By Te­nille Clarke

The lush, rolling hills and emer­ald At­lantic wa­ters of the Na­ture Isle em­braced mu­sic lovers from Oc­to­ber 24 to 26, as the World Cre­ole Mu­sic Fes­ti­val (WCMF) marked its 25th an­niver­sary un­der the ban­ner: “Glob­al Echoes of the Na­ture Is­land: Cel­e­brat­ing 25 Years of Cre­ole Mu­sic, Mag­ic and Mem­o­ries.” Held at the Wind­sor Park Sports Sta­di­um in Roseau, the event drew thou­sands of fans, re­gion­al stars, and a pal­pa­ble sense of Caribbean pride and uni­ty.

On Sat­ur­day night, the spot­light turned to Kes The Band from T&T. Cel­e­brat­ing two decades in mu­sic, the beloved group brought their high-en­er­gy so­ca to the is­land’s biggest stage, blend­ing Car­ni­val-road thrills that have made them in­ter­na­tion­al, Gram­my-con­sid­ered favourites.

Though part of a packed line-up, their set stood out for bridg­ing gen­er­a­tions — younger fans danced along­side those who have fol­lowed the band from the ear­ly days. With hits like “Peo­ple”, “Hel­lo”, and “Stage Gone Bad”, Kes The Band un­der­scored how the WCMF has be­come a re­gion­al hub where T&T’s so­ca lives har­mo­nious­ly along­side Do­mini­ca’s Cre­ole sounds.

If the head­lin­ing stars drew the mass­es, it was Do­mini­can-born Asa Ban­tan, known as the “Bouy­on Boss,” who de­liv­ered the fes­ti­val’s most emo­tion­al­ly charged mo­ment. Bouy­on, a genre born in Do­mini­ca, blends in­dige­nous rhythms like jing-ping and lapo kab­wit with elec­tron­ic, so­ca, and dance­hall in­flu­ences.

Af­ter 12 hours of non-stop mu­sic, Ban­tan took the stage at day­break — his sig­na­ture WCMF move, where rev­el­ry and sun­rise merge. His dra­mat­ic en­trance as “Asa The As­tro­naut,” de­scend­ing from the sky via a crane to plant the Do­mini­ca na­tion­al flag, elec­tri­fied the crowd. Sun­light col­lid­ed with sprays of bot­tled wa­ter as the au­di­ence cheered, set­ting the tone for the week­end. Ear­li­er, fans had al­so en­joyed his lat­est sin­gle, “Bat­ty Bub­ble”, per­formed with Ja­maican dance­hall leg­end Spice.

Ban­tan’s per­for­mance en­sured bouy­on was not rel­e­gat­ed to a niche slot but stood proud­ly among so­ca, dance­hall, and zouk — a vi­tal heart­beat of the Caribbean mu­si­cal mo­sa­ic.

The fes­ti­val’s fi­nal night fea­tured the leg­endary Kas­sav from Guade­loupe and Mar­tinique. Their tight grooves and Cre­ole lyri­cism helped de­fine the zouk move­ment across the Fran­coph­o­ne Caribbean. Thou­sands of vis­i­tors from Mar­tinique and Guade­loupe at­tend­ed, and Kas­sav’s per­for­mance re­mind­ed every­one that “Cre­ole mu­sic” is a shared lan­guage be­yond the Eng­lish-speak­ing Caribbean — and that WCMF bridges an­glo­phone and fran­coph­o­ne rhythms. The crowd’s ap­plause af­firmed Kas­sav’s en­dur­ing in­flu­ence on Caribbean mu­sic in 2025.

Ja­maican icon Vy­bz Kar­tel, dubbed the “King of Dance­hall,” elec­tri­fied Sat­ur­day’s ros­ter. His ar­rival, shroud­ed in some mys­tery, height­ened an­tic­i­pa­tion. Kar­tel — born Adid­ja Az­im Palmer — per­formed hits like “Clarks”, “Sum­mer Ti­ime”, “Fever”, and wel­comed Spice for a spe­cial col­lab­o­ra­tion. His emo­tion­al ren­di­tion of “God Is The Great­est” re­in­forced why “The Teacha” re­mains an im­por­tant cul­tur­al fig­ure across the Caribbean mu­sic scene.

The 2025 WCMF brought to­geth­er three nights of mu­sic, cul­ture, and com­mu­ni­ty, show­ing that the Caribbean’s di­verse mu­si­cal voic­es can share one stage. From young troupes mouthing the lat­est so­ca hooks to old­er fans hum­ming leg­endary zouk re­frains, from Do­mini­can bouy­on en­thu­si­asts to vis­it­ing tourists swept up in the spec­ta­cle — the fes­ti­val vibe was un­mis­tak­ably in­ter­gen­er­a­tional and pan-Caribbean.

Be­yond tens of thou­sands of at­ten­dees, WCMF high­lights Do­mini­ca’s role not just as the “Na­ture Isle” but as a transna­tion­al bea­con of Caribbean cul­ture.

As clos­ing fire­works fad­ed on Oc­to­ber 26, the mes­sage was clear: WCMF is both a cel­e­bra­tion of what has been and a promise of what comes next. Icons like Kas­sav re­newed the French Caribbean con­nec­tion; So­ca heavy­weights Kes The Band brought their full dri­ve; dance­hall leg­ends Vy­bz Kar­tel and Spice de­liv­ered thrilling per­for­mances; and Asa Ban­tan en­sured the home base shone at dawn.

For the Caribbean young and young-at-heart, this was a week­end where is­lands con­verged, mu­sic spoke across bor­ders, and the lines be­tween lo­cal and re­gion­al blurred in­to one danc­ing crowd. Roseau, Do­mini­ca wit­nessed the rhythms, the Na­ture Isle de­liv­ered the mag­ic, and the Caribbean — in all its colour, com­mu­ni­ty, and ca­dence — stood unit­ed.