Louis Mercier: Black On Film
By Ryan B. Patrick
Pride Entertainment Writer
Pride News Magazine
March 22, 2006
In film parlance, the term “mise-en-scène” refers to almost everything that a filmmaker puts into the composition of the film shot, including the movement of the camera and characters, lighting, set design and overall visual environment. Quite literally, it means “put in the scene”.
For Louis Mercier, “mise-en-scene” is everything the young African Canadian filmmaker does and more. The talented writer, actor and producer recently accomplished an extraordinary feat when, not one or two, but three of his short films (Delivering Santiago, Toussaint and Perfect Pitch) were screened stateside, at the recent Delray Beach Film Festival in Florida.
Mercier’s films have been screened in Montreal, Detroit and Toronto, but this is the first time he’s had three films screening at once.
“It’s exciting,” Mercier tells Pride News Magazine over the phone. It’s an honour, as an African Canadian, to have all three films represented at the festival, Mercier says.
He notes that, while he helped produced the shorts, the films were also a collaborative effort. Delivering Santiago and Toussaint were written/directed by Tory Falkenberg, while Perfect Pitch was written/directed by David Eng, and Mercier acts in all three.
By his own accounts, the Haitian-born Mercier has been exposed to the performing arts his entire life. He immigrated to Canada in 1979, and notes it was long hours glued to the television screen that got him hooked on writing and performing.
“Growing up, television was almost like a nanny,” says Mercier. He got his start acting in school plays at the age of nine, which led to auditioning for indie film and working at a community television station.
He initially went to university to become an electrical engineer, while pursuing acting on the side. But the acting bug ultimately took over, Mercier says, and he decided to focus all his attention on the craft.
After a couple of acting gigs, including a prominent role in the Radio-Canada network television series, “Temps Dur”, Mercier eventually created his own production company (Soulion Entertainment) and added writing, directing and producing to his credits, with the short films Toussaint, Aces Down, Eye & I and Delivering Santiago.
Mercier describes the films as character-driven. Toussaint features Mercier as a Haitian-Canadian student who harbors an secret love for a fellow Indo-Canadian student. He is faced with the dilemma of risking humiliation by revealing his true feelings or forever losing her.
“I like to create films that speak out to people,” he says. Of all his films, Toussaint hits close to home, as it’s based on a true event, Mercier says.
One of many events in a decade’s worth of professional film and video experience, in front of and behind the camera.
“I’m primarily an actor…that’s where my passion lies,” Mercier says. So, in an industry where there is a distinct lack of roles for African Canadian actors, Mercier decided to branch out into producing in order to create his own opportunities. “Early on, I found out that, in order for me to be in front of the camera, I had to start projects from behind the camera,” says Mercier.
In addition to acting and producing, Mercier is adding the hat of director to his portfolio, and he notes that Soulion Entertainment intends to produce feature films, television programming, documentaries and stage productions designed to educate and entertain, while giving a much-needed voice to people of colour.
It’s a dog-eat-dog film world in Canada right now, Mercier says, adding, “I’m trying to show the cats in the industry that I’m a force to be reckoned with, and to take charge of my career.”
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
New Jack Swings Into Toronto Next Week
New Jack Swings Into Toronto Next Week
By Ryan B. Patrick
Pride Entertainment Writer
March 15, 2006
The musical fusion that is “New Jack Swing” may not actually be new anymore, but its impact on today’s urban music can still be felt.
Four of the biggest supergroups of that late 1980’s to mid-nineties era – Guy, Blackstreet, Tony! Toni! Toné! and SWV – have resurfaced for The New Jack Swing reunion tour and will play Mississauga’s Hershey Centre this March 24.
For the uninitiated, New Jack Swing is a crossbreed style of edgy R&B, fused with hip hop “swing” beats. Back in the eighties, commercial radio stations simply refused to play hip hop music, sticking to more safe electrofunk soul (a la Prince) or “Quiet Storm” slow jams, in the vein of Luther Vandross.
