Kelowna orchestra teams up with First Nation beatboxer for musical performance

An Indigenousbeatboxer and throat singeris intertwining hip-hop and electronic music with a classical symphony.

Nuge Bird, whose stage name is Poppa Nuge and whois Anishnaabe Plains Cree from the Shoal Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan,will be one of the stars of Amplify, the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra's newshow.

The 26-year-oldperformer, now based in West Kelowna,started beatboxing when he was 12 years old.

Birdsaid he discovered itwhile skateboarding, after being introduced to a friend who knew how to beatbox.

"After that hangout session, I went straight to my grandma's and I started practicing."

Radio West13:34West Kelowna Indigenous rapper and throat singer Poppa Nuge is being featured in a new Okanagan Symphony Orchestra show on Saturday, integrating hip hop and electronic sounds into orchestral music

West Kelowna Indigenous rapper and throat singer Poppa Nuge is being featured in a new Okanagan Symphony Orchestra show on Saturday, integrating hip hop and electronic sounds into orchestral music

His venture into throat singing, on the other hand, was by "total fluke," he said adding the first time hethroat sang, it hurt.

"I just wanted to get better at this beatboxing thing and dubstep was the most popular music at the time," Bird toldRadio West host Sarah Penton on Nov. 16.

Rosemary Thompson, music director of the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, said she was interested in collaborating with Birdsince the first time they met six years ago,at a Red Dress walk for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

"I was breathless. Like I was so excited by the sounds that he was creating and the authenticity of the emotion behind it," said Thompson of the first time she heard Bird perform, adding, "you could hear a pin drop in the room and I thought I needed to meet this guy."

Thompson gave Bird tickets to Tanya Tagaq's show, which the orchestra was putting on. During the show, Bird ended up performing solo on stage.

"It was my first time performing in a theatre, on a stage like that, in front of a full crowd," said Bird. "I was just asked to, you know, say something from the heart and that's what I did.

"I still feel the emotion when I think about it today."

Afterward, Thompson said she needed to find a way to get Bird back on stage with the orchestra.

Thompson said they workedtogether to find music he could beatboxover, including music by artists like the Wu-Tang Clan.

"I arranged it for the orchestra and put it down on the page so they'll be reading it," she said.

The music director said theshow isimportant for the orchestra to become more sustainable as an organization

"The morewe can move outside of our orchestral comfort zone and embrace the musical traditions that are happening in today's world ... we also become more relevant to our listeners and to new listeners," she said.

Amplify will be stagedat the Rotary Centre for Arts in Kelowna on Nov. 18 at 8 p.m.

Syilxsinger and song carrierCoriDerickson,Cree cellist Kethra Stewart, and vocalist Quinn "Quarterback" Batesare also performing.