Veteran cadence-lypso band Midnight Groovers used the opening night of the 26th World Creole Music Festival in Roseau to make a clear statement: Dominica's sound is not fading, and it is not going anywhere.
Speaking after the group left the stage on Night One, the band's message was unmistakable. The performance, held as part of the festival's opening programme, was presented as a reaffirmation of cadence-lypso as a living part of Dominican culture rather than a style looking back on its past.
The World Creole Music Festival remains one of the principal platforms for kweyol and Creole music in the Commonwealth of Dominica. Each edition draws local performers and audiences alongside visitors from across the Caribbean and the diaspora, and the opening night sets the tone for the days that follow. For a band with a long career behind it, appearing on that stage carries particular weight.
The message from Midnight Groovers speaks to a wider concern within the Creole music community: that younger listeners and new genres may leave traditional rhythms behind. By insisting that the beat is here to stay, the band places its own work in a continuing line of Dominican musical expression, one that the festival is designed to showcase and sustain.
Festival-goers in Roseau heard the group on a night that marked the start of the 26th edition, and the performance was received as a fitting opening to the programme. Further details of the festival's remaining programme and the other artists taking part are available from the organisers.
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