7. St. Kitts Music Festival (Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis), June 23-25
Many of the big music festivals held around the Caribbean tend to pull their talent too much from outside of the region, particularly from the world of past and present American R&B. St. Kitts Music Festival seems to have the balance just right, though. Fantasia and a Lionel-less Commodores are at the top year’s festival, but so are current (Jah Cure, Gyptian, Demarco) and classic (Yellowman, Cocoa Tea, Bunny Wailer) artists from Jamaica, as well as local St. Kitts bands (Small Axe) and calypsonians (King Konris).