what is a hero researchers list 12 characteristics of a hero some we know like bravery courage and strength there's one characteristic that definitely describes our subject tonight inspiration in january 1977 an estimated 130 million viewers watched the inspirational story of kunta kente a mini series based on alex haley's best-selling book roots the saga of an american family tonight we meet a filmmaker who has kept kunta kente's legacy alive with his award-winning documentary airing right here on klcs it's good to have you here from los angeles this is klcs pbs welcome to everybody with angela williamson an innovation arts education and public affairs program everybody with angela williamson is made possible by viewers like you thank you and now your host dr angela williams alvin thank you so much for being here thank you for having me okay i want to hear a little bit about your background so tell us a little bit about yourself elvin huh yeah you know i'm a composer you know i've worked on many of your favorite uh tv shows films and plays i've been working along with tyler perry for some 25 years uh composed music for films like diary of a map black woman medea's family reunion bulma dear halloween some of your favorite tv shows like house of pain the having to have nuts if loving you is wrong and the list just goes on and on and all of the plays and so now you know making my debut as a film director on kunti kante island and so how does a music composer turn a filmmaker there's a story there i want to hear it well you know i'm a product of my environment you know tyler and i started um you know when he was um basically struggling you know we used to share hamburgers together believe it or not yeah there was a special hamburger at burger king that um called the rodeo burger and we had no money between the both of us and so we would split this burger right and that was dinner so we have this long story in history and a long history and um so basically um when you're working with a gentleman like that that has you know such lofty dreams you know you become a dreamer as well and he's always trying to implant and then pregnant everyone else you know with you know the ability to dream and so that's exactly what i did you know i was composing music and then saw an opportunity to get into filmmaking through this documentary coming to kinsey allen which we are going to talk about in detail yes but there was something burning inside of you that said that you needed to start this as your first project right yes absolutely i have two sons you know i have a a a 12 year old and i have a 16 year old and the generational gap between um you know the 70s and and the the the the series roots back in the days and you know this generation i felt that you know being able to provide a a tool if you will for this generation to be able to relate to such stories like kunta kente and and and other iconic heroes like that was necessary so i i felt that the burning and the passion that i had was to tell the story that this generation can relate to and you did it so well and you're very kind thank you you're welcome i have a question for you because you mentioned your sons and you mentioned their ages yes and so i want to go back to alvin at this at their age you said 16. i have a 12 year old and a 16 year old 12 and 16 year old so what were you doing at this age to get your i mean your love of music has to come from when you're young right absolutely tell us a little bit about that so at the age of 12 and even during 16 you know i was very harmed into to music you know i my mother is a classically trained pianist and taught new school system all of her years as a co-director as well as a piano teacher and so it's just basically been in my home all of my life you know and so genetically i um you know i got the gift of music you know she nourished that gift um and i i played uh the piano in oregon if you will and in many churches um and uh and and and so you know even in playing in churches i knew there was something else that i needed to do musically you know it was you know and so i had a a desire to produce music for theater so when i met a gentleman tyler tyler perry he was also struggling and wanting to produce plays if you will and um when we came together in the synergy just you know we just flowed very well together i provided music for his theater wow okay so i'm going to bring you back a few years probably when you were sharing those burgers together so you you meet this man who has this incredible vision that can pull in your talent as a composer yes so how did you start to compose that first play and so bring us all the way back i know i'm really here but we won't know it's a very good story because you know tyler and i actually went to church together in new orleans we were both raised in louisiana and we went to church together there he moved to atlanta several years later i moved to atlanta and that's where we united and and basically he was like you remember me i wasn't playing a piano in the church he's like do you remember me from new orleans absolutely i remember you he's like i'm working on these plays still you know would you uh like to come and you know and work with me because i just lost my music director he took all of the music and we have a show going up in eight days so that week tyler and i actually wrote the whole score for a play in eight days yes did i did that hold up nine fingers no i mean because still it was eight days you know and um and and and we've been together ever since that was in 1996. yeah wow yeah wow and so you take eight days to write music and compose music and then bring us to opening nights so what does elven ross do opening night you're shaking your boots because you only had eight days to do this you had to put together a band teach you know the the singers block it stage it 309 you know and it was just horrible but the good thing was the theater was empty yes imagine that no one well because no one was there because no one knew of a tyler perry that's true story oh wow so how do you encourage yourself you spent all of this time developing this music you have opening night it's rather and so how do you encourage yourself to move forward because this is we look we're looking at you now yeah well the the very encouraging thing about it was we did it no one was there but we did it you know and one thing i can say about tyler he always confessed who he would become you know it was not like we were in this place and the theaters were empty and he felt low he stealth he still felt like you know someday this theater will be filled and they will enjoy this you know so the production went over very very well the producers and the the uh the everyone was very pleased with the production and then imagine you know putting together a production and no one's there but it's really good what wound up happening the few people that did come told someone else and then they all start to come yeah this is a very true story and so now because a lot some interviews i've seen with you you've been asked to come and teach master classes yes and so there's young people now that look at you and they want to be where you're at right now so what does alvin tell them of what they need to do to get to where you're at today so consistency um and learn