FABRICE ROUZIER TALKS ABOUT HOW MIZIK MIZIK GOT STARTED!

[kompamagazine]

To help MIZIK MIZIK celebrate their 20 years in the business, and with the anticipation of their upcoming STUDIO CD, we will honor the group by opening several posts regarding the group ON DIFFERENT TOPICS.

WITH THE HELP OF FABRICE ROUZIER (Their maestro), he will come and explain..give us the lowdown...the details regarding the topic in question on a particular day.

TODAY'S TOPIC....HOW THE GROUP GOT STARTED. On their first album "Farinay", we see Fabrice, Keke, FENDY PIQUION (Keyboards), MAXENCE DENIS, and CHRISTOPHE LAFONTANT (Vocals).

HOW DID EACH MEMBER GET INTO THE GROUP...and why?
Where are they NOW?
Why did they leave the group
What went into Mizik Mizik's BIRTH/

FABRICE ROUZIER...EL MAESTRO...The bal is in your hands.

KM!
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[Cheetah]

That's a great initiative you took KM. I can't wait to read the answers!!!

[LadyKreyol]

Your fans are waiting Fabrice. I know you won't disappoint.

Great post Pat.
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Music is love in search of a word.
Sidney Lanier

[Diva Duck]

Konkou Mizik just came to mind. The first time I saw Mizik Mizik playing Viv Ayiti!

Maestro, nap tann ou wi.

[LadyKreyol]

Same here Diva, I first saw Mizik Mizik in the Konkou Mizik competition (on tape). Fabrice was soooooo skinny and at the end of their performance they took out these bamboos and started blowing on them.
_________________
Music is love in search of a word.
Sidney Lanier

[rika]

Oh Fabrice we're waiting for this...btw Christophe LAfontant 1st came to montreal he was in a band called Djous and now he's a lawyer still lives in Montreal works for a big firm up here
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KITE'M VIV TONERR!!!!

SERE KOSE'W..PA PALÉ!!!!

[Papa Gueso]

Pat,

I can tell you that I think of all the name mentioned, Fendy Piquion past away a few years ago. We were raised in the same neighborhood, Pacot,
when it was time to go to college, I went to miami to attend UM. Fendy went to DC. I think that is where he hooked up with Fabrice to start the band.

Now that you mentined his name, RIP fendy
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Belle Haiti, Bon Konpa, Bon Boul

[Machiavel]

If there is a musician in the HMI that has the Midas Touch, I would have to say it's Frabrice. Everything he touches turns out to be a success. Unfortunately, Fabrice doesn't have the right PR people around him.

[Diva Duck]

[Gromosso]

My first Mizik Mizik bal was at La Chaumiere in Queens in 1994 during the band's De Ger tour. Wifouttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt A truly memorable party.

I have a couple of their bals on DAT from that tour. Priceless materials.

Such a special band.

Maes, I look forward to the band's next Miami party Bresilien.

[Fabrice]

Guys,

This is a pretty big task. I'll try to cover it and not make it too boring.

I started in this field as a DJ. Maxence Denis ( Ti Raoul's brother ) and i hooked up on place Boyer in 1983 during a dimanche pre - carnavalesque These were the days when carnival was an all day affair and not a party made for "baka" that starts at 7:00 pm. We went to his place and started spinning vinyls. We decided to bring the jam to his mom's study where she had grand pianos and organs. Maxence's mom is the famous Micheline Laudun Denis, one of Haiti's most prominent musician and music teacher. ( Footnote: Our very own Fanmkonese is a former student of Mrs Denis ! ). Mr and Mrs Denis allowed us to invade her space and use her pianos and organs for a while. We , very soon, realized that jamming wasn't much fun with just a flute and a piano. Maxence had a school friend that could strum the guitar: Keke Belizaire and his posse ( Reginald Viala , Jacky Nau, Bobito Painson ) joined us to make the noise even more unbearable for the neighborhood. I then hooked up with Christophe Lafontant, because we shared a common love for French Rock ( bands like Indochine etc... ). Christophe had a drum set and said he could play. We brought the drum set to the Denis' and almost instantly got kicked out. We brought the party a couple hills up to Bwa Moket to the dismay of my folks and of my neighbors. My dad christened the "band": "Les Pieds Nicklés". As Pat would say: More to come... or should i stop already ?

[kompamagazine]

FABRICE....You are teasing the fans just like BRASIL is doing for this world cup.

MORE...MORE...MORE....

PLEASE CONTINUE with the story. You have a way of making these things extremely interesting.....BON BAGAY NET!

By the way...Madame Denis (As the students called her) was my teacher at Canado. Her class was INSTRUCTION CIVIQUE.

