Make plans to attend this year’s Zouk in the Park. This free event will be held at Mount Rainier Nature & Recreation Center in Prince Georges County, MD on Sunday, September 27th from 3p.m. to 7p.m. The nature center has live animals, educational displays, a game room, and an outdoor playground. The facility is located near West Hyattsville Metro at 4701 31st Place, Mount Rainier, MD 20712.

Festival goers will experience the infectious beats of zouk music, which originated in the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. Today it is very popular in Haiti, St. Barts, French Guiana, St. Martin, St. Lucia, and Dominica.

Zouk is also popular in Belgium, France, Quebec, Canada and French speaking countries in Africa (such as Guinea, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Benin, Niger, Congo, Cameroon, Togo). Cape Verde & Angola enjoy Kizomba & Cabo-Zouk, typically sang in Portuguese. In South America, Lambada zouk is gaining increasing popularity in Brazil.

Salsa fans will love zouk! Everyone is welcome to have a great time while listening and dancing to the rhythmic tunes of Francophone music at Zouk in the Park. At this African and Caribbean French music event, attendees will be treated to an amazing line up of classic and contemporary tunes and beats. A diverse playlist of music will be played to showcase this very fun and melodic style of music. Among the various genres set for the ultimate francophone music event are Soukous, N’Dombolo, Makossa, Kompa, Cadance, Coupe Decale, Mbalax, Afropop and even Kizomba, Semba, Tarraxinha and Cabo-Zouk.

Like ZoukFest, at “Zouk in the Park” there will be activities for kids on the playground, food for purchase, and arts & craft vendors. Bring the family, lawn blankets, and picnic chairs.

LuvZouk encourages your support of Dominica in the aftermath of tropical storm Erika. About 15 inches of rain fell on the mountainous Caribbean island of about 70,000 people on August 27th. Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said in a televised address, “damage inflicted by the storm set the island back 20 years.” “The extent of the devastation is monumental. It is far worse than expected,” he said, adding that hundreds of homes, bridges, and roads have been destroyed. “We have, in essence, to rebuild Dominica.” Airports were left inoperable, and some communities remained isolated by flooding and landslides.

Donations will be collected at the event to aid in Rebuild Dominica’s relief efforts.

For more information about “Zouk in the Park” and other great zouk music events in the greater Washington DC area, visit www.LuvZouk.com.