to dream and also believe in the process you know at the end of the day you know i believed in the person that was tangible to me that was right next door to me not someone in hollywood you know and we came up together you know and so that's the story don't always just reach for what you can see that's not tangible a lot of times you know journey your journey and destiny is connected so someone right in your community yeah so i teach them the dream and touch each other and work together and do you think that's hard for a lot of young musicians right now especially young musicians people of color to see that dream yeah absolutely because i i believe no man is an island no man stands alone if you come together you know and work together as tyler and i did you know i provided something that he didn't have i provided a service you know that he didn't have which was just simply music you know and together you know it made a musical you know so if we learn to work together whatever you know respect you're you're working in you know i believe that you know you will also become you know a musical yeah and my other question to you is from a professional standpoint yes because you have your own studio so i want you to tell us a little bit about your own studio that you have but how do you look for talent you know a lot of times especially in this day and age you know everything is is is online you know a lot of times we'll see you know people expressing their talent you know on social media outlets you know and sometimes you know you can still find them and on stage or or whatever but most times you know a lot of talent there's a lot of a wealth of talent that we're not no longer looking for talent the traditional way where you just audition there's so much talent out there that's that and that that are auditioning every day you know just through their social media outlets yeah and we talked to uh not we but i've heard you talk about talent but with a talent comes a dedication comes and a work ethic behind it so do you find that sometimes with the talent sometimes there's a disconnect between the person's talent and the work ethic because you've obviously shown us you have that work ethic yes yeah you have to be persistent and consistent as well you know you know it's it's interesting as i mentioned in story about tyler and the theater being empty we would play those theaters as if we were in you know somewhere on broadway you know what i mean and you know what they came they follow and and um you know and i think the consistency there you know it's in the preparation there um people felt as if you know in the beginning they were getting a broadway show [Music] hey baby so it is vitally important that you stay consistent with your craft and um and and always show up you know yeah i like that always show up always show up no matter who's there and you mentioned much earlier that a lot of times when you mention that always show up but a lot of times people see only the end result they want that end result and so to teach a young person to always show up can you give us one piece of advice that you would tell a young person to always show up you gave us the one about performing at your highest when the theater's empty something else that you learned too because you really worked your way up well you know interesting true story is um i started getting my feet wet and composing music for for theater and then my eyes got big i wanted to produce and score music for film you know so what i would do is go in the basement living in atlanta go in the basement and i was you know creating cues if you wills as if i was writing music for film you know and then tyler got the deal to do woman i'm sorry of a mad black woman the film and then when it was done he showed me the opening scene and this is this is rolls-royce driving through atlanta and driving up to you know his his his mansion if you will and i said listen to this so i played tyler a piece of music that i would had written in my basement against the actual footage and he said that's it [Applause] [Music] and it's the same music that's in the film today and that's exactly how i got the kid which gives me chills because i can't see that image i mean every person who's seen that movie we're on the edge of our seats so that's where the persistence come in you know sometimes you know you may be working and working towards something that you absolutely have absolutely no idea that is coming in your future i love that and this is a perfect way to in this segment yes because we're going to bring you back to talk about your next stream which is a phenomenal documentary yes so we'll come back perfect ending love it stay tuned come back to everybody as we talk to elven ross stand with me [Music] [Applause] [Music] you see [Applause] [Music] free from chains free from chains coming what your great great great grandfather and great great great grandmother endured so you could be here today [Music] if you can hold on to their strength you can overcome anything welcome back to everybody let's continue our conversation with elvin ross alvin that was a great first segment so we want to continue this absolutely okay this time i want to talk a little bit about why you are here with us tonight you know i'm here to present kunta kante island coming home without shackles on klcs los angeles pbs i love you guys here thank you thank you and you talked a little bit about it in the first segment but i want to really dig into it sure you as a filmmaker you decided this is something you want to take control of now you want to become a filmmaker and you decide on this subject matter so tell us why the subject matter and you talked about your sons before but why this subject matter for america right now for america i think it's all about identity you know i think that we're sometimes at a loss of identity you know most of us as african americans can only go back you know to the slave port and trace off our lineage back that far you know what was heroic about what alex haley did was he was able to take that all the way back to the very village that his ancestor was abducted from so i think that was one just a story that i wanted to be able to you know highlight some kind of way i just thought it was pretty exceptional you know and i love how you do it because you you actually have a generation you start with a young generation to the old generation telling the story but what was really interesting is that you actually found descendants yes of kunta kente so tell me how you did that and your feelings behind it when you realize this was going to be part of your documentary well interestingly enough one day i was having lunch with my business manager don stabler and he was actually representing the ambassador of entertainment for the gambia and this gentleman embarked on who was telling don basically about you know the government was thinking of changing the name of james island to come to kente island and i should come and get involved with you know and and see about being um a composer for then they were talking about you know shooting a documentary so i was like hey yeah that's something i would be more most interesting and do interested in doing so i'll go to this meeting and they're sitting around talking about it and i was like no