RADIO RADIO SHARES GROOVES WITH MONCTON SCHOOLKIDS
By Brent Mazerolle, Times & Transcipt Staff
17-February-2012
It’s a cliché to say of an audience that “the crowd went wild.”
But sometimes it’s true, especially when the audience is hundreds of kids enjoying the driving groove of Radio Radio’s Deck Shoe, a song with extra special meaning at Ecole Le Mascaret.
Last year, the entire student body and a whole lot of their teachers shot a remarkably polished video of them all lip-synching the Acadian hip hop stars’ song as part of a celebration of Acadian culture and pride.
Friday afternoon, the entire student body was together for an end-of-day assembly, and their teachers told the kids they would watch the video on a giant screen one more time as a treat.
And as the video was ending, the real treat of the day became obvious, as the members of Radio Radio themselves emerged from backstage of the school’s auditorium, singing along.
If you’re up on your pop culture, you know that’s a pretty big deal. If you’re not, know that Le Mascaret staffer Julie Forest’s prediction earlier in the day that “the staff will be even more excited than the kids” appeared to come true.
Radio Radio — Clare, N.S.’s Alexandre Arthur Bilodeau and Jacques Alphonse Doucet and Moncton’s own Gabriel Louis Bernard Malenfant — spent a half-hour taking questions from the kids and signing autographs.
The unforgettable experience for the kids was the brainchild of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra’s Don Matheson. Radio Radio is in the city to perform Saturday night at 7 p.m. with the internationally renowned orchestra at the Wesleyan Celebration Centre.
The concert is the first Moncton performance of the NBYO after their win at The Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival and Competition in Vienna, Austria this past summer.
Entitled Radio Radio Orchestre Orchestra, it will showcase the orchestra’s new repertoire for 2012 and bring the electro-tinted rap, funk and pop of Radio Radio on stage for what should be a bold musical performance.
“Radio Radio have just finished a major tour and are hot and in demand,” said Ken MacLeod, president of the NBYO, “so we were thrilled when they accepted our invitation to play a number of songs with the NBYO for our fundraising concert event.”
Formed in 2007, Radio Radio released their first EP entitled Télé-Télé later that year. In April 2008, the band released their first full-length album Cliché Hot on Bonsound. In 2010, Radio Radio released Belmundo Regal, which was on the short list for the 2010 Polaris Music Prize.
They also won the Miroir Award (Prix Miroir) for Urban and Contemporary Music at the Quebec City Summer Festival (Festival d’été du Québec).
In January 2011, Radio Radio won The 10th Annual Independent Music Awards in the Electro/Hip-Hop category for Belmundo Regal.
The band has toured extensively across Canada as well as performing at festivals and events in Austin, Louisiana, Belgium, London, New York and Paris.
Meanwhile, the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra continues to build upon an accomplished record of success, including performances at Carnegie Hall in New York, Auditorium Paganini in Parma, Italy, and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, China.
Winner of the 2008 ECMA for Classical Recording of the Year, the orchestra provides young musicians across New Brunswick the opportunity to build their musicianship by learning and performing orchestral music.
Last July, they competed with orchestras from around the globe in the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival in Vienna, Austria.
They won first place in the orchestra category - the only Canadian orchestra to ever win the distinction, and received the highest ranking of “outstanding performance” from the international panel of judges.
The NBYO is composed of 70 young men and women from throughout New Brunswick. The young musicians are English and French speaking, from diverse backgrounds, and range from 12-22 years of age. The New Brunswick Youth Orchestra is under the direction of Maestro Antonio Delgado.
■ Tickets for the NBYO concert are priced at $28.50 plus service fees for adults and $20 plus service fees for seniors and students. Tickets are currently online at www.ticketwindow.ca or by calling 1-877-700-3130. Tickets can also be purchased at the Moncton Wesleyan Celebration Centre Box Office, Frank’s Music and Steve’s Diner.