Marius Cultier - Ouelele Souskai

Marius Cultier - Ouelele Souskai returns to vinyl in an officially licensed edition celebrating the distinctive work of the Martinique musician, composer and bandleader. Born in Fort-de-France in 1942, Cultier was recognised as a musical prodigy from childhood and later developed a highly individual style rooted in his Caribbean home while drawing on jazz and funk.

By the mid-1970s, Cultier had shaped a sound marked by bubbling and stabbing synthesizer lines, electric piano, vibraphone, rhythmic drive and melodic flourishes. Ouelele Souskai is regarded as a key record in that development, combining jazz and funk vocabulary with a specifically Martinican musical identity.

Cultier handles piano, electric piano, vibraphone, synthesizer, bass and vocals and is credited as leader, writer, composer, arranger and producer. He is joined by Jackie Bernard on bass, Denis Dantin on drums, congas and vocals, and Giselle Cultier and Ralph Thamar on effects, percussion and vocals.

The reissue is presented with original artwork in a hand-made two-part tip-on sleeve on vintage cardboard. It includes liner notes by Toni Higgins and a 30 x 30 cm picture printed on 300g Gmund Color 54 paper, using acid-free paper and food-based inks.