you can't shoot it that way kids won't understand it you know what i'm saying and i won't be able to add music to it you know and so don leaned back in this big chair and he says then why don't you shoot it and why don't you be the director why don't you film it why don't you do everything and i was like that's not what i do you know i'm a composer and then i i grabbed myself i was like this would be a great opportunity for me to tell the story through the eyes of my children so that they can relate to this this story and a lot of people see an opportunity and they let it pass them by yes and so what does that mean for you as a composer when you decide to step through that door um it means that i i get to to take the baton and pass it on you know i i'll carry it for a little while and then i'll pass it on to someone else and they can carry the story and they can tell stories and more stories and you know and you know hopefully you know we'll have all of these stories that our generation and our culture can relate to and why do you think these stories are so important right now it goes back to identity you know again you know it's it's everyone every culture every ethnicity can talk about you know where they're from you know you know as enslaved people you know that was cut off and that was cut sharp for us you know so it's i i think that you know sometimes we struggle with identity you know i know i did you know even with the absence of of a biological father in in in my life you know i struggle with identity thank god for my grandfather and stepfather that were there but however you know um identity i believe is key knowing who you are you know and that way you know you can find the strength to fight for the rights that we so rightly deserve these days yeah i love that story and i actually want to talk a little bit about the documentary itself you have some really wonderful people that interview in this documentary and i want you to mention those names and tell us why was it important for them to tell their stories in going with your theme of making sure our identity we know who we are and where we've come from yes well actually you know in the film we have chaz guest chess guest is an american artist you know and he's phenomenal a phenomenal artist and he was visiting the gambia as a guest of president yame jamae and he was brought to the island as is mentioned in the documentary and i think that was vitally important for him to sit and tell you know the story of how when he went into one of the the rooms of captivity if you will what it meant to him to say this is not james island this is contencante island we also have ben vereen who was chicken george in the original series of roots i thought it was you know great that he can you know portray himself as a grandfather talking to his grandson as my grandfather did on the railroad tracks when i was very young that's that's that's that's my story as well so you know the way it was produced is basically through my eyes and through my um my son's eyes if you will you know we had jermaine jackson who was also another guest of the president and also we had the um the kente family who i believe are the stars of this particular film and as the filmmaker why do you think it's so important to have kunta kente's family tell that story because you know i believe that they've never been heard you know they they have this rich history and you know they they have all of these this you know information about their family and they've never been sat down in front of a camera and allowed them you know they've never been allowed the opportunity to tell it from their perspective and so that's what we did you know we just set a camera and let them and do you think that that point you can correct me do you think that interviewing kuta kente's family was probably one of the most memorable moments or is there another one for you that you want to share there were several memorable moments but sitting with the kinte family you know you you just feel um you just feel their pride you know knowing that you know one of the descendants you know that of of their family is worldwide moment was when i visited the island myself you know and and just standing there and hearing the cries you know silently hearing the cries and the waves you know hitting against the rock and just imagining you know what our people went through so that we can actually be here today you know um i it was just very very very moving and it actually changed my life it changed my perspective on life yes so with your documentary you have been bridging the gap generations yes from from the very first day that roots aired in the late 70s so now we're bridging the gap educating young people yes and you've taken this film all over what has been some of your biggest takeaways from the audience after you show this film because i know you have some takeaways yeah the biggest takeaway is we we didn't know a lot of people um don't know that you know kunti kante was a real person they thought it was just this nonfiction uh series that alex haley you know did but um i i think that the biggest takeaway for me is the pride that you know people felt you know the educational component of it you know and um you know i i've i've sat with educators that wanted to educate their children with it they want to sit around their dinner tables and now start talking about their heritage and and why they can you know and their grandparents and their parents before you know so i i think that it became a wealth of um of heritage for me i love this you talked about education and lately a lot of different states have been looking at how they teach ethnic studies yes how could they use this documentary to teach a part of education that definitely needs to be told right now well this documentary is is a very soft documentary and it can sit in any classroom from you know lower education to the collegiate level and you know we have um a a well-developed curriculum you know and um i believe that this is the documentary for you that's a good way to pitch it right now as well this is the one yes who do you look at when you think of heroes and why i look at my mother because she decided to keep me you know i look at her because she actually you know spent her own money you know to put me through school you know she um she nurtured this gift and she raised a man by herself that's my hero my mother i do believe that you know we we should look to people that we aspire to be like we don't have to be exactly like them you know and and and and just kind of channel our our ways towards their characteristics you know and the way they do their craft um and we support them by um by letting them know let them know how they have changed our lives you know what i mean and when we when we let them know you know they will continue to give us what we what we yearn for it has been such a pleasure to talk to you tonight this is mine thank you for not only inspiring us but educating us and sharing your talent with us thank you angela i love to hear what's coming up in your future so definitely keep us posted we'll stay connected and thank you for watching everybody with angela williamson it's viewers like you that make this show possible stay in touch with us on social media good night and stay well [Music] you