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The World Creole Music Festival (WCMF) is an annual three-day music festival hosted on the island of Dominica during the final weekend in October, as a conclusion to Creole heritage month.
WCMF is a noted festival of Dominica, and it provides entertainment dedicated to the advancement of global Creole culture and music.
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The World Creole Music Festival was launched to promote Dominican tourism and create a platform for indigenous Dominican music.
The festival begins on the last Friday in October each year. Entertainers from the Caribbean, French Antilles, Africa and North America attend.
The festival began in 1997 during International Creole Month October to bolster lagging tourist arrivals during the island's Independence celebrations which culminate on November 3. Dubbed "The Festival That Never Sleeps" because of its evening kickoffs which last into the morning, The World Creole Musical Festival is part of a three-week festival that also features the Cadence-Lypso Competition and Creole In The Park.
The festival has focused on musical genres with roots in various forms of musical fusion from various countries of the Creole-speaking world.
Musical forms played at the festival include Cadence-lypso, Konpa, Zouk, Soukous, Bouyon, Zydeco (from the US state of Louisiana).
The festival is managed by the Dominica Festivals Committee (DFC), formerly headed by Executive Directors Claudine Springer (2016), Natalie Clarke (2012-2014) and Val "Young Bull" Cuffy, who had a decade-long tenure and currently serves as a consultant to the DFC.
Dominica's World Creole Music Festival attracts regional and international media coverage.
The festival is noted for building regional cooperation and network capabilities in tourism, culture, and entertainment while catering to over 10,000 patrons, 100 international and regional media partners and upwards of 20 cultural and musical acts each year.
The World Creole Music Festival returned in 2016 following a one year hiatus in the wake of devastation levied by Tropical Storm Erika.
Under the guidance of then Executive Director Claudine Springer, for the first time in its history, the festival launched live on television across the Caribbean, in the US and via the web portals of the Discover Dominica Authority. The festival blended Caribbean culture with diverse musical styles.
The festival featured a modern aesthetic and a smaller and refocused campaign, designed to attract a broader cross section of the Caribbean market.
Conducted without an Executive Director following the resignation of Springer, the festival returned with a fresh perspective, and an overhaul to the venue, The former ED's distinctive style easily recognizable in the shows.
Timaya, Midnite Groovers, Kreyol La, Original Bouyon Pioneers, La Grand Mechant Zouk, Popcaan, Triple Kay International, Ophelia, Extasy, Dédé St. Prix, Morgan Heritage, Kes The Band & Mr. Killa, Wyclef Jean, WCK, Breve, T-Micky, Gentleman, Michele Henderson, Asa Bantan and Akon comprised the official lineup of the 19th edition of the World Creole Music Festival, widely lauded as the best hosted to date in Dominica.
The World Creole Music Festival has played host to Creole entertainers including Kassav', Tabou Combo, Exile One, Gramacks/New Generation, WCK, Triple Kay Global, T-Vice, First Serenade, Zouk Machine, Magnum Band, Zin, Taxi Creole, Carimi, Ophelia Marie, Michele Henderson, Tanya St. Val, Sakis, and Francky Vincent.
Soca music is a genre of music defined by Lord Shorty, its inventor, as the "Soul of Calypso", which has influences of African and East Indian rhythms. It was originally spelled "sokah" by its inventor but through an error in a local newspaper when reporting on the new music it was erroneously spelled "soca"; Lord Shorty confirmed the error but chose to leave it that way to avoid confusion. It is a genre of music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the early 1970s and developed into a range of styles during the 1980s and after. Soca was initially developed by Lord Shorty in an effort to revive traditional calypso, the popularity of which had been flagging amongst younger generations in Trinidad due to the rise in popularity of reggae from Jamaica and soul and funk from the United States. Soca is an offshoot of calypso/kaiso, with influences from East Indian rhythms and hooks.
The music of Martinique has a heritage which is intertwined with that of its sister island, Guadeloupe. Despite their small size, the islands have created a large popular music industry, which gained in international renown after the success of zouk music in the later 20th century. Zouk's popularity was particularly intense in France, where the genre became an important symbol of identity for Martinique and Guadeloupe. Zouk's origins are in the folk music of Martinique and Guadeloupe, especially Martinican chouval bwa, and Guadeloupan gwo ka. There's also notable influence of the pan-Caribbean calypso tradition and Haitian kompa.
The music of Guadeloupe encompasses a large popular music industry, which gained in international renown after the success of zouk music in the later 20th century. Zouk's popularity was particularly intense in France, where the genre became an important symbol of identity for Guadeloupe and Martinique. Zouk's origins are in the folk music of Guadeloupe and Martinique, especially Guadeloupan gwo ka and Martinican chouval bwa, and the pan-Caribbean calypso tradition.
The music of Dominica includes a variety of genres including all the popular genres of the world. Popular music is widespread, with a number of native Dominican performers gaining national fame in imported genres such as calypso, reggae, soca, kompa, zouk and rock and roll. Dominica's own popular music industry has created a form called bouyon, which combines elements from several styles and has achieved a wide fanbase in Dominica. Groups include WCK, Native musicians in various forms, such as reggae, kadans (Ophelia Marie, and calypso, have also become stars at home and abroad.
