouk Club's vision was to introduce house music into Singapore, the concept of house music was not well-entrenched in the Asian clubbing landscape. Thus in order to make house music more appealing to the Singapore crowd, it introduced a blend of music which incorporated pop hits from the 70s and 80s with house music which were to be played every Wednesday night. Never seen as a long term plan, this retro theme night however became increasingly popular with the clubbing crowd and became one of the main highlights of the Singapore’s clubbing week event list. It eventually became the most well patronised weekday event in the Singapore clubbing scene.

Music Type

Mambo Jambo is a spin of the term mumbo jumbo which fittingly described the type of music peculiar to the theme night. It began with a somewhat unorthodox mix of 70s and 80s pop hits and house and over the years, it evolved and incorporated rock, dance and hip hop. A huge hit with the local clubbers, many imitators tried to follow the ‘retro’ theme formula with relatively lesser success. Zouk remained the standard bearer for this unique clubbing experience in Singapore.

Special Dance Moves

There are numerous songs that are well received by the clubbing club. However, the most popular are those that will rouse the crowd to making their peculiar dance moves. These moves, usually restricted to hand and upper body movements, are usually expressed in sync with the songs' progression and lyrics. Some of these songs includes Bananarama's Love in the First Degree, Jason Donovan's Too Many Broken Hearts and Rick Astley's Together forever.

Example: Belinda Carlisle's Summer Rain (taken from Dylan Boey's Mambo Rocks article, published 8 August 4)

Step #1 Chorus: 'Oh my love, it's you...' Your move: Bring both hands together to form a 'heart' over your left bosom, then use your right hand to point at 'you'.

Step #2 Chorus: 'that I dream of...' Your move: Bring your right hand up and point to your right temple.

Step #3 Chorus: 'Oh my love, since that day...' Your move: Bring both hands together to form a 'heart' over your left bosom, then raise your right hand upwards, palm facing up.

Step #4 Chorus: 'somewhere in my heart, I'm always...' Your move: Bring your hands together and make a heart shape over your left bosom, then clap twice in rhythm with 'always'.

Step #5 Chorus: 'dancing with you in the summer rain...' Your move: With both hands half-raised and your index finger and thumb pinched together, make little circles as you twirl your hands around for 'dancing'. When the chorus goes 'summer rain', stretch out your hands and make little ripples with your fingers as if simulating a shower of rain.

Mambo Jambo- The Album

In 1998, Zouk Club together with Avex Trax Asia Limited produced a compilation of Mambo Jambo mix.

Track listing

1. Let The Music Play - Shannon
2. Walking Away - Information Society
3. Bauhaus - Cappella
4. Ride on Time - Black Box
5. Theme from S'Express - S'Express
6. Tubthumping - Chumbawamba
7. Call Me - Spagna
8. Together Forever - Rick Astley
9. Love in the First Degree - Bananarama
10. Square Rooms - Al Corley
11. Batucuda - DJ Dero
12. Samba De Janeiro - Bellini
13. BG Tips, You should be dancing - E-Sensual
14. YMCA - Village People
15. Gimme Hope Jo'anna - Eddy Grant
16. Together in Electric Dreams - Georgio Moroder & Phillip Oakley
17. Summer Rain - Belinda Carlisle
18. Here Comes the Rain Again - Eurythmics
19. Magic Carpet Ride - Mighty Dub Katz
20. Lost in Emotion - Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
21. Give It Up - KC and the Sunshine Band
22. A Little Respect - Erasure

Mambo Jambo - The Phenomenon

CD Cover

In 2007, Zouk Club together with Warner Music Group produced a compilation of Mambo Jambo mix. This album is a tribute to the 15 years of the night, its cult following that has kept the energy alive, and the unparalleled spirit that is Mambo Jambo. Notably, the album release was entirely mixed from vinyl by Zouk Resident DJs in order to reflect the true spirit of the night.

Track listing

1. Dying Inside To Hold You - Timmy Thomas
2. You Sexy Thing - Hot Chocolate
3. Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry
4. Call Me - Spagna
5. Never Gonna Give You Up - Rick Astley
6. Blame It On The Boogie - Big Fun
7. Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order
8. Love In The First Degree - Bananarama
9. Let's Go - Wang Chung
10. Sexbomb - Tom Jones with Mousse T
11. I Heard A Rumour - Bananarama
12. Together In Electric Dreams - Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder
13. You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) - Dead or Alive
14. Mony Mony - Billy Idol
15. Push It - Salt-N-Pepa
16. Horny - Mousse T vs Hot 'N' Juicy
17. Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now) - Bob Sinclar Feat. Dollarman & Big Ali
18. Don't Call Me Baby - Madison Avenue
19. Can't Take My Eyes Off You - Boystown Gang
20. La Bamba - Los Lobos
21. Mambo No 5 - Lou Bega

See also

• Zouk (Style of music)

References

1. ^ YourSingapore.com - Zouk
2. ^ YourSingapore.com - ZoukOut
3. ^ ZoukOut - About

• ^ "ZoukOut 2006 outdone itself drawing a record 20,000 party-goers to Sentosa". Channel NewsAsia. 10 December 2006. http://asia.news.yahoo.com/061210/5/singapore246377.html. 
• ^ "ZoukOut draws record 18,000 party-goers from Singapore and region". Channel NewsAsia. 11 December 2005. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/183122/1/.html. 
• Boey, Dylan. Mambo Rocks in Sunday Times 8 August 2004. Singapore: SPH.
• DJ Adam Low. (1998) Mambo Jambo Wednesday Night Live. Singapore: Avex Trax.

External links

• Zouk (Singapore)
• Zouk (Kuala Lumpur)
• WhosGoing: Singapore Clubs + Bars
• YourSingapore - ZoukOut