Cadence legend Gordon Henderson said he is not in support of having the name World Creole Music Festival (WCMF) changed. His comment came during an interview with the media shortly after his spectacular performance on night two of the 23rd edition of the WCMF held at the Windsor Park Sports Stadium.
In recent times there’s been some debate on having the name changed to something more modern to reflect the festival as it is right now.
“Changing the name of the World Creole Music Festival, I would like to respond with a question. What is the benefit of that? Will it attract more people?” he asked. “Because the World Creole Music Festival was meant, and still meant, to attract tourists to Dominica. That was one of the objectives, to promote Dominican music and musician artistes and I still believe that these two objectives are kept.”
Henderson continued, “So whether you want to call it World Bouyon…or whatever I don’t think it’s going to change anything in the objective of the festival.”
He explained further that there are a lot of things that change in different societies.
He said when the WCMF was started, creole music was defined as ‘Franco Creole’ meaning, Creole with French roots.
“I think the debate on…the name WCMF should be a level-headed one and if it’s really necessary to change the name, go ahead, but I don’t see the point,” Henderson remarked.
Henderson, one of the founders of Exile One and creators of cadence-lypso music, went on to state that Cadence-lypso hasn’t changed over the years.
“It may not be a bad thing, but what Cadence-lypso did was influence other genres. It influenced Soca. The very first Soca was partially in Creole,” he explained. “If you listen to zouk you will notice that zouk is an offspring of cadence.”
While making a societal observation, he remarked that nowhere in the world do you see parents and children appreciating the same form of music.
Meanwhile, Nigerian Singer and Songwriter ‘Joe Boy’, who made his debut appearance on night two of the WCMF, said being in Dominica has been a “beautiful experience”.
He described his performance as amazing regardless of the rain.
Joe Boy thanked Dominicans and visitors alike who braved the weather and turned out in large numbers to support him.
“I really appreciate that and I could never take that for granted and I would definitely want to come back again,” he noted.
Joe Boy said he will continue to push the message and sound of Afro Beats.
Bouyon Boss, Asa Bantan, who brought the curtains down on night two of the festival, made a grand entrance at the show where he arrived in style in a limousine, flanked by his very own secret service agents.
Other performances came from the Zouk All Starz, Haitian Kompa Band Tabou Combo and Jamaican Reggae Singer Beres Hammond, known particularly for his lover’s rock. He was presented with a token of appreciation by Director of Tourism, Colin Piper during his unforgettable performance.
It should just be named the Dominica Music Festival because it is not so “creole” anymore
@CSM, we are a proud creole people. Never you forget that!!. America has it’s “World Series ” in Baseball. Is America alone the world? Leave the name WCMF as it is. It’s not just the name but the quality of product that’s presented. Chew on that.
No name change required. What is required is the maintenance of the festival reflecting francophone artist. Let’s be real, whatever happened to bands/groups from Africa, Guadaloupe, Martinique, Louisiana, Haiti, Reunion to name a few. The idea is being lost; return to the original idea. After all, are any of our artist invited to Reggae Sunplash or a Socafest? It’s about being true to something we ought to be proud of.
That is a joke right, unbelievable and absurd to think of changing the festival name, and to what. Will it benefit the festival with much more arrivals, is it going to affect the economy, such a ridiculous idea.
Totally agree with your view @Zandoli. I just wish to add that these at the top who succeeds the pioneers and developers of the event must take some time to understand the original aim and objectives of the festival.
Hold on People. All will be explained in my upcoming book.
@Mc Carth MARIE, why do we have to wait to buy your book to get an explanation as to why some knucklehead is hell bent on changing the name of WCMF. Was there some poll undertaken or similar canvassing of the citizens to determine whether they would prefer a change in name?. Zor pas feb. If you want to sell copies of your book, then all well and good, but don’t insult us. Leave the damn name as it is.
…and you want all of us to buy that? Sell it to your friends from the Cabal.
We love and respect Gordon. I wonder why didn’t you advise Gordon to play it safe and use tested and proven musicians “Freddie & Friends” instead of that fiasco with musicians that didn’t seem familiar with Cadence, and as a result played all songs at the tempo of Rosita. Wha, didn’t you see Beres?
Some in authority are very averse to remaining things with long names but on close examination “ayene pas lah”. It inflates their ego and that of their superiors but there isn’t much else. Take the Ministry of Agriculture, fishery and forestry of old which has been renamed to Ministry of blue and green economy. The net result is the agriculture sector has been neglected and there aren’t as many youth taking part today. It’s mostly Haitians who are keeping the sector afloat. It’s only now after 20 years of neglect, whilst focusing on the “next level”, hotel construction at the expense of agriculture and the lackluster results of the resulting hotels, that now the cabal is backtracking to talking about agriculture. They could have walked and chewed gum, meaning two things could have been done at the same time, focusing on agriculture sector and hotel sector. The change of name hasn’t brought great results. Leave the name WCMF. Alyou too bragadocious.
Those who think we should rename the WCMF are in effect saying that the brand has no value. Generally, companies place a lot of value on their brands and trademarks. They spend a lot of money to protect and defend it.
On occasion some companies have rebranded either the product name or the name of the companies if they think there is a net benefit by doing so, particularly if there is some negative connotation or connection to that name.
All this to say, unless there is a net benefit to the name change, we should leave well enough alone.
why try and mend something if it is NOT BROKEN
wcmf is the best name ever .it is the only creole festival of its kind .its not broken so why fix it .name the vip tent after a famous musical Dominican .make the nights after a kalinargo. But after 25 yrs of making the brand king ,you want to call it sometime 🤔 that nobody has heard of ? really? only in Dominica 🇩🇲 lol. you got the best name keep it.