The music of the Lesser Antilles encompasses the music of this chain of small islands making up the eastern and southern portion of the West Indies. Lesser Antillean music is part of the broader category of Caribbean music; much of the folk and popular music is also a part of the Afro-American musical complex, being a mixture of African, European and indigenous American elements. The Lesser Antilles' musical cultures are largely based on the music of African slaves brought by European traders and colonizers. The African musical elements are a hybrid of instruments and styles from numerous West African tribes, while the European slaveholders added their own musics into the mix, as did immigrants from India. In many ways, the Lesser Antilles can be musically divided based on which nation colonized them.
Kassav', also alternatively spelled Kassav, is a French Caribbean band that originated from Guadeloupe in 1979. The band's musical style is rooted in the Guadeloupean gwoka rhythm, as well as the Martinican tibwa and Mendé rhythms. Regarded as one of the most influential bands in 20th-century French West Indies music, Kassav is often credited with pioneering the zouk musical genre. Their musical evolution is a synthesis of cadence-lypso and compas traditions.
The culture of Dominica is formed by the inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Dominica. Dominica is home to a wide range of people. Although it was historically occupied by several native tribes, it was the Taíno and Island Caribs (Kalinago) tribes that remained by the time European settlers reached the island. "Massacre" is a name of a river dedicated to the murders of the native villagers by both French and British settlers, because the river "ran red with blood for days." Each claimed the island and imported slaves from Africa. The remaining Caribs now live on a 3,700-acre (15 km2) Carib Territory on the east coast of the island. They elect their own chief.
Cadence rampa, or simply kadans, is a dance music and modern méringue popularized in the Caribbean by the virtuoso Haitian sax player Webert Sicot in the early 1960s. Cadence rampa was one of the sources of cadence-lypso. Cadence and compas are two names for the same Haitian modern méringue.
Cadence-lypso is a fusion of cadence rampa from Haiti and calypso from Trinidad and Tobago that has also spread to other English speaking countries of the Caribbean. Originated in the 1970s by the Dominican band Exile One, it spread and became popular in the dance clubs around the Creole world and Africa as well as the French Antilles.
Exile One is a cadence musical group founded by Gordon Henderson in the 1970s with musicians invited over from Dominica, to be based in Guadeloupe. The band was influential in the development of Caribbean music. It became famous throughout the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and the Indian Ocean. Exile One opened the way for numerous Cadence-Lypso artists as well as for Zouk.
The WCK Band (Windward Caribbean Kulture) was formed in 1988 in Dominica. The band played a blend of the local Cadence-lypso and traditional Jing ping, Chante mas and lapo kabwit rhythms, which would later be labelled bouyon, a genre which they are credited with creating in the late 1980s.
Ophelia Marie, also known as Ophelia Olivaccé-Marie, is a popular singer of cadence-lypso from Dominica in the 1980s. She is sometimes referred to as "Dominica's Lady of Song", the "First Lady of Creole", and "la grande dame de la musique Antillaise".
Bouyon is a genre of Dominican music that originated in Dominica in the late 1980s. Prominent bouyon groups include Windward Caribbean Kulture (WCK); Roots, Stems and Branches (RSB); and First Serenade.
Jing Ping is a kind of folk music originated on the slave plantations of Dominica, also known colloquially as an accordion band. Dominican folk music, jing ping bands accompany a circle dance called the flirtation, as well as the Dominican quadrille.
As an overseas department of France, Martinique's culture is French and Caribbean. Its former capital, Saint-Pierre, was often referred to as the Paris of the Lesser Antilles. The official language is French, although many Martinicans speak a Creole patois. Based in French, Martinique's Creole also incorporates elements of English, Spanish, Portuguese, and African languages. Originally passed down through oral storytelling traditions, it continues to be used more often in speech than in writing.
Chanté mas and Lapo kabrit is a form of Carnival music of Dominica. It is performed by masquerading partygoers in a two-day parade, with a lead vocalist (chantwèl), who is followed by the responsorial chorus (lavwa), with drummers and dancers dancing backwards in front of the drummer on a tambou lélé. The Carnival has African and French roots and is otherwise known as Mas Dominik, the most original Carnival in the Caribbean.
The following is an alphabetical list of topics related to the nation of Dominica.
Bouyon soca is a fusion-genre of bouyon music originating from Dominica and soca music originating from Trinidad & Tobago and the other English speaking Caribbean islands. Bouyon soca typically blends old bouyon music rhythms from the 90s' and soca music creating a unique style soca sound. The style of music was made more popular to the Caribbean region by the likes of the producer Dada and artists ASA from Dominica with collaborations from Trinidadian and St.Vincent artist such as Skinny Fabulous, Bunji Garlin, Iwer George and Machel Montano. Noticeable hits includes Famalay and Conch Shell. With noticeable Bouyon flavored rhythms and sounds with the essence of Soca tempo and lyrical attributes.
Gramacks was a cadence-lypso group from Dominica.
