Friday 30th October 2009

Swinging Stars One of Dominica’s leading bands, The Swinging Stars were early popular band formed in 1959 in the Virgin Lane. They were originally known as the Swinging Teens and changed their name in 1961. Their first major show was at the 1960 Calypso Competition at carnival and they continued to gain fans across the Caribbean in the early 60s. They recorded in Barbados in 1967, releasing’ Sparrow Party’ backed by Tom Cat Mambo. They have continued performing and recording to the present, and have released at least eleven albums. Swinging Stars have continued to back-up the Calypsonians adding much more flavor to their already remarkable lyrics. 

 

 

Allan Cave backed up by ZIN is by far the most popular Haitian male singer. in 1989 he joined the Group zin formed By Alex Abellard, Eddie St Vil. Talented and blessed with a great vocal, he took the Haitian music (new generation) to a further level with the album hit (O PA) that is still today very popular. He has many successful personal albums as well. He owes his musical inspiration to Haiti”s best and greatest band ZEKLE. 





 

The Or QuestaLa Perfecta is made up of 12 musicians dedicated to the tropical sounds of Salsa and meringues music. Since April of 1990, the band has been very actively involved in the Latin Music scene both locally and nationally. La Perfecta's number one goal is to touch the hearts of everyone who in one way or another come in contact with them. During their performances every band member gives 110% of their talent in order to provide the audience with a night of great entertainment. One cannot help but agree that La Perfecta’s career has been nothing short of illustrious. They are complete innovators in their field, possessing a never-ending hunger for improvement and creative advancement to go along with their enormous fan base.  

 

The story of Kassav(the name comes from cassava, which is a mixture of manioc paste and coconut) began in 1979 when Pierre-Edouard Décimus, a member of a dance orchestra since the sixties, decided to revamp and modernise the music he had always played along with Freddy Marshall, another musician from the Antilles. They adored popular carnival music, and so Decimus tried to adapt it to modern musical techniques. They also recruited Jacob Desvarieux, an established studio guitarist, and Georges Décimus, Pierre-Edouard's brother, a bass guitarist, together with other studio musicians. The group built up as it went along. The first formation went in to the recording studios in the November and brought out the first Kassav album, entitled "Love and Ka Dance", a couple of months later. A new musical genre had been conceived: zouk. New sounds, particularly bass, keyboards and brass wind instruments, gave this music a modern, festive air, both lively and foot-tapping. This was when Kassav began writing the history of zouk.. 

 

 

Music For Real - MFR was started by Leonel "Doctor" Edwards in 2004 and came on the scene with some real music but the band officially began its journey to success from February 2006. "We just here to play some real music".Since being on the scene, MFR has played alongside WCK, Triple Kay just to name a few. MFR has performed at Creole in the Park and Carnival as well as alot of different venues on the island of Domicia. (M=MUSIC F =FOR R =REAL). 

 

 

Saturday 31st October 2009

Caribbean Vibes is a group of musically talented and dedicated young men from the nature island of the world. We are a group who has definitely tried to be unique in our style of music here on island. While we love and appreciate all genres of music, we have chosen to devote our energy on Reggae music, as we think it is a softer and maybe an easier understood style by all persons. Our Vision is to educate ourselves and others with the music that we produce and play and at the same instance, attempt to prove to others that here, on the nature isle, talent and musical opportunities, flow just as much as our 365 rivers. The band has four founding members namely, Devine, the lead singer, Drummer D, the drummer, Guitarist/ vocalist, Dr Growth the bass player, Dmastermind. Later on in our formation of becoming a complete band, we added lead guitarist Katt, lead keyboardist Chapah. Together this formidable team has made an impact in the musical industry here on island and as a result, won an awarded for the fastest uprising band of 2009 at the National Youth Council’s award ceremony. Our long-term future goal is to continue making a positive impact on the listeners of our music in our nation and abroad as well as assisting in taking our music industry to the heights of that of Jamaica’s, Trinidad and the rest of the world. 

 

 

DLUX Mizik is a Haitian Kompa band residing in Chicago. D-Lux was founded in January 2005 by Daniel Smith (drummer). D-Lux has a total of nine musicians who have been playing together for quite sometime. The group has released their first two (2) singles demo album playing on this web page last November and is currently working toward a full album expected to be released soon. D-Lux added a new flavor to the Kompa Music and will continue to do so. 

 

 

The Icons of Zouk includes Richard Berman, Princess Lover and Jean Marie Regal. They are officially French artistes who have been singing Zouk for quite sometime.

