The Tribune

THE Caribbean Muzik Festival, a popular fixture on The Bahamas music calendar in the 1990s, is being revived and returning to Nassau.

Organisers and promoters of the Festival, which will showcase musicians and bands from around the Caribbean to a local and international audience, are working on arrangements with the Ministry of Tourism, sponsors and partners and expect to announce details of dates, venues, acts and ticket arrangements soon. Soca, calypso, reggae, dancehall, junkanoo, rake ’n scrape, bacchanal and street dancing will all feature in the Festival.

“It’s official – the Caribbean Muzik Festival will be here in Nassau for the next five years,” Michael Tomlinson, the chairman and CEO of Caribbean Muzik Festival, told The Tribune yesterday.

He is keen to see the Festival return to “the cultural gateway to the Caribbean” where it started 20 years ago and to its loyal Bahamian supporters.

The Festival started in Nassau in 1994 and ran for five years, drawing crowds in their thousands over four days and establishing itself as the major music event of the year. The traditional street party on Bay Street attracted locals, tourists and cruise ship passengers. Bahamian artists were on the bill with a number of internationally-known regional bands and dance acts.

Now, after a gap of 15 years, it is being revived and Mr Tomlinson said he has the endorsement of the government and the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), whose flagship event it is, to bring it back to The Bahamas. The Festival is expected to reach a wide audience and the Caribbean diaspora on pay-per-view television; guest appearances by celebrities are also anticipated.

Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe confirmed to The Tribune yesterday that the ministry is in talks with organisers about bringing the Festival back. “We are in discussions and believe that such mega events fit well into new tourism trends,” he said. In a message of endorsement earlier this year the minister offered “assistance with our competence in the area of promotion and facilitating the various phases of the Festival in The Bahamas”. He said the Festival has the potential to unite the Caribbean “and using the creative imagination of our people in the areas of music and dance, nourish the spirits of our people and strengthen the cultural and heritage tourism of the Caribbean”.

An endorsement from the Prime Minister, Perry Christie, welcomed the decision to again stage “this unique and culturally significant event in Nassau” and assured the organisers of the government’s assistance in making it a success. “The Festival will be a welcome addition to the cultural calendar of the world … its staging will serve to deepen our cultural identity and improve our tourism product, making the region a premier destination for cultural and heritage tourism,” the message read.

Desmond Edwards, Director of the Caribbean Muzik Festival, said yesterday he was elated that the event will again be held in Nassau. “I am indeed grateful to the peoples of The Bahamas for their overwhelming support of the Festival in the past and am assured that they will again support this regional cultural event,” he said.

“The Festival is an example of regional co-operation and an expression of our ‘oneness’. The Caribbean Tourism Organisation has again made this their flagship event, for which I am grateful, and more so their confidence in the government and the people of The Bahamas to once again host this regional extravaganza.”

The Festival has not been staged since 1998, and never outside The Bahamas, although Montego Bay, Jamaica, has expressed interest in hosting it in the past. Mr Tomlinson says the Festival aims to bring back “melody and harmony and put dance back in the hall”.