Presser for coming Miss Lou book and 2-part movie


No Cuss Cuss: All One-Love for Louise Bennett-Coverley
 Photos and Story by Stephen Weir for Caribbean Camera
Tania Hernandes channels Miss Lou
A Thursday evening Harbourfront event to promote a coming book and movie about the life of the Jamaican Canadian Miss Lou began with actress singer Tania Hernandez channeling the poet with the recital of her Noh Lickle Twang.  Wearing a costume befitting Miss Lou and using the pantomime acting style she was known for, Hernandez and several other guests spoke in the  patois that only a born and raised in Jamaica can fully understand.
Noh Lickle Twang is one of Miss Lou’s (Louise Bennett Coverley) most beloved poems.  It tells a mother’s story of the return of her son to Jamaica after working in the US for six months. She is upset, in a humorous way that the prodigal son has returned without leaving his “patwah” behind.

“Yuh mean yuh go dah Merica
An spen six whole mont deh,
An come back not a piece better
Dan how yuh did go weh?”

Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley or Miss Lou was born in Jamaica on September 7th, 1919 and died in Toronto at the age of 88. The “the mother of Jamaican culture” was a linguist, a poet, an actress, a humourist, as well as a pioneer of Jamaican patois.  Beginning in the 50s she wrote and performed patwah and is credited with giving the language world recognition.
Late last week, just a year from what would be her 100th birthday, family, friends and fans staged a press conference and performance event to spotlight plans to make a movie and publish a book about Lou.
 “ Miss Lou, the mother of Jamaican culture taught us, through her poetry, songs and humour how to reclaim our authentic voice,” read the press release handed out to the media in the Miss Lou Reading Room (located at Toronto’s Harbourfront). “Miss Lou is so important to Jamaica’s identity that many are advocating for her to be named a national hero.”
The group plan to release next year “Miss Lou Say, Walkgood!” It is to be a two-part 90-minute music documentary.  The film and companion coffee table book are meant to reanimate Miss Lou's classic stories, poems and songs.

Full House for Miss Lou Presser
At Harbourfront it was announced that Jamaican personalities including comedian Oliver Samuels, and dub poet Mutabaruka (Allan Hope) will narrate animated retellings of Miss Lou’s stories. “Internationally renowned artists like Freddie McGregor and Russell Peters will render snippets of Miss Lou’s Folk works as a tribute to the influence that Jamaican culture has had on their own art.”
Other stars on the filmmakers’ wish list include Olympian Usain Bolt, former Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson, Ziggy Marley, and Grace Jones.

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