Midnight Groovers Manager Reynold Alcendor calls for music education in schools, recording studio and greater youth opportunities in Dominica

Fresh off a showstopping Friday night set at the 2026 World Creole Music Festival (WCMF), legendary Dominican cadence group Midnight Groovers, known affectionately as the “Kings of Cadence”, is pushing for sweeping structural changes to nurture the next generation of musical talent across the Caribbean island. Led by band manager Reynold Alcendor, the group made the passionate appeal in a post-performance interview, moments after sharing the WCMF main stage with two young French rising musicians who joined them for a standout collaborative segment that wowed the packed festival crowd. Founded all the way back in 1972 in the coastal community of Grand Bay by brothers Gregory “Chubby” Mark and Marcel “Coe” Mark, the iconic band has spent more than 50 years anchoring Dominica’s rich creole music heritage, and their latest festival set delivered a polished, sonically refined sound engineered by a top-tier French audio specialist who has previously worked with iconic French Caribbean group Kassav. Alcendor framed the unforgettable collaborative Friday night performance as just the opening chapter of a broader movement to empower local Dominican youth through music, calling on national authorities to embed formal music education as a core component of the national school curriculum, and establish a dedicated island-wide music school that trains young artists across a full spectrum of genres, not just traditional cadence. The band manager also highlighted critical gaps in Dominica’s local music infrastructure, noting that the group had to fly in the award-winning French audio engineer for their WCMF set because of a lack of local specialized talent and high-quality, accessible recording studios. He urged the Dominican government to make targeted public investments in professional recording facilities and local audio engineering training programs, arguing that such investments would not only keep more production work on the island but also create sustainable, creative career pathways for young people to stay engaged in productive, culturally meaningful work rather than facing limited economic opportunities.