Grime vs Classical on Radio 3

T

tryptych

waiting for a time
What do people make of this...? (hope this hasnt been posted before)


"1Xtra and Radio 3 are poised to start work on a 70-minute musical suite of grime, hip hop and classical music.
Urban Classic, which goes out on 1Xtra and Radio 3 next year, brings together grime producer DaVinChe, jazz musician Jason Yarde and classical conductor Charles Hazlewood, who will lead the BBC concert orchestra (CO) alongside well-known artists from the UK’s grime scene.

The music will be performed live for an audience on February 16 at the Hackney Empire and will feature London MCs Bruza, Tor, Pase, Purple and beatboxer Faith SFX, alongside the concert orchestra, with dj sets from 1Xtra's Semtex and Cameo.

The collective of artists will meet for the first time next week and will hold workshops throughout January and February to refine the musical score and performance. In the process, DaVinChe and Jason Yarde, both classically-trained, will compose and arrange the piece of music for the BBC CO to perform.

1Xtra’s programmes editor Willber Willberforce said the project would push the UK's emerging grime scene forward. ‘It will be a first for our listeners. Each organisation and individual will bring together their unique talents and knowledge to create something very special.’

Radio 3 controller Roger Wright added that the partnership would help ‘break down the barrier between styles of music’.

Highlights from the event will go out simultaneously on 1Xtra Live and Radio 3's Mixing It of February 18."
 
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S

simon silverdollar

Guest
oh christ. is this grime's 'saturnz return' moment?




still, guess it might be good. may be.
 
L

labrat

hot on the heels of love
spackb0y said:
‘break down the barrier between styles of music’.
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FUCK this, as i've said before classical music is SHIT.
these focus group led hybrids of World,Hip-Hop,Rock,classical etc are always a mistake........
 
J

Jezmi

Olli Oliver Steichelsmein
I've been fantasising about an orchestra set of (mainly) ruff squad productions.
Live music just has that much more body so i think it would be good, just imagine jennifer/music to your ears performed by trumpets, trombones, cellos and percussion....
Or one of the underground versions performed by japanese drums, african and western percussion and baseguitar.
Might be a bit far fetched (or not if this occasion is a success) but I think it would be a big boost for the grime scene. Not only because it would serve as a serious eye opener for everyone involved, but also because it seems that live/instrument music is more 'worthy' than computer produced music.

(Not wanting to hurt the feeling of any dubstep, or other computermusic, fanatics. I do agree with that notion)
 
T

Tyro

The Kandy Tangerine Man
This could be great and even if it falls short musically it will get the people involved some much needed attention.It's interesting to read that DaVinChe is classically trained.

At the end of the day neither DaVinChe or any of the MC's involved were 'born' as Grime peformers,so why shouldn't they team up with whoever they want? Music is Music is Music....
 
L

labrat

hot on the heels of love
Jezmi said:
it seems that live/instrument music is more 'worthy' than computer produced music.
(Not wanting to hurt the feeling of any dubstep, or other computermusic, fanatics. I do agree with that notion)
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fair enuff but you are wrong.


I pray for the failure of this project.
 
D

Diggedy Derek

Stray Dog
Blimey, this sounds rubbish.

DaVinche's lost something recently. He hasn't really moved beyond the "horns blaring" template of the Essential's stuff- although he got a bit ragga-y on Run The Roads 2, that Get Set track on there was awful.
 
D

dogger

Sweet Virginia
labrat said:
FUCK this, as i've said before classical music is SHIT.
these focus group led hybrids of World,Hip-Hop,Rock,classical etc are always a mistake........
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oh well if you've said it before it must be true. dismissing any art form in its entirety is small-minded and stupid; a "music fan" attempting to dismiss all of clasical music is...well, very small-minded and stupid indeed.

but anyway, this may well fall flat, but it's an intruiging idea and i think i'd like to witness the event before pronouncing it a failure.
 
L

labrat

hot on the heels of love
Tyro said:
Why would you want this to fail? Can you explain please?
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When the man co-opts the street to add flava wackness ensues
(and I hate classical musicians -pious )
 
S

simon silverdollar

Guest
Diggedy Derek said:
Blimey, this sounds rubbish.

DaVinche's lost something recently. He hasn't really moved beyond the "horns blaring" template of the Essential's stuff- although he got a bit ragga-y on Run The Roads 2, that Get Set track on there was awful.
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have you heard 'phaze' though? that's a huge track, and quite a departure from the horn-blare of much of his stuff (which, like you, i'm not really that into...). it sounds a bit like young.dot.
 
T

Tyro

The Kandy Tangerine Man
labrat said:
When the man co-opts the street to add flava wackness ensues
(and I hate classical musicians -pious )
Click to expand...


