Viva Brighton Issue #62 April 2018

MUSIC
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Get Down Symphony
Orchestral Hip-Hop
Ever wanted to hear Kanye West’s music performed
by a 16-piece orchestra? It’s probably not
something you’ve ever pondered before, but we
bet many Hip-Hop fans will be intrigued by the
idea. The Get Down Symphony are coming to
the Concorde 2 this month, with strings and brass
and all the rest, to perform the rapper’s debut
album, College Dropout, in full. We spoke to the
symphony’s founder Kishan Rox.
Is this a new venture for you? How did the
orchestra come about? We have been working
together doing these shows for about a year. They
have been such a huge success that we are now
doing shows all over the UK. People are always
asking what album we’re going to do next, so it’s a
very exciting time for us.
You did a Michael Jackson show last month,
how did it go down? It was incredible. We had
a great time playing together and the crowd at
Concorde 2 were amazing. It was probably our
favourite show that we’ve done together. Every
single one of MJs songs are musically so brilliant
that it’s a dream for us to perform.
What made you choose Kanye West for the
April show? It’s such a good album to play as it’s
so orchestral. Many Hip-Hop artists use short
samples but Kanye uses much longer orchestral
passages. It’s great to take it back to where he
started. We will also be featuring a few of his hits
from his more recent albums.
Do you try to faithfully replicate the original
recordings? We do to an extent, but there’s
always some arranging involved in turning it
into a live performance. We’re not trying to be a
tribute act – we love being creative and doing our
own interpretation of the music. We use samples
for the bits we can’t do live, eg we have sound
effects for gun shots, and use samples for the
really iconic parts of an album such as the skits in
College Dropout.
Do you have a deeper respect for these songs
after arranging them for an orchestra? We
definitely have a greater musical appreciation for
the songs we do – particularly on the Hip-Hop
albums. We aim to achieve the high production
value that you get on an album and turn it into
an epic live performance. That makes us really
respect the work that has gone into each album.
What do you think the appeal is of hearing
familiar songs performed in this style? It’s rare
that you get to see a band of this size perform
live! Also, it’s a chance for people to see an entire
album that they love performed top to bottom,
which an artist wouldn’t often do in concert.
We have all the instruments you hear on the
record live – string lines, horns, etc. And it’s all
performed by classical musicians who have been
trained to the highest level.
Technical issues aside, what other artist’s
music would you most like to perform with
the orchestra? Apart from the MJ show? Perhaps
Marvin Gaye – that would be amazing!
As told to Ben Bailey
Concorde 2, Saturday 7th April, 7pm, £15
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