When it comes to club parties, no one does it the way Zouk has done for the past 25 years.
Whether it’s their anniversary party or a Halloween bash, it’s all style, anything goes with generation after generation of club-goers who exhibited spontaneous exuberance and irreverent fun that gave rise to the Zouk culture.
And it’s no different this weekend as the iconic warehouse club holds what could be its last or one of its last most happening bash as it marks its 25th birthday at Jiak Kim Road, where all the madness first began.
It’s a milestone celebration as the club has assembled its past and current DJs for a massive aural assault tonight till the wee hours of Sunday.
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Even tabla player Maniam, who had been part of the highlight of thumping house nights, has been invited back for the event.
What about the dark-spectacled doctor, who used to accompany his beats, while up on the women’s podium doing his inscrutable robotic moves? We shall see.
Whether it’s kitschy oldies recycled for years on Mambo nights or cutting-edge sounds from vast genres of ever-dynamic electronic dance music, local and world DJs have helped Zouk deliver them with over-the-top aplomb when they were in top form.
The exhortation from the booming speakers to let your hair down seemed to have worked its magic so well here that it’s hard to find similar party scenes elsewhere.
The club’s local DJs have had the opportunity to hone their art in-house so much so that several have carved a name for themselves in the international circuit rather quickly.
One of them is Aldrin, who has a big following for his ONE with Aldrin sessions.
He told AsiaOne: “Without Zouk, there would be no DJ Aldrin, no ONE with Aldrin, no ONE with Music. I’ve had many great nights there, be it helming my own nights, sharing the decks with fellow resident DJs on special events like Halloween or NYE, or catching the world’s best DJs and acts in action.
“Zouk has been instrumental in shaping my career. Zouk will always be very special to me.”
The fear of many Zoukettes (how the regulars are known) is that its new location at Clarke Quay might not be the right platform for the Zouk experience.
Said Aldrin: “The Jiak Kim Street venue is a very unique location, which will be extremely hard to replicate.”
Hopefully, diehard fans can still rule the floors at Jiak Kim for a few more months before the move by the end of the year.
chenj@sph.com.sg
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