Enter New Jack Swing. The smooth-yet-funky sound is largely credited for popularizing the use of soulful and blended vocals, breakbeats and samples that make up so much of today’s Black music.
The music represents a funky, fresh era of high-top fades, single-suspender overalls, multicoloured jeans and “X”-ed out baseball caps.
“The integration of hip hop became revolutionary in the 90s, and the style that emanated from that is the New Jack Swing sound,” says show promoter Keith Baker of UCR2 Communications.
New Jack Swing is responsible for today’s R&B music being so heavily sample-based, and why almost every hip hop song nowadays has an R&B singer on the hook.
“Everywhere the tour has played in the States has been a sellout, and we expect the same up here,” Baker says. “The artists that defined that era were really Bobby Brown and producers like Teddy Riley. It’s a sound that has not been duplicated.”
Indeed, while Bobby Brown was arguably the king of this era, the tour performers are no slouches either. The stacked lineup of Guy, Blackstreet, Tony! Toni! Toné! and SWV reads as a veritable who’s who of the particular era.
Teddy Riley had already created a name for himself by producing records for Heavy D. & The Boyz and Keith Sweat, before forming the groups Guy and Blackstreet.
His signature sound combined synth-heavy melodies, with silky smooth soul music. Guy’s self-titled debut album was an instant smash, producing the R&B hits, “I Like”, “Groove Me”, “Spend the Night” and “Teddy’s Jam”.
At the same time, as the group’s founding member and producer, Riley found himself in strong demand as a songwriter and producer; in 1988, Riley produced Brown’s Don’t Be Cruel – the album that helped New Jack Swing cross over into pop mainstream.
In the 90s, Riley went on to form the group Blackstreet, whose self-titled debut album was certified platinum and spawned three hit singles: “Before I Let You Go”, “Joy” and “Booti Call”.
In 1996, Blackstreet’s sophomore album debuted at number one and remained on the charts for more than 60 weeks. This success was due to a Riley-produced monster hit “No Diggity,” says Baker. Rolling Stone magazine and MTV have deemed the song one of the 100 greatest pop songs.
Tony! Toni! Toné!, formed in 1987 in Oakland, California, enjoyed a number of chart hits and good album sales, for a considerable part of the 90s. Led by the Grammy-nominated Raphael Saadiq, they released the album, The Revival, and became mega-stars, due, in part, to the hit singles, “It Never Rains (In Southern California)” and the club hit, “Feels Good”.
Rounding out the bill is girl group SWV. The group’s debut album, It’s About Time scored a string of top ten R&B and number one pop hits that established them as one of the most popular female groups of the 90s.
With hits like: “I Am So Into You”, “Right Here/Human Nature” – a remix that featured the Michael Jackson hit, “Human Nature” – and “Weak”, the trio of ladies became a commercial force.
UCR2’s Baker has been in promotions since 1988 and notes that the company has come a long way from its first concert (Jeffrey Osborne at Roy Thompson Hall).
Urban music is evolving, Baker says, no doubt helped by new urban radio stations and the internet.
His Toronto-based company (formerly known as UC Entertainment) is evolving as well. The firm is currently expanding its online presence and has grown to include a communications arm dubbed ReKAB2.
The revamped UCR2 has plans to develop an online community, a new media publication and a few other initiatives which Baker says are still under wraps.
“Entertaining and communicating is the new focus…[but] live entertainment is the core of what we want to do,” says Baker.
In the cutthroat world of concert promotions, UCR2 (www.ucr2.com) has managed to carve out a comfortable niche for itself.
The firm has been responsible for bringing acts such as B2K, Bow Wow and Chris Rock to Toronto. But it can be difficult these days to find artists of this caliber in today’s urban music, Baker says. “I have to believe in the entertainer. I won’t just bring up artists to bring them up, as many of the artists that are out there we call one-hit people.”
The exciting thing about the New Jack Swing tour, Baker says, is that it brings out the 25 to 40 demographic, but also the younger crowd as well.
“Very few artists are able to do that right now,” Baker says, noting that the younger set are buying the music now being affectionately known as “old school”.
