ZAZOO magazine

Our Story

ZAZOO is a bilingual printed magazine (EN/ES) about swing culture in Europe, a re-emerged movement that has been growing non-stop for the last 10 years, widespread through countless festivals all around Europe. Specialized collaborators write about music and dance, both from the historical and current point of view, but with the implicit vocation of reflecting about many other themes – from literature to politics, including philosophy and gender studies– that make us re-think our own culture nowadays. And always taking the ludic and enthusiastic nature of swing as a base line.

Zazou was a term to describe french youngsters that, during the Occupation of France during the II World War, showed an attitude of resistance through their appreciation of jazz, their eccentric looks and detached behavior. This is why ZAZOO, a publication born in April 2018 with a vocation for continuity, proposes in its pages a reflexion about the value of collectivity and diversity in a contemporary european context. A magazine for people that may or may not dedicate themselves to music or dance, but are nevertheless inebriated by rhythm and improvisation in life. The spirit of swing is everywhere and it is crazy, it’s ZAZOO!

In its first number, entitled Resistant and Irresistible, you can find a historical vision about the arrival of Jazz in Europe in two phases, from the I World War to Paris in the 30s and the clandestinity of the zazou movement; american icons, with the huge figure of the dancer Frankie Manning and his rediscovery in Europe in the 80s; an interview with the hot jazz band Dizzy Birds, of various origins but based in Berlin and immersed in the spirit of New Orleans; a reportage with declarations about the debate around swing dance and gender roles; a portrait or human profile of manouche (gipsy jazz) artists and bands around the globe; a literary piece of free writing around the improvisation in art, or the art of improvisation; and even a playlist to accompany the lecture of the magazine or any other activity in which the protagonist is the tempo: fast, slow, or your own, but always with the aim of sharing it.