Les Vikings De La Guadeloupe - Best Of Les Vikings De La Guadeloupe 1966-2016 (2016) [Vinyl]

A compilation that marks the comeback of one of the most important French Antillean bands of the 60s and 70s Les Vikings De La Guadeloupe. Camille Sopran'n, who founded the band with guitarist Guy Jacquet and bassist Pierre-Edouard Décimus, personally selected this compilation from the Vikings' vast discography of about twenty albums, starting in 1967. The Vikings were Guadeloupe's first true rock stars. They embodied the same spirit of liberty and anti-conformism as Led Zeppelin in 1960s Britain, The Impressions in U.S. soul around the same time and Ornette Coleman in the jazz world a few years earlier. They might not play out-and-out rock, but these young hipsters with their unorthodox dress sense reinvented the music of the tropics and shook up its conventions to such an extent that their songs still sound like the soundtrack of a society in the throes of radical change. Their popularity went through the roof after their debut gigs at La Cocoteraie, one of the trendiest clubs in the Gosier area of Pointe-à-Pitre. One track was featured on Heavenly Sweetness' well-received 2015 compilation 'Kouté Jazz', now with the 'Best Of - Enko On Ti Tou', which presents a selection of fourteen of their best songs and should see the musical adventures of this group become known around the world.