For Port-au-Prince, Haiti-born producer-disc jockey Francis Mercier, 2023 is turning out to be a big year.
Mercier recently released a single with the well-known Jamaican band Black Uhuru. On Saturday, he kicked off his appearance at this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California with a show at the Empire Polo Club.
The music star performs at the festival’s Heineken House on Friday. He closes out his Coachella run next Saturday back at the Empire Polo Club, before jetting to shows in Europe, South America and Mexico.
The culturally diverse Brown University applied math and economics graduate is on an international mission to blend the music of the Caribbean, Africa and other regions, and create powerful and irresistible dance rhythms.
“My style is a fusion of house, deep, and melodic with ethnic and worldly sounds,” he said, giving the collaboration with Black Uhuru as an example.
“During my teenage years in Haiti, I was a big fan of Black Uhuru,” said Mercier, who — with “feverish guitar play” provided by Moroccan guitarist Neyl Nejjai — created “Welcome to Dinna,” a updated version of Black Uhuru’s 1979 song “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”
In “Kamili,” another recent release, Mercier collaborates with “Afro-house king” NIkefreak from Zimbabwe, and percussionist-performer Idd Aziz of Kenya. Visit francismercier.com and follow Mercier on social media.
CELEBRATING EDUCATION
The University of the West Indies — a hallmark of the Caribbean and a symbol of the region’s appetite for education — is being celebrated on Thursday from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the 26th annual “The Legacy Continues” Awards Gala, presented by the New York-based American Foundation for the University of the West Indies.
The black-tie event, supported by “organizations, individuals and corporations,” is the “primary fundraising vehicle for the scholarship program for needy students,” according to the non-profit foundation..
The function at Manhattan’s exclusive 583 Park Avenue event space marks the university’s 75th anniversary — it is older than most Caribbean nations. The UWI was founded in 1948 to bring higher education to the then-British colonies.
A distinguished collection of awardees — including Nevis Premier Mark Brantley — will be honored. Visit afuwi.org for information on tickets and tables, or email mailto:[email protected].
ART & AWARENESS
The “Before I Do: There’s Something to Know” group art show is currently on display at My Gallery, 587 Franklin Ave. in Brooklyn, through April 23, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Under the theme “Doing is the Discovering Process of Becoming,” the show features the works of Emmett Wigglesworth, Larry Weekes, Sasha Chavchavadze, Brian Branch, Jean Dominque Volcy, Ba Djibril Ngawa, Beverly Watson, and Darla Ebanks. For information, send an email to [email protected], or call (347) 446-5837, or visit mygallerynyc.com.
‘DORSEY’ ROOTS ON DISPLAY
With deep roots in Brooklyn’s Dorsey’s Art Gallery community, “Tanksley/Brandon/Legrand,” the works of artists Ann Tanksley, Nancy Brandon and Yolène Legrand, are display in Manhattan’s East Village at the Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba, 219 East 2nd St., through May 6.
The show can be seen Wednesday to Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For information, call (212) 674-3939 or send email to [email protected].
BUS STOPS & DRUMS
Mass transit will meet tradition in Brooklyn when the innovative “Caribbean Drums and Dance” — 15-minute performances at four B41 stops — take place on May 3, from noon to 7 p.m., according to Maxine Alexander of Bluemango LLC.
The rhythmic cultural displays — along Flatbush Ave. (from Ditmas Ave./Ave D to Flatbush Junction) — are a preview of the Dancing on the Plaza celebration of drum and dance, which returns to Flatbush Junction’s traffic-free Hillel Place Plaza public space on June 3, from noon to 7 p.m., during Caribbean American Heritage Month.
For more information about the dance events, and the coming BLOOM [cq] drum and dance residency at the Flatbush YMCA, send email to [email protected].