KM!
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[LadyKreyol]

MORE, MORE Fabrice, don't be a tease. I am loving every detail(thanks for that tidbit on Fanm).
_________________
Music is love in search of a word.
Sidney Lanier

[Fabrice]

...Part II :)

In 1984, Ti Raoul, Ti Claude and Oswald Durand formed a trio. They used to play at weddings and stuff whenever Zekle was not performing. Ti Ra had a pickup truck and entrusted Maxence and myself to be the roadies for the band. We did not get paid but we got compensated by being allowed to use the instruments when these guys were not performing. Raoul had just gotten a DX 7 ( For those of you in the know, the Yamaha DX7 synth single handedly helped craft the most popular songs of the eighties.) I was fortunate enough to be able to play on a DX7 !!!! I saved enough money to buy a keyboard from my friend John Doane and we went to studio Thoray every chance we got. This is where we met with budding artists Beethova Obas, Emeline Michel, Loulou Dadaille etc... We were extremely influenced by Zekle and Carribean Sextet but we were all swept away by Kassav'.

In late 1985 early 1986, life has we knew it in Haiti died forever and classic konpa along with it. Political change really brought about some major changes ( and not all were for the best ! ). A visionary man named Eric Bourcicault who was the manager for American Airlines launched a music contest to try and bring about something fresh in Haitian music and boy did he succeed !!!!!

We decided to participate. Christophe and I wrote a tune. We brought it to Mushi who fixed a couple chords and Bobby recorded it for us at Audiotek on an 8 track machine. We were elated about it and we really thought we were the isht :)

We finished 7th out of 309. We were furious, of course but we came down to earth very quickly when we saw who was ranked before and after us.

Shortly afterwards i left to go to college and the guys made a career out of lipsyncing that darn song at graduations and at shows everywhere. We even got to open for Carribean Sextet on january 1st at Ibo Lele for their anniversary. It was a complete DISASTER. We decided to play live and all hell broke loose...

[rika]

oh great..keep it coming!!
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KITE'M VIV TONERR!!!!

SERE KOSE'W..PA PALÉ!!!!

[kompamagazine]

MORE...MORE....MORE!

KM!
_________________
KOMPAMAGAZINE CONTACT INFO
Phone: (646) 529-5735
E-Mail: Kompamagazine@gmail.com

[Ti boxer]

Ti Brice, m'rinmin sa kap fet la wi!

Ah wi!

This is the kind of stuff I'll print out, burn on several CDs, and save in my secret safe - next to my old System Band, Skah Shah and Top Vice tapes.

Yes ay!

Ti Boxer
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Yes Aya

[FUNKY]

Wow Wow and Wow...keep them coming Fabrice
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12 Janvier 2010...A Day We Will Never Forget

[Fabrice]

Part 3.

Everyone went their separate ways. Christophe went to Montreal, Maxence to Paris and Kéké stayed in Haiti to attend the Faculty of Sciences. I flew to Maryland to go to college.

I met my mentor over there, Fritz Gerald Aubin and he really and truly hooked me up. He schooled me in terms of music and he introduced me to a bunch of musicians : Toto Duval R.I.P, Michel Pressoir, Ti Polis, Imgart Manigat, Mario Germain, Lionel Simeon, Eric Angibeau....and a slew of others. I spent all my free time going to music stores and going to jazz and rock clubs.

I stumbled upon Frendy Piquion R.I.P, one day at Washington Music Center. I saw a tall dude with a flat top doing some weird things on a keyboard. I start playing a tune on a keyboard nearby and he goes : "Oh se aysyen ou ye !"...We hook up and we go to his house and the rest is history. Frendy remains one of the most prolific songwriters that i have ever met. I miss him dearly. The things this guy could do with just punching a keyboard with two fingers were amazing !

I gigged with several bands while i was there: Washington Express and arch rivals GP Express and a slew of foreign bands. Polka, Salsa, Namibian...you name it.

During the summer, i would always fly home with my keyboard. in 1987, Keke and i hooked up with Dodo Lauture. We wrote many many tunes together. The Lauture brothers had a band named "Djakout Band". When Bourcicault decided to have a second contest, we did a song. In order to present the song, Dodo wanted to do it under Mizik-Mizik but i advised Dodo against it since we had failed our previous attempt we then combined the Djakout with the Mizik. Djakout Mizik was born !

1989 was one of my most prolific years. I co-wrote "Flanm" with Emeline, i did Michel's first album "Ou la la". I recorded Mizik-Mizik's first album "Farinay" ,Boukman Eksperyans' "Vodou Adjae" and T-Polis' "Zinglin" album. The success of these things got me a backstage pass to go talk to Fanfan and Ernst Marcelin during their unforgettable gig at DC's Kilimandjaro club. Fanfan and Ernst offered to have me play on their next tune "Zap Zap". I was on cloud nine ! Meeting Ernst was an amazing experience... more to come?

[FUNKY]

This is what u call a true stroryyyyyyyyyyy..dammmm....mizik mizik soti loin wi...bon bagayyyyy Fabrice....la suite pleasseee
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12 Janvier 2010...A Day We Will Never Forget