 

 

Sweet Mickey, real name Michel Martelly has been heralded as a pioneer of a unique brand of kompas music, a style of Haitian dance music sung in Haitian Creole language. Originally, compas was a fusion of Afrolatin jazz and African/Haitian folkoric rhythms, and was traditionally played by large bands composed of numerous group members and instrument sections. Martelly, a keyboardist and the self-proclaimed "bad boy" President of Compas, popularized a nouvelle generation, or "new generation" style, of smaller bands with few members that relied predominantly on synthesizers and electronic instruments to reproduce a fuller sound. Martelly's and Sweet Micky's live performances and recordings are sometimes laced with obscenities and humorous sociopolitical commentary by Martelly. Outlandish and outspoken, Martelly has been known to drink publicly while performing in wigs, costumes, diapers, and Scottish kilts, and occasionally removed his own attire while performing. While arguably the most recognized and applauded musician and public personality in Haiti, Martelly's performance style has sometimes ignited controversy throughout the Haitian diaspora when he "kaka shwaaaaay."  

 

Morgan Heritage, The legacy of reggae vocalist Denroy Morgan has been passed on to his sons, who have performed as Morgan Heritage since 1991. While their mellow, RB-influenced, vocals and Rastafarian lyrics have been compared to Garnett Silk, the group has continued to pave their own musical path. Their many hits include "Let's make Up," "People Are Fighting," "Set Yourself Free," "Mama and Papa," and "Protect Us Jah." According to keyboardist/vocalist Una Morgan, "music is a universal thing. Our message is that life is a miracle and a gift from God and, what we do with our lives is our gift in return. We want to inspire people to value life." Morgan Heritage was reduced to a five-piece group. In addition to Una Morgan (born 1973), the group included keyboardist/vocalists Peter Morgan (born 1977) and Roy "Gramps" Morgan (born 1975), rhythm guitarist Nakamyah "Lukes" Morgan (born 1977) and percussionist Memmalatel "Mr. Mojo" Morgan (born 1981).

 

Triple Kay International Band better known as “The Little Band” started in the small village of Laudat on the exotic island of Dominica. The band originally started with three young guys by the name of Kendal, Keenan and Kurt. They have been promoting Bouyon Music and Dominica in Miami, Europe, New York and other parts of the world. The band continued to work hard through out the years and was named band of the year in 2004 and again in 2005. The band released its mega album “Sewo” doing justice to the Sun Newspaper “band of the year award “. Triple Kay continues to work hard to please fans and supporters who have shown them so much love and appreciation over the years. .  

Sunday 1st November 2009

 

Winward Caribbean Kulture - WCK was formed in 1988 by the group of versatile, dynamic and highly creative young Dominican musicians. This group of young men originally known as the ‘Bouyon Giants’ released a number of albums including “KANNIBAL” which was released in 1992 and in 1995, the released it’s most successful album, ‘TOU CHO TOU FLAM’, which generated seven smashed hits, out of these being “Balance Batty”. ‘Original Hold Dem’, is another huge hit of the WCK band that has taken Dominica as well as the rest of the Caribbean. This hits just kept on coming and the WCK music is a constant demand by partygoers and music lovers all over the globe.

 

The Cadence Icons includes Lynford John, Kervin Serant, Elisha Benoit, and Fred Nicholas.  

 

Michele Henderson Whether it’s in English, French or Creole; Zouk, R&B, Jazz, Reggae or Retro Soul, the accolades are consistent. Michele Henderson is fast becoming one of the Caribbean’s premier female vocal talents. No stranger to the entertainment scene in her native land of Dominica. Michele’s status as an all rounder writer, flouriest and vocalists growing by leaps and bounds throughout the Caribbean and further a field with every performance. She has been featured in Caribbean Magazines such as (She, Home Companion, Maco, Caribbean Beat and The Beat) on the regional television programs such as Caribscope and E-Zone and in the international media including BET Jazz.  

Maxi Priestis the second youngest of nine children. His parents moved to England from Jamaica to provide more opportunity for their family and he grew up listening to gospel, reggae, R&B, and pop music. His music is sometimes closer to R&B, and pop, than to reggae music itself. His uncle, Jacob Miller, a reggae icon, was the frontman in the popular reggae group Inner Circle and his son, Ryan Elliott, was a member of the boy band Ultimate Kaos.Priest's musical career began with him singing on the South London reggae soundsystem Saxon Studio International, after which some independent single releases followed. His first major album was the self-titled Maxi Priest (1988) which, along with his cover of Cat Stevens' "Wild World", established him as one of the top British reggae singers.

Nature Boyz Band In 2000, Bryson & Frampton threw out the idea of forming a band. They trashed out the idea and identified a few persons including some past members of a former band and formed what we now know as the Nature Boyz Band. In 2004, they launched their first album ‘Rhythm Family’, which gave them much needed exposure. Subsequently, Nature Boyz has been asked to play at several national events like the C&W Creole in the Park, Bouyon Fest, Soca Monarch, Creole in the North and East, Portsmouth Carnival and have also accompanied the Paix Bouche Cultural Group to the island of St. Maarten. Recently, they played with Cool Session Brass at the Cove. At present the Band is made up of nine members Bryson, Frampton, Armond, Kendron, Dion, Wallace, Jeffrey, Asher and Kimara Hurtault