Dominica, or the Commonwealth of Dominica, to use its official name, was once more host to one of the world's most exciting music festivals from October 29 to 31. Now in its 14th year, the Annual World Creole Music Festival–originally scheduled for three nights until hurricane Tomas cancelled the show scheduled for the second night–brought together artistes representing various musical genres, such as zouk, kompas, cadence-lypso, and other indigenous styles from East and West Africa, which are intertwined with other sounds of the Caribbean, namely: reggae, soca, calypso and rhythms. For the nature lover, Dominica is the ideal location. When you add more than an ample dose of the best music in the world, the nature island personifies the word, paradise. Before the start of the musical fare, attendees at the festival were able to take advantage of some of the most natural and untouched sites to be found anywhere in the world.
The island, not to be confused with the Dominican Republic, is situated between Martinique and Guadeloupe in the arc of islands called the Lesser Antilles. It is the youngest island in the Caribbean, where erosion has yet to dull the sharpness of her terrain. A visit to the countryside is breathtaking. One immediately becomes captivated by the rolling hills, secluded coastlines, and virgin forests. For the most daring of travellers, a visit to mountains' peaks, reaching as highs as 5000 feet, would provide an amazing view of energetic rivers running vigorously to the sea.
The landscape is also punctuated by 12 major waterfalls, which exist in harmony with six varieties of tropical forest. Intermingled with this fascinating landscape is some of the most varied fauna to be found in the Caribbean. But visitors were amazed to find out that Dominicans, while cherishing and protecting the serene environment surrounding them, were equally adept at partying.
The music festival provided the required respite for this purpose. Patrons received with tremendous appreciation the performance of one of reggae music's icons, the venerable Luciano, who was part of the Friday night line-up. This evergreen performer had patrons eating out of his hands with such memorable hits as Lord Give Me Strength, Over the Hills, and It's me Again Jah. In keeping with its theme of presenting creole music to this franco-phone influenced island, Les Aiglons, a classic Guadeloupian band of the 70's cadence era, entertained the audience with hit songs like Bidimbol, Mes Illusions, and Le Cerveau. This band from the French Antilles, borrows heavily from popular Haitian music from the 1950s to the early 1980s. If Luciano provided spiritual inspiration and philosophical guidance to his fans, Jah Cure in his own style, infused a touch of romance to the proceedings. He caused the ladies in the audience to call his name with each note that he sang, ever so sweetly.
From the invitation to Call on Me, he went on to entice with other soothing songs such as, Never Find and To Your Arms of Love, which won him critical and popular acclaim. It was not lost on him that he left one of his fans breathless, and decided to quench her thirst by offering her his bottle of water. Such was his effect on the women. The organisers were out to please the different musical tastes and moods of those who journeyed to Dominica, as well as those who called the island their home. They did not disappoint, as Triple Kay, the band known as the Little Band, had the audience going wild with its burst of energy music, and WCK had everyone gyrating to the hot tempo. Like wine which gets better with age, British reggae group, Steel Pulse, lived up to its reputation as a crowd pleaser. The morning after each late night of imbibing sweet world music provided patrons with the opportunity to renew and reinvigorate themselves by taking a plunge into Screw's Sulphur Spa, one of the most famous hot water springs on the island. If you ask any of the locals what to do while you are on the island, a trip to Screw's is likely to be first on the list.
