Ne-Yo, Machel Montano, and Capleton will take the stage in Roseau, but Midnight Groovers, Asa Bantan, and Shelly & The Signal Band will also be there. The 2026 World Creole Music Festival poses a simple question for Dominica: What remains of our Creole identity when the festival goes global?
From October 23 to 25, 2026, Windsor Park Stadium in Roseau will host three nights of music. The official lineup features forty acts. The theme of this year’s festival is “Pulsating Rhythms.” But the event is more than just a list of names. Over the course of three nights, it brings together artists from abroad with those native to the island. Here is the program night by night, followed by what this lineup reveals.
The complete lineup for the 2026 World Creole Music Festival
Friday, October 23
Jamaican artist Capleton will kick things off. He’ll be joined by his compatriot Skillibeng, the Haitian group Klass, Maurane Voyer, TK International, Midnight Groovers, Pudaz, Ridge, the duo DJ MJ & MV on the Keys, ColtonT, and Ezra D’ Fun Machine. Eleven acts will open the festival.
Saturday, October 24
This is the biggest lineup of the festival, with seventeen acts. American R&B singer Ne-Yo will headline the show. He’ll be joined by Alkaline, Tabou Combo, Asa Bantan, V’GHN, Trilla G, Full Blown, Extasy Band, Reo, Edday, DYP, Imran Nerdy, Sedale, Shemmy J, Tally Boy, Hollywood HP, and Andrew. Dancehall, kompa, bouyon, and R&B will all take the stage on the same night.
Sunday, October 25
Machel Montano, a soca icon from Trinidad and Tobago, will close out the festival. He will share the stage with South African DJ Uncle Waffles, Fridayy, Maxi Priest, Congolese guitarist Diblo Dibala, Les Aiglons, Jean Marc Ferdinand, Shelly & The Signal Band, Gwada G, Unstoppable Shax, Nice, and DJ Taffy. Twelve acts will round out the final night.
A new genre has made its way into the lineup. Amapiano, a genre that originated in South Africa, joins bouyon, soca, dancehall, reggae, cadence-lypso, kompa, and soukous. The festival is further expanding its musical repertoire. Musicians from Dominica will perform on each of the three evenings. It’s a simple detail, but it speaks volumes about the place the island reserves for itself at home.
1997: A Festival Celebrating Independence
The 2026 World Creole Music Festival continues a journey that began in October 1997. The festival originally had a specific purpose: to complement Dominica’s Independence Day celebrations. Now approaching its 30th anniversary, it is held each year as part of Creole Heritage Month.
Marva Williams, executive director of the Discover Dominica Authority, sums up the festival’s ambition. For nearly three decades, she says, the festival has provided “a distinctly Dominican platform where our music meets the sounds of the Caribbean and the world.” The statement captures the balance the festival seeks to achieve. The festival opens its doors to the outside world without ever leaving the island.
This trend is nothing new. Our coverage of the 2022 edition already featured Shenseea, Sizzla, Burna Boy, and Jocelyne Béroard, lead singer of Kassav’. Our coverage of the 2024 edition mentioned Damian and Stephen Marley, WizKid, and Kassav’. These choices have already sparked a debate about the place of non-Creole music. Ne-Yo is therefore continuing a tradition rather than breaking with it, but the question remains.
Cadence-lypso and bouyon: what Dominica invented
Bouyon isa genre that originated in Roseau in the late 1980s. It blends jing ping, cadence-lypso, and traditional dances such as bèlè and quadrille. It has a fast tempo and is driven by drums, bass, and chanted vocals. Groups such as Windward Caribbean Kulture, Roots, Stems and Branches, and First Serenade laid the groundwork for the genre. Asa Bantan, performing on Saturday, is among the acts that have brought it to prominence beyond the island.
The cadence-lypso has a more surprising history. It originated in the early 1970s in Guadeloupe. Gordon Henderson, a singer from Dominica who had been living there since 1969, brought together musicians from his home island to form Exile One. They blended Haitian cadence with calypso. The genre then spread to Dominica, Martinique, and Haiti.
This intertwined history is featured on the poster for the 2026 World Creole Music Festival. Les Aiglons, a Guadeloupean group formed in 1970 and associated with the “cadence” era, will perform on Sunday. Creole has never had clear-cut boundaries. It flows between the islands, and Dominica has retained a part of it.
Several local artists return from one edition to the next. Asa Bantan, Signal Band, Midnight Groovers, and First Serenade had already performed in 2022. Asa Bantan, TK International, and Extasy Band performed again in 2024. In 2026, Midnight Groovers and TK International will perform on Friday, Extasy Band and Asa Bantan on Saturday, and Shelly & The Signal Band on Sunday. This loyalty gives the festival a sense of continuity, even amid headliners from Kingston, Port-of-Spain, or Kinshasa.
Tabou Combo and Diblo Dibala, two guests who talk about Creole
Tabou Combo was formed in 1968 in Pétion-Ville, near Port-au-Prince. It is one of the bands that helped bring Haitian kompa to audiences outside Haiti. Diblo Dibala, for his part, founded Loketo in the 1980s and then Matchatcha in 1990. He performs Congolese soukous, a guitar-based style of music that is well known to Creole audiences.
The 2026 World Creole Music Festival brings them together without blurring their identities. Each territory retains its own rhythm, and Dominica retains its own. Jamaica will have a strong showing, with Capleton, Skillibeng, and Alkaline—three big names in reggae and dancehall. Haiti will be represented by two groups, Klass and Tabou Combo. Soca will be represented by Machel Montano, and Guadeloupe by Les Aiglons.
Creole, a week later
According to the official schedule for the 48th anniversary of independence, Jounen Kwéyòl is on Friday, October 30, featuring a parade in traditional dress. International Creole Day, meanwhile, falls on the 28th. The music festival therefore takes place one week before the big day celebrating the language, traditional dress, and cuisine.
Creole Heritage Month isn’t just about the stadium. Creole Fridays take place throughout October on the 2nd, 9th, 16th, and 23rd. Heritage Day is held on the 18th in Paix Bouche. On the 20th and 21st, two pageants—Madam Wob Dwiyet and Miss Wob Dwiyet—will showcase the wob dwiyet, the island’s traditional dress. The 2026 World Creole Music Festival is just one of many highlights.
In Saint Lucia, a neighboring country with a shared Creole heritage, Jounen Kwéyòl is celebrated on October 25 in three host villages. Our article on Mwa éwitaj Kwéyòl 2025 explores this tradition. In Dominica, the stage at Windsor Park will be empty starting on the 26th. On the 30th, the island’s streets and villages will take the floor—in Kwéyòl. Who will speak that day, and in what language will the children respond?
Photo credits: © Dominica Festivals (official poster, cover photo) ·
FAQ
The 2026 World Creole Music Festival will take place from Friday, October 23, to Sunday, October 25, 2026, at Windsor Park Stadium in Roseau, the capital of Dominica. It is held during Creole Heritage Month and Independence Day celebrations. Tickets can be purchased on the official website, dominicafestivals.com.
Capleton on Friday, Ne-Yo on Saturday, and Machel Montano on Sunday are among the headliners on the lineup. Dominican artists such as Midnight Groovers, TK International, Asa Bantan, Extasy Band, and Shelly & The Signal Band round out the lineup.
The World Creole Music Festival is a three-night music festival that began in 1997. Jounen Kwéyòl is a day celebrating the Creole language, traditional dress, and cuisine, scheduled to take place in Dominica on October 30, 2026.
