FEATURE
DOMINICA’S BOUYON THERAPY WORDS | DR. VIOLET CUFFY
M
usic has been oft-dubbed therapy for the soul – and new meaning has been brought to that epithet in the Commonwealth of Dominica during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period. Musical Therapy, now a regular Sunday evening showcase, was conceived of and produced by music producer Cornell Phillip and his wife Carlyn ‘XP’ Phillip, and it’s taken the island by storm. Since its inception, the show has fast spread to sister Caribbean islands and much further afield amongst the diaspora, their friends and families. Dominicans dutifully appear over the nowpopular virtual zoom platform, and transform their individual spaces – be it living room, bedroom, backyard - to party scenes to be part of Carlyn XP’s 20 SN AUG 2020
live renditions, streamed across Facebook Live and on YouTube. Dominica is renowned for its World Creole Music Festival and spontaneous ‘real mas’ carnival. The island has traditionally generated phenomenal music producers, songwriters and artists - amongst others, Exile One, Grammacks, Midnight Groovers, Nelly Stharre, Jeff Joseph, Nasio Fontaine, Gordon Henderson, Ophelia Marie and Michele Henderson - who over the years have made significant contributions to the island’s rich cultural heritage and unique genres of music. Dominica's music industry created cadence, then cadence-lypso, and much later the popular bouyon - which in part was developed in Cornell Phillip’s own home studio. Bouyon was first popularised by the then leading bouyon band on