The New Jack Swing Reunion Tour (www.ucr2.com) happens March 24, at Mississauga’s Hershey Centre. Email info@ucr2.com for information.
By Ryan B. Patrick
Pride Entertainment Writer
March 15, 2006
The musical fusion that is “New Jack Swing” may not actually be new anymore, but its impact on today’s urban music can still be felt.
Four of the biggest supergroups of that late 1980’s to mid-nineties era – Guy, Blackstreet, Tony! Toni! Toné! and SWV – have resurfaced for The New Jack Swing reunion tour and will play Mississauga’s Hershey Centre this March 24.
For the uninitiated, New Jack Swing is a crossbreed style of edgy R&B, fused with hip hop “swing” beats. Back in the eighties, commercial radio stations simply refused to play hip hop music, sticking to more safe electrofunk soul (a la Prince) or “Quiet Storm” slow jams, in the vein of Luther Vandross.
Enter New Jack Swing. The smooth-yet-funky sound is largely credited for popularizing the use of soulful and blended vocals, breakbeats and samples that make up so much of today’s Black music.
The music represents a funky, fresh era of high-top fades, single-suspender overalls, multicoloured jeans and “X”-ed out baseball caps.
“The integration of hip hop became revolutionary in the 90s, and the style that emanated from that is the New Jack Swing sound,” says show promoter Keith Baker of UCR2 Communications.
New Jack Swing is responsible for today’s R&B music being so heavily sample-based, and why almost every hip hop song nowadays has an R&B singer on the hook.
“Everywhere the tour has played in the States has been a sellout, and we expect the same up here,” Baker says. “The artists that defined that era were really Bobby Brown and producers like Teddy Riley. It’s a sound that has not been duplicated.”
Indeed, while Bobby Brown was arguably the king of this era, the tour performers are no slouches either. The stacked lineup of Guy, Blackstreet, Tony! Toni! Toné! and SWV reads as a veritable who’s who of the particular era.
Teddy Riley had already created a name for himself by producing records for Heavy D. & The Boyz and Keith Sweat, before forming the groups Guy and Blackstreet.
His signature sound combined synth-heavy melodies, with silky smooth soul music. Guy’s self-titled debut album was an instant smash, producing the R&B hits, “I Like”, “Groove Me”, “Spend the Night” and “Teddy’s Jam”.
At the same time, as the group’s founding member and producer, Riley found himself in strong demand as a songwriter and producer; in 1988, Riley produced Brown’s Don’t Be Cruel – the album that helped New Jack Swing cross over into pop mainstream.
In the 90s, Riley went on to form the group Blackstreet, whose self-titled debut album was certified platinum and spawned three hit singles: “Before I Let You Go”, “Joy” and “Booti Call”.
In 1996, Blackstreet’s sophomore album debuted at number one and remained on the charts for more than 60 weeks. This success was due to a Riley-produced monster hit “No Diggity,” says Baker. Rolling Stone magazine and MTV have deemed the song one of the 100 greatest pop songs.
Tony! Toni! Toné!, formed in 1987 in Oakland, California, enjoyed a number of chart hits and good album sales, for a considerable part of the 90s. Led by the Grammy-nominated Raphael Saadiq, they released the album, The Revival, and became mega-stars, due, in part, to the hit singles, “It Never Rains (In Southern California)” and the club hit, “Feels Good”.
Rounding out the bill is girl group SWV. The group’s debut album, It’s About Time scored a string of top ten R&B and number one pop hits that established them as one of the most popular female groups of the 90s.
With hits like: “I Am So Into You”, “Right Here/Human Nature” – a remix that featured the Michael Jackson hit, “Human Nature” – and “Weak”, the trio of ladies became a commercial force.
UCR2’s Baker has been in promotions since 1988 and notes that the company has come a long way from its first concert (Jeffrey Osborne at Roy Thompson Hall).
Urban music is evolving, Baker says, no doubt helped by new urban radio stations and the internet.
