Dominica to honour Roy Cape By JOAN RAMPERSAD Thursday, October 1 2009
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Roy Cape...
VETERAN bandleader and ace saxophone player, Roy Cape, will be honoured at the 13th Annual World Creole Music Festival later this month.
Val Cuffy, events director of the Dominica Festivals, who was here in Trinidad on Monday, said the Festival is the centre for musical expressions and this year there will be Kompas, Cadence and Bouyon music, Kassav with zouk, Morgan Heritage for reggae and Roy Cape to deliver the soca/calypso component of the Festival.
Cuffy said: “We will be celebrating Roy Cape by honouring him for his contribution to Caribbean music for the last decades, as well as Dominica’s own Swinging Stars. This big band concept of music is falling by the wayside to keyboard and drum machines, so we need to idolise and really keep these guys playing so we are looking forward to welcoming Roy and his band to the Festival.”
Cape performed in Dominica in 1969 with the Sparrow Troubadours and in 1988 with Black Stalin, but this will be his first time performing at the Festival. Asked how he felt about the honour, Cape said: “I was given a National Award in 1994 (Hummingbird gold) but that is in Trinidad. This honour is coming from another island, Dominica, and it is very special when you have another country in the Caribbean paying tribute to you.” The Festival takes place over three nights, October 30 to November 1, from 7 pm until 6 am the next day.
“It will be three nights of high intense action from all the artistes and people can come in and enjoy our creole foods, our creole music and lifestyle,” said Cuffy. In the build-up to the main event, there is the Digicel Red River Jamboree to be held on October 24, at Layou Park, Roseau. It is an all-inclusive family event with local music and food. There is also Lime Creole In The Park on October 26 at the Botanical Gardens and Creole Day/National Parade on October 30, in Roseau.
Elizabeth Wayland, Head of Marketing of the Discover Dominica Authority, who was also in Trinidad said: “One of the things that we want to do is merge or link our cultural aspect with tourism in Dominica. That is why we look at the Creole Festival as one of the key products we can put out there both regionally and internationally for Dominica, where we could welcome and embrace other cultures and bring other people into our island where we could share our culture with them and our heritage with them.”
She stated some 400 Trinidadians attended the Festival last year, they are hoping to attract even more TT visitors this year. The Festival gets going with the Swinging Stars, one of Dominica’s leading calypso bands, Allan Cave backed up by ZIN, La Perfecta with salsa and meringue and Music For Real (MFR).
The following night the Icons of Zouk will be in the spotlight, along with Dominican band Caribbean Vibes, DLUX Mizik, Sweet Mickey (Michel Martelly), Morgan Heritage and Triple Kay International Band.
The final show will feature the Cadence Icons, Winward Caribbean Kulture (WCK), Michele Henderson, Maxi Priest, the Nature Boyz Band, Roy Cape All Stars and soca stars Denise Belfon, KMC, Iwer George, Kurt Allen and his daughter Chocolate and the Soca Monarch of Dominica Daddy Chess.
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