"Fantastic how the worlds of rap and symphony merge"
Interview with Tim Kliphuis on Notes, Beats & Bars
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One of our special projects is Notes, Beats & Bars, a combination between young rappers from The Hague and musicians from the Residentie Orkest. The goal? Musical connection and connection between various cultures in The Hague. The well-known jazz violinist and composer Tim Kliphuis is artistically connected to Notes, Beats & Bars. He tells what attracts him to Notes, Beats & Bars and what he thinks of the current edition.
Improvisation is central to Notes, Beats & Bars. Music takes shape during a jam session with rappers from The Hague HipHop Center and musicians from Residentie Orkest. From an exploratory interplay, music and lyrics are written. The result is an exciting exchange between two different musical worlds, responding to current themes. Jazz violinist Tim Kliphuis, who has already performed regularly with the Residentie Orkest , has been involved with Notes, Beats & Bars since the beginning. How that came about? "The orchestra asked me in corona time to help shape the collaboration between The Hague Hiphop Center and a selection of orchestral musicians. The request was, not to have music ready in advance but to let it emerge in jam session workshops. I liked the question and also had more time than usual due to corona, so gladly said yes."
Breaking pigeonholes
"I love breaking pigeonholes. And that's what this project does: two very different kinds of music makers in one room playing very different styles, and then finding similarities and thus forging things together into a kind of music that has never sounded before. That's fantastic, isn't it!"
"The artistic goal of Notes, Beats & Bars concerns fusing the worlds of rap and symphony at the highest level."
- Tim Kliphuis
Current season
Tim is very excited about this current season's contestants. "We have four creative rappers who have come up with beautiful empathetic lyrics to the chosen topics. The orchestra musicians were already there last season, so they already have a lot of experience with the non-classical making process and remembering it without having sheet music in front of them. They have a good atmosphere together and the playing is top notch."
Symbiosis
When asked what makes a successful edition for him, Tim is very resolute: "If the instrumentalists and rappers have an equal influence on the final result. And that's really the case this time. All the music comes from suggestions from the different players and all the lyrics are from the rappers themselves, with a nice symbiotic result."
Future
Of course there are future dreams! "I myself would love to do a project with the whole orchestra, to bring more people into contact with this special musical fusion. Then of course it can't be as individually creative as it is now but very exciting, with the percussionists as the rock."