- How do zouk and kompa differ?
- Region and instrumentation. Kompa is Haitian, led by horns and guitar with a straighter rhythm. Zouk is French-Caribbean, led by synths and keyboards with more sustained harmony. Both are mid-tempo, but zouk sounds more "synth-soft" and kompa more "brass-direct." "Synth pads lead, no horns, 110 BPM" points to zouk; "horns and guitar lead" points to kompa.
- How do I choose between fast zouk and zouk love?
- Fast zouk runs 110–130 BPM with a synth-dance feel for the floor. Zouk love sits at 70–90 BPM with tender vocals for ballads and slow dancing. Write "fast: synth bass and electronic drums, 120 BPM" or "zouk love: 80 BPM, long-breathed vocals, sustained synth pads" to separate them — a bare "zouk" blends the two.
- It comes out like generic synth pop — what now?
- Call out the Caribbean syncopation: "synth bass with gwo ka-style syncopation, mid-tempo electronic drum loop not a straight four-on-the-floor, long-breathed Creole vocals, keep the duet." Zouk's identity is the balance of mid-tempo syncopation and sustained synths; pure synth pop pushes past 130 BPM and loses the mid-tempo feel. Naming the syncopation and mid-tempo is what keeps it authentic.