His Toronto-based company (formerly known as UC Entertainment) is evolving as well. The firm is currently expanding its online presence and has grown to include a communications arm dubbed ReKAB2.
The revamped UCR2 has plans to develop an online community, a new media publication and a few other initiatives which Baker says are still under wraps.
“Entertaining and communicating is the new focus…[but] live entertainment is the core of what we want to do,” says Baker.
In the cutthroat world of concert promotions, UCR2 (www.ucr2.com) has managed to carve out a comfortable niche for itself.
The firm has been responsible for bringing acts such as B2K, Bow Wow and Chris Rock to Toronto. But it can be difficult these days to find artists of this caliber in today’s urban music, Baker says. “I have to believe in the entertainer. I won’t just bring up artists to bring them up, as many of the artists that are out there we call one-hit people.”
The exciting thing about the New Jack Swing tour, Baker says, is that it brings out the 25 to 40 demographic, but also the younger crowd as well.
“Very few artists are able to do that right now,” Baker says, noting that the younger set are buying the music now being affectionately known as “old school”.
The New Jack Swing Reunion Tour (www.ucr2.com) happens March 24, at Mississauga’s Hershey Centre. Email info@ucr2.com for information.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Afua Cooper Delves Into Untold African Canadian History
Afua Cooper Delves Into Untold African Canadian History
By Ryan B. Patrick
Pride Entertainment Writer
March 8, 2006
Afua Cooper’s latest book, The Hanging of Angélique, puts the spotlight on a chapter of African Canadian history some would like to believe never existed.
Cooper was on hand during a standing-room-only event at Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel, recently, where she engaged in a lively conversation, about the untold and overlooked history of slavery in Canada, while onstage with poet/playwright George Elliot Clarke.
Most Canadians hold on the belief that slavery never existed in this country, but the history reveals otherwise, says Cooper.
Canadians have cultivated for themselves a belief that Canadians are good and moral people, Cooper offers, therefore, slavery didn’t exist here.
Yet it did.
The history of Black people in Canada goes deeper than the Underground Railroad, she adds.
Cooper recalls a few accounts where she’s been challenged on the existence of Canadian slavery; it is only after the facts are shown that people are forced to concede.
“It’s really hard for some people to accept that we had slavery in this country,” she says.
The Jamaican-born Cooper is a celebrated professor, poet and historian, and holds a PhD in African Canadian history – with specialties in slavery and abolition – and currently teaches history at the University of Toronto.
Her book, The Hanging Of Angélique: The Untold Story of Canadian Slavery and the Burning of Old Montreal (HarperCollins) is an engrossing and factual account of Canadian history.
Cooper spent 15 years researching the captivating account of Marie-Joseph Angélique, a Portugal-born Black slave in New France (now Quebec). The book notes Angélique was likely born a free woman, but was kidnapped and forced into slavery.
Unlike American plantation-style slavery, the Canadian system of slavery meant that Black people were often treated as house slaves or domestics.
But it was no less evil, Cooper notes, despite the fact Canadian slavery is often referred to as “benevolent” slavery.
“Here’s this story that flies in the face of that belief,” Cooper says. Africans were whipped and brutalized in the Great White North.
Cooper adds, the documents are here, but historians chose to ignore them.
The Hanging Of Angélique exposes and condemns the slave trade of New France, the New World and Europe.
The book carefully fuses scholarly research and rich prose, with detailed analysis of this unique slave account. Cooper also provides a wealth of detail, so much so, it’s almost easy to become overwhelmed by the subject matter. Central to the book is Angélique’s dramatic act of resistance, when, on April 11, 1734, after learning she was going to be sold, she allegedly set fire to her White master’s house in order to cover her escape.
“I don’t know if Angélique set the fire, but I believe she did,” says Cooper.
The fire engulfed and destroyed 46 buildings, in what is now known as old Montreal. The French wanted to make an example of Angélique, finding her guilty on circumstantial evidence, and sentencing her to death.
In June of 1734, Angélique was captured, tortured, paraded through the streets, then hanged and her body burned. Angélique’s heartbreaking tale serves as a potent and compelling symbol of Black freedom in Canada.
