A group of Montreal musicians have made it their mission to spread humor by taking hip-hop songs and performing them with instruments from the brass family during street parades. This is the urban science brass band.
Although the group never released an album, saxophonists, dancers, dancers, singers, trumpeters, and drummers have been touring Montreal neighborhoods for several years and thrive by word of mouth.
they Concept It is the performance of rap and hip-hop with instruments usually associated with jazz. It was conductor Vincent Stephen Ong who came up with the idea in 2016 while participating in an impromptu concert.
He explains, “I suggested to the owner of the bar where we were playing hip-hop instead of jazz, the evening time. We did it with four musicians and it went so well that we thought we should take this idea seriously and move on further.” that.
Today, the group performs almost exclusively in the open air, on the street and in a show atmosphere. The idea is in particular to remember the origins of hip-hop music.
“We want to give the show to people by creating a festive atmosphere wherever we go,” he continues. That’s kind of how hip-hop started with block party Where artists bring a sound system to the street corner and perform their shows spontaneously.”
Back to Saint Laurent
The Urban Science Brass Band will be at Place Rodolphe-Rousseau on July 15 as part of the Borough Summer Program. It will be a return to basics for the leader as well as the many members of the group who studied at Vanier College and Cégep de Saint-Laurent.
“It’s always fun to play in a place you know well, because it lets you watch it like you’ve never seen it before,” Stephen-Ong explains. We see curious heads coming out of the windows and more people on the sidewalks than usual.
Dozens of musicians will be present during the event. “We can’t wait to celebrate with people,” he continues. It really happened to everyone.”
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Now a regular at the jazz festival and increasingly popular in Montreal, the Urban Science Brass Band wants to release an album of original songs in the next few years.
“We’ve been working a lot on our songs lately, so the next challenge will be putting that together and releasing the album,” says the saxophonist.
Until then, the band will perform multiple times at several locations in Montreal, including Rosemont on July 13 and Saint Laurent on July 15.
