IAM x OSM at the Maison symphonique | Woodwinds, brass and especially silver microphones

As children, we danced the Mia. As teenagers, we attended the Silver Microphone School. It was therefore logical that as adults, we had a full house at the Maison symphonique on Tuesday evening for the first of four concerts by the French rap collective IAM with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.

First scheduled for April 2020, the highly anticipated musical alliance was postponed three times due to the pandemic – and the refusal of certain artists to be vaccinated. The wait was worth it, because the marriage between the worlds of the Marseille group and the musicians led by conductor Dina Gilbert is a happy one. The 1900 witnesses to this union were obviously won over, spending most of the evening standing up singing and dancing.

From the start, the crowd showed its enthusiasm by warmly applauding the message announcing the evening’s program and the safety instructions, which was recited to a more cheerful rhythm than usual. Spectators then shouted the chorus of Fireand did it again a few times, remaining the only performers of the 1993 piece, which was not part of the menu.

This show was more of a celebration of IAM’s great classic, The school of micro moneypublished in 1997. The title piece opened the ball, followed by Born under the same star, which delighted the crowd. As the songs went on, nothing seemed to undermine that joy, but it became increasingly clear that this was, above all, a rap show.

Certainly, we could discern greater depth and more textures, but orchestrator Blair Thomson’s brilliant arrangements were mostly drowned out by overly loud percussion and overbearing mics. At times, if you closed your eyes, you might have thought you were listening to the record in an excellent stereo.

At the pimp was preceded by a very welcome orchestral jazz sequence. The musicians were also able to showcase their virtuosity in the introduction toA good raw sound for the hoodlums. We would have had many more moments like these.

MCs in great shape

Like the day before at the Wu-Tang Clan and Nas show, we witnessed a performance by rappers in their fifties at the top of their art. Akhenaten and Shurik’n delivered each of their rhymes with complete mastery.

Their complicity on She gives her body before her name – still much loved despite its content – ​​their contagious choreography during I dance the mia and above all their frantic flow during the nine minutes of Tomorrow is far away amazed everyone gathered Tuesday evening.

Little brother And The Dark Side Empire were unsurprisingly two highlights of the show, but let’s also remember the zen instrumental break that followed When you went, we came back and solo pieces My text, soap (Akhenaten) and Mine (Shurik’n). Stripped down, these gave more space to the musicians.

The collaboration between IAM and the OSM is a great success, but we believe that a more orchestral reconstruction of The school of micro money would have been equally appreciated by fans who grew up with the work and who were ready to rediscover it in a place as beautiful as it was unexpected.

IAM x OSM at the Maison symphonique de Montréal, October 4, 5 and 6