“She was a Black woman who felt alienated from the community. She was an oppressed woman…battling the system, trying to bring about her freedom,” Cooper says.
“The response to the book has been tremendous,” Cooper adds, noting that the most common question asked is: “How come this history isn’t widely known?”
“The book is appealing to people’s humanity,” she says, adding, the purpose of the book is not only to show that Canadian slavery existed, but to open up meaningful dialogue.
“This conversation has to happen,” Cooper concludes. “We have to move beyond the Underground Railroad; we have to move before the Underground Railroad, and we have to move into the future.”
By Ryan B. Patrick
Pride Entertainment Writer
March 8, 2006
Afua Cooper’s latest book, The Hanging of Angélique, puts the spotlight on a chapter of African Canadian history some would like to believe never existed.
Cooper was on hand during a standing-room-only event at Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel, recently, where she engaged in a lively conversation, about the untold and overlooked history of slavery in Canada, while onstage with poet/playwright George Elliot Clarke.
Most Canadians hold on the belief that slavery never existed in this country, but the history reveals otherwise, says Cooper.
Canadians have cultivated for themselves a belief that Canadians are good and moral people, Cooper offers, therefore, slavery didn’t exist here.
Yet it did.
The history of Black people in Canada goes deeper than the Underground Railroad, she adds.
Cooper recalls a few accounts where she’s been challenged on the existence of Canadian slavery; it is only after the facts are shown that people are forced to concede.
“It’s really hard for some people to accept that we had slavery in this country,” she says.
The Jamaican-born Cooper is a celebrated professor, poet and historian, and holds a PhD in African Canadian history – with specialties in slavery and abolition – and currently teaches history at the University of Toronto.
Her book, The Hanging Of Angélique: The Untold Story of Canadian Slavery and the Burning of Old Montreal (HarperCollins) is an engrossing and factual account of Canadian history.
Cooper spent 15 years researching the captivating account of Marie-Joseph Angélique, a Portugal-born Black slave in New France (now Quebec). The book notes Angélique was likely born a free woman, but was kidnapped and forced into slavery.
Unlike American plantation-style slavery, the Canadian system of slavery meant that Black people were often treated as house slaves or domestics.
But it was no less evil, Cooper notes, despite the fact Canadian slavery is often referred to as “benevolent” slavery.
“Here’s this story that flies in the face of that belief,” Cooper says. Africans were whipped and brutalized in the Great White North.
Cooper adds, the documents are here, but historians chose to ignore them.
The Hanging Of Angélique exposes and condemns the slave trade of New France, the New World and Europe.
The book carefully fuses scholarly research and rich prose, with detailed analysis of this unique slave account. Cooper also provides a wealth of detail, so much so, it’s almost easy to become overwhelmed by the subject matter. Central to the book is Angélique’s dramatic act of resistance, when, on April 11, 1734, after learning she was going to be sold, she allegedly set fire to her White master’s house in order to cover her escape.
“I don’t know if Angélique set the fire, but I believe she did,” says Cooper.
The fire engulfed and destroyed 46 buildings, in what is now known as old Montreal. The French wanted to make an example of Angélique, finding her guilty on circumstantial evidence, and sentencing her to death.
In June of 1734, Angélique was captured, tortured, paraded through the streets, then hanged and her body burned. Angélique’s heartbreaking tale serves as a potent and compelling symbol of Black freedom in Canada.
“She was a Black woman who felt alienated from the community. She was an oppressed woman…battling the system, trying to bring about her freedom,” Cooper says.
“The response to the book has been tremendous,” Cooper adds, noting that the most common question asked is: “How come this history isn’t widely known?”
“The book is appealing to people’s humanity,” she says, adding, the purpose of the book is not only to show that Canadian slavery existed, but to open up meaningful dialogue.
“This conversation has to happen,” Cooper concludes. “We have to move beyond the Underground Railroad; we have to move before the Underground Railroad, and we have to move into the future.”
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