It’s still strange to be at the Maison symphonique and to hear someone on stage shouting into a microphone: “Make some noise for the Orchester symphonique de Montréal! »
That one was Koriass, unofficial master of this ceremony bringing together last night (and again this evening and Thursday) Sarahmée, FouKi, Alaclair Ensemble, Dead Obies and the members of the orchestra for this experience, unequal but pleasant, entitled The OSM to the rhythm of hip-hop. The key to the concept is in the title: the great Montreal orchestra will serve these popular Quebec rappers. It was, as Koriass pointed out, a “rap show” after all, not classical music.
He asked for noise from a crowd that was certainly younger than those the orchestra is used to performing in front of, which must also have seemed strange to the members of the first rows of the string sections. Conductor Dina Gilbert wore a mischievous smile; the one who was assistant to Kent Nagano and the OSM from 2013 to 2016 and who occupied the desk of several productions around the world has also developed an affinity with hip-hop, especially in France, collaborating over the years with MC Solaar, Bigflo & Oli and I AM – she will end up leading the OSM one day with Marseille veterans when the four performances of IAM X OSM which were to take place next May are rescheduled.
All that to say that Dina Gilbert’s task is more complex than it seemed. Because it is balance that such a proposal needs to be successful. The right tonic accents at the right time, on the right rhythm, but without forcing the note and causing the chaos that would suffocate the soul of the original song. A task that she obviously shares with the two orchestrators (Hugo Bégin and Blair Thompson) in charge of translating for full orchestra a song very often conceived on the computer, with synthetic or sampled sounds.
Add to that the headache of the sound system for a production of this magnitude: the voice of the rappers must be amplified, while the orchestra is not. All the interpretations were based on synthetic rhythmic tracks, also amplified, at the risk of taking up too much space and relegating the orchestra to the passenger seat. Thereby, Elephant de Koriass on the opening bordered on cacophony, the drums sniping from the back, the strings and the brass stepping on each other’s feet. His performances in the second half of the show were much more successful, Montreal North (the groove finely accentuated by the exchanges between violins and brass) and 3rd avenuesofter this one, reaching their target.
The work of the orchestrators served the repertoire of Sarahmée particularly well, first of all. After opening Koriass, she offered Fuego (the rhythm track was a bit intrusive) and We are togetherthe not too heavy afrobeat rhythm of the latter giving a lot of place to the colors of the brass, it was frankly exciting – and again for these splendid versions of From close and deaf, the strings adding presence and gravity to these compositions. Nice surprise also on the side of FouKi who followed it with original rereadings of Yes you and Copilot – unfortunately without the author of the radio success, Jay Scøtt, who had to withdraw for health reasons, just like the rapper Calamine.
Alaclair Ensemble (without Ogden) and Dead Obies completed the line-up. Curious but festive choice of songs for Alaclair in the first part: Put some respect in your bin (which promotes recycling) and It’s calling (the richness of the orchestrations was remarkable on this one), chaotic, but due to the madness of these good-natured MCs, not at all impressed by the battalion of instrumentalists showcasing them behind them. Dead Obies came through just before the break with Run Away and Break, but took better advantage of the orchestra on the excellent Explosive served in the home stretch of the show, threaded with the bombs of FouKi (the unstoppable Gaye), Koriass (Five to seven) and Alaclair Together (What it was). This final was strong!