What man are you refering to? Which street are you talking about? Seriously though,I can see the point that your making, but an interesting exchange of ideas just MAY come out of it.

As Dogger has said ''This may well fall flat, but it's an intruiging idea and i think i'd like to witness the event before pronouncing it a failure''
 
R

Rambler

Awanturnik
I'm not a fan of musical protectionism, so I don't think I want to see this fail for the sake of it, but I'm extremely sceptical about its chances of success. The hit/miss ratio of crossover stuff like this is just too great.

The main difficulty is that while 'music is music is music' is a nice mantra for listeners, it doesn't apply for musicians. Very, very few people are born so musical that they can slot into any style they choose; most (and I can probably include all the MCs mentioned, plus everyone in the BBC CO here), no matter how good they might be in their field simply can't change gear like that. Orchestral musicians can reproduce whatever notes you put in front of them, have a very sensitive ear for timbre and pitch, and a technique developed over 30 years' practice, but they usually can't swing or hold a groove for toffee; and getting 80 of them to swing together is, basically, impossible. At least Dizzee's big band idea mooted some time back was going in the right direction on this. A big band can hold a groove, and keep it just loose and just tight enough. No orchestra in the world can do that - it's not how its heart beats.

What you can get from an orchestra is a huge and flexible sound palette: something that was more washes of sound than drums and clunks and squawks might work. Don't know how the MCing would sound over that, but there's a thread of grime and dupstep that is drawn to orchestral/acoustic instrumental sounds so it wouldn't be completely alien.
 
R

Rambler

Awanturnik
Another question is: who's benefitting here? I can see why the BBC CO might get involved, plus the jazzers (a higher profile through trendy association), but what's in it for the grime lot? I don't buy Jezmi's idea that it will boost the scene. I think it could be an 'eye-opener' of sorts, but it's not like this is going to become a regular venture - it's a one-off.
 
L

Logan Sama

BestThereIsAtWhatIDo
Who's benefitting? It's a publicity exercise. Doesn't mean it won't make for interesting radio, or could yield interesting results. I would have liked to have seen some producers involved like Ruff Sqwad who do not have any classical training and have little or no concept of music outside of Cubase and Logic. Would probably have had some more curious results.

But can't fault the BBC for once again investing into the music.
 
T

Tyro

The Kandy Tangerine Man
Rambler said:
I'm not a fan of musical protectionism, so I don't think I want to see this fail for the sake of it, but I'm extremely sceptical about its chances of success. The hit/miss ratio of crossover stuff like this is just too great.

''The main difficulty is that while 'music is music is music' is a nice mantra for listeners, it doesn't apply for musicians''

This DOES apply to musicians as well though.For example:Were the Beatles simply a ROCK N ROLL band or were they a ROCK N ROLL band that incorporated many other forms of music?[including the instruments of the orchestra] into their records?I think the end result was just a little bit more interesting that the recordings of say for example:Shakin Stevens.


''Orchestral musicians can reproduce whatever notes you put in front of them, have a very sensitive ear for timbre and pitch, and a technique developed over 30 years' practice, but they usually can't swing or hold a groove for toffee; and getting 80 of them to swing together is, basically, impossible''.

But would that be a hindrance in a Grime collaboration?


''What you can get from an orchestra is a huge and flexible sound palette: something that was more washes of sound than drums and clunks and squawks might work. Don't know how the MCing would sound over that, but there's a thread of grime and dupstep that is drawn to orchestral/acoustic instrumental sounds so it wouldn't be completely alien''

Which is why the use of an orchestra might just work
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B

Blackdown

nexKeysound
people can't complain that grime MCs are blocked from the music industry/can't make their Ps/don't get national coverage they deserve ... and then shun an occasion like this to introduce grime to a wider audience.
 
B

bun-u

Trumpet Police
Sounds mildly interesting though it might provoke an interesting reaction. A while ago, when I was in someone’s car I was listening to a Radio 4 programme - their equivalent of ‘points of view’, where listeners get their say on programme. There was this big hoo-har about this history of hip hop programme they aired…listeners spitting blood saying stuff like ‘this is entirely the sort of thing they come to Radio 4 to get away from!’ Reminded me why I didn’t (voluntarily) listen to Radio 4.
 
J

Jezmi

Olli Oliver Steichelsmein
Rambler said:
I don't buy Jezmi's idea that it will boost the scene. I think it could be an 'eye-opener' of sorts,
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As much as production wise there are so little rules, anything goes, etc, etc. The other aspects seem rigid and people are not willing to think out of the box (again, except for prduction). And I'm mainly talking about mcs, content/attitude/flows/politics/etc.
So from that stance an eye-opener is a huge boost.
 
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