INTERVIEW | MEET FOUNDER OF THE HIP-HOP ORCHESTRA (@TheHipHopOrch) GEORGIO SAVVIDES (@SaintGeorgio)

By Rishma • On Interviews ,

44046046_2504084476276261_2510892891182727168_nTell us a bit about how the Hip-Hop Orches­tra formed?

The Hip-Hop Orches­tra star­ted 6 years ago with the inten­tions of chan­ging people’s per­cep­tions of how they view Clas­sic­al and Hip Hop, start­ing with only 6 of us and now has grown at an excep­tion­al rate. Now we are cur­rently enjoy­ing what I feel to the best peri­od of our careers with the best group of people, and I hon­estly can­not be hap­pi­er, espe­cially how it star­ted with such a simple idea and now has giv­en me some of the best moments of my life.

How have you chal­lenged people’s per­cep­tions of what Hip-Hop is through the orches­tra renditions?

Just by hav­ing an Orches­tra tak­ing tracks and pieces from both the Orches­tral and Hip Hop Worlds, com­bin­ing them in ways that no one would expect takes every­one by sur­prise and excite­ment, no mat­ter their background

People have expect­a­tions of what each genre should rep­res­ent, what age ranges listen to them, how they should sound etc, but you would be sur­prised at the reac­tions you get from people that you wouldn’t expect, and it’s such an hon­our to do what we do and make people truly happy, inspir­ing them through­out the process.

Tell us a bit about the rendi­tions you have done, which were your favourite?

We’ve done so many amaz­ing Clas­sics, but from a per­son­al view­point, our recent Drake show at 100 War­dour St doing all clas­sic and recent Drake tracks went down a com­plete storm and was one of, if not our best and most hyped shows so far.hip hop orch

Tell us about the artists you have worked with?

We’ve worked with some incred­ible artists that we are really grate­ful for, and each has brought us amaz­ing exper­i­ences in their own right, such as: Leth­al Bizzle, Lady Leshurr, Logic and Big Zuu. Some of Grimes most estab­lished and best up and com­ing acts such as AJ Tracey, Jam­mer of BBK, Janset, Jevon, Mez, Jam­mz and Mic Ty and Merky Ace for BBC 1Xtra Live At Maida Vale and so much More!

You have a lot of music­al exper­i­ence your­self, tell us about your own jour­ney in music?

I’m a clas­sic­ally trained Pian­ist myself, self taught from roughly 5 onwards for a few years before hav­ing prop­er les­sons and doing all my grades from 11 onwards. I’ve always had a huge love and obses­sion with Music, it was my get­away in life as I struggled big time at school and even with simple things due to my dyspraxia.

What is your all-time fav hip-hop track?

That’s a tough one as I have so many, but I got to say N 2Gether Now by Meth­od Man and Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit. To this day it still gets me hyped!

You are also a Ted-Talk­er! How did that come about?

What a dream it was to do a TED Talk. We were on a ser­i­ous roll that year in 2015, doing great work and shows, and soon after doing our BBC 1Xtra Ses­sions at Maida Vale Stu­di­os, one of the best moments of my life, TED approached me offer­ing me a chance to give a talk and per­form­ance along­side the Orches­tra. I’ve always been a HUGE fan and admirer of TED and always dreamed of doing a talk, and as soon as I got offered to give a talk I imme­di­ately said yes without hes­it­a­tion.  After dis­cuss­ing themes, I had a light­bulb moment and thought it was the per­fect oppor­tun­ity and time to dis­cuss how music has played a huge part of my life, grow­ing up with Dys­prax­ia that not many people knew about as I’ve kept that side pretty quiet. I explained how I’ve been able to over­come major obstacles in my life, whilst also dis­cuss­ing how geni­us com­poses that we all know, love and respect (The Beeth­ovens, Moz­arts, Cho­pins etc) also had severe prob­lems that not many people knew about, if at all, yet were able to cre­ate these God­like pieces of work.

Not many people know of this but I actu­ally had severe pneu­mo­nia dur­ing my talk which didn’t help my talk, but thank God it came off well, and the Orches­tra smashed it that day as always and I am just so thank­ful for the opportunity.

You have an event on 9th Decem­ber where with a JT X Phar­rell rendi­tion! Sounds amaz­ing! What can people expect if they attend?

We are so so excited for this. We’re HUGE JT and Phar­rell fans, and to per­form once again at 100 War­dour Street is a dream. All we can say is if the show is any­thing like our last show here doing Drake (Which, it DEF­IN­ITELY will be) that you are in for a real treat so get your tick­ets asap.

You can get them right here — https://www.100wardourst.com/event/hip-hop-orchestra-pharrell/

We also have to give a huge huge thank you to Sian Allen and the whole War­dour St Team for offer­ing us these amaz­ing oppor­tun­it­ies and for you all your tre­mend­ous help and sup­port, means the world to us

What else has the Hip-Hop Orches­tra got in store?

We don’t like to give any­thing away, but all we can say is that we have a SUPER excit­ing and busy 2019 lined up, so watch this space J

How can people keep up to date with what you are doing and find out more?

You can fol­low us on all social media below:

Ins­tagram

Twit­ter — @TheHipHopOrch — @SaintGeorgio

Face­book 

You­tube 

The Orches­tras Soundcloud

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Rishma

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds
Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voiceless.

About Rishma

Rishma Dhaliwal has extensive experience studying and working in the music and media industry. Having written a thesis on how Hip Hop acts as a social movement, she has spent years researching and connecting with artists who use the art form as a tool for bringing a voice to the voiceless.