World Creole Music Festival


World Creole Music Festival

Last weekend of OctoberCreole music, language, and culture are sources of national pride for the island nation of Dominica, as they are for peoples throughout the Caribbean, Latin America, and other regions where Creoles have settled. The World Creole Music Festival is a three-day event showcasing this distinctive music and culture. It is held in Dominica's capital city, Roseau, and other cities on the island during the country's independence celebrations. The festival has become a major tourist event, drawing thousands of visitors from the French Caribbean, North America, and other regions of the world.
The festival has been a great financial boon for Dominica's tourism industry. According to the coordinating organization, the Dominica Festivals Commission, the inaugural festival in 1997 drew 10,000 "paid patrons." By 1999 this total more than doubled. The Commission has also established what it describes as "fringe activities"—Creole in the Park and Zouk on the River—as part of a strategy to stimulate development of local Dominican business communities.
The festival's performers, who are Dominican or travel to the island from other Creole-speaking locations, perhaps have benefited the most from the exposure. The festival has brought attention to a diverse set of musical genres that are directly or indirectly associated with Creole music, including cadence-lypso, zouk, soukous, bouyon, and zydeco.
CONTACTS:
Dominica Festivals Commission
Valley Rd.
Roseau Dominica
www.festivalmusiquecreoledominique.com