MDR Symphony Orchestra ft Joy Denalane, Bilal, Dwele & Tweet - Midnight Train To Georgia | z/s/h/a/r/e
Bonus: MDR Symphony Orchestra ft Joy Denalane, Bilal, Dwele & Tweet - I Got A Woman | z/s/h/a/r/e
And 1: MDR Symphony Orchestra ft Joy Denalane, Bilal, Dwele & Tweet - Loving You | z/s/h/a/r/e
No joke. I grew up listening to classical music. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik was my favourite growing up - probably because of the movie Amadaeus. I know classical music aficianados are supposed to hold "Pachelbel's Canon" (aka "Canon in D minor") as the piece da resistance but I was enamoured by the visual stimulation that tied elements of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik to the hoofs of the horses in that particular movie.
Fact is I didn't discover pop music until I was in grade 7. No lie. Serious. Then in grade 9 I discovered hip hop and my friend Walid put me onto underground hip hop and radio shows and I would stay up all throughout the night, recording radio shows and flipping the tapes religiously from Side A to Side B at 45 minutes each time. Sticking in the another tape a 1.5 hours and doing it again 45 minutes later. Week in and week out, twice a week or more. Religulous. My "Krispy Biskit" radio show collection is still sitting at my parent's house. "Krispy Biskit" was the biggest influence in the Vancity hip hop scene DJ'ed by the legendary and influential Kilo-Cee. Another big radio collection is my "Guerrilas In The Mix" which we always thought was "Guerillas In The Midst". Either way it was a hella dope radio show AND it was hosted by the one and only - the now heavyweight hip hop producer - Jake One. I gotta dig those all up one day. They were both huge collections (although my parents have thrown a bunch of them away - heartbreak).
Hip hop was my front door into the world of music. From mainstream to underground, soul, funk, and jazz samples, to the art of diggin, to purchasing records, to learning the piano to two turnables and a mixer and starting my DJ'ing life, to just reading about and immersing myself in and going in haaaaard at music and discovering more and more music, and seeing the connections and the foundations from one genre to the next, to the formation of new genres that both came and took over (hip hop) to those that came and sorta never broke through (like happy hardcore and goa trance - I wasn't a raver back in the day, I just knew people who were - I was working in campus/community radio and that's where I was introduced). From there music changed with the times and I was part of those changes and still am today.
But getting back to classicial music, it was my music of choice for a large part of my early life and one that I fully appreciated...even taking a class on classical music when I was in university - I think it was called "Classical Musical Appreciation". I also took a class on world music called "FPA 304 - World Music" (SFU) or something like that with Sal Ferreras. He's a Vancity based percussionist that is the most detailed filled walking encyclopedia on world music I had never imagined to exist. He was the Encyclopedia Brown of World Music. He drew the historical chronology through the social relationships of class/welfare/status/wealth/influence, from migrational movements of immigrants (imperial slaves), influences of the political climate and architecture of particular relevance and time, and the technological limitations and improvements of musical instruments that shaped, formed, and connected all parts of the world to each other - all within an analysis of world music! It truly was brilliant and probably THE BEST course I will have ever taken in my life. No joke no lie. Ever. I even convinced 5 friends to take the course, who in turn after taking the course spread the word even further, and word spread quickly that it became the elective of choice of fellow CMNS students. If that course is still available - take it. Gaaat daam.
So this is something I can truly appreciate. It ain't no George (of Seinfeld) getting all bitter that his world's are colliding. This is some shit yeah of oh shit! & hell yeah! The harmony of the symphony with the voices of Joy Denalane, Bilal, Dwele, and Tweet makes my ice cubes melt and my bacon fry. I would absolutely LOVE to see this live.
The Dresden Soul Orchestra or MDR Symphony is based in Germany and Joy Denalane is apparently a huge German soul singer. My guess is that Joy come up with the concept and worked with the Symphony on this project to bring the classic sounds of Motown and orchestra to each other. I think this worked amazingly well and I would love to hear a second edition where they get deeper and go harder into the lesser known, digger's style, gems of soul. I'm not sure this would work with any other genre. I mean Prince Paul did try his "Hip Hopera" but I don't think that turned out did it? Enjoy this new take on Motown and this new excitement about classical music. I think the tracklist might actually be entirely from the Larry Gold discography. Lovely indeed.
Pick up the album to hear the entire thing - it's a keeper from start to end. It has 26 tracks and includes tracks such as "Sir Duke", "ABC", "You're All I Need To Get By", "Love Train" and other classic Motown and disco soul tracks. Visual stimulation below.
Video: Trailer 1
Video: Trailer 2
Video: "It's A Man's World"
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