Monday Headlines: Patra's Lifetime Honour Leads the CMA Broadcast Premiere, Beenie Man Apologises, DJ Kovert Mourned, WCMF Closes
(ReggaeVibeMedia.com) - Monday morning brings a full slate of Caribbean music news, led by a night of honours, an apology, a painful goodbye, and a festival finale. The Caribbean Music Awards broadcast premiere, Beenie Man's apology to Trinidad and Tobago, the death of 19-year-old DJ Kovert, and the closing night of the World Creole Music Festival in Dominica are the stories setting the pace for the week.
The Caribbean Music Awards finally reached the screens on Sunday night, when the ceremony staged at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, premiered on the Caribbean Music Awards YouTube page. The night belonged to the legends and the new queens alike: Patra received the Lifetime Achievement Award, Calypso Rose took the Elite Calypso Honor, Alan Cavé the Elite Konpa Honor, and Shyne the Global Ambassador Award. Lady Lava led all winners with four awards, including Female Soca Artist of the Year and Zess Song of the Year for "Bob the Builder," while Shenseea took Female Dancehall Artist of the Year, Valiant took Male Dancehall Artist of the Year, and MOLIY made history as the first Ghanaian artist to win a Caribbean Music Award. Reggae Vibe Media's full CMA winners recap is already live on the site for everyone who wants the complete list.
Beenie Man has apologised to Trinidad and Tobago over his carnival comments. After remarks in a Hot 97 interview suggesting Jamaica started carnival before Trinidad and Tobago, the dancehall legend posted an Instagram apology addressed directly to Trinidad and Tobago, admitting he "got the carnival history wrong" and mixed up Byron Lee's contribution to carnival in Jamaica with the wider history of the festival. He wrote that Trinidad's carnival "has its own rich history, and I respect that," thanked "everyone who corrected me," and signed off "Still learning, always love. One Caribbean." The apology follows his February 2025 apology to Trinidadians over his "doubles" remarks, and it reads as accountability rather than excuse.
Sadly, the community is also mourning a young talent gone far too soon. Jamaican DJ Kovert, real name Matthew Nelson, died at the University Hospital of the West Indies on Saturday, following complications from a motor vehicle crash on Washington Boulevard in St. Andrew days earlier. Just 19 years old, the former Ardenne High School student won first place in the St. Mary's SunCity 104.9 FM High School DJ Competition in 2024 and appeared as a guest DJ on TVJ's Smile Jamaica. Tarrus Riley posted "Jah Jah" on hearing the news. No further detail on the crash itself has been confirmed beyond the reports, and the focus stays where it belongs: on a young talent the community had only just begun to watch rise.
And in Dominica, the 26th World Creole Music Festival wrapped Sunday night at Windsor Park Sports Stadium in Roseau, closing a three-night Independence-season run. Friday opened with Capleton and Skillibeng, Saturday brought Ne-Yo and Alkaline, and Sunday's finale bill was Machel Montano, Uncle Waffles, Fridayy, Maxi Priest and Diblo Dibala. A festival that moved from dancehall fire to soca royalty to amapiano energy in three nights is a fitting close to a weekend that showed the full range of Caribbean music.