Can opera be sung to a hip-hop beat?

Can opera be sung to a hip-hop beat?

main

norman lebrecht

December 16, 2018

You bet, says baritone Babatunde Akinboboye.

He’s had half a million hits this week.

Comments

  • Caravaggio says:

    Please PLEASE don’t let Simone Kermes or Diana Damrau or any of their ilk gain more ideas for the even worse.

  • James says:

    Absolutely fantastic and fun. He’s obviously extremely talented.

  • Adrienne says:

    “Can opera be sung to a hip-hop beat?”

    Non

  • ThrownOutOfTheKremlinForSinging says:

    This bit from the Brahms Requiem comes to mind:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPS4mZyXCGE

  • Alexander says:

    if he don’t make his mind up he’ll never get started (“Perhaps, perhaps” ) 😉 …. once is enough for that , any way it was funny, +1 for creativity

  • Kyle says:

    The obvious punch line to “Can opera be sung to a hip-hop beat?” is:

    It could be, but most “throats” can’t sing in time with any beat.

    And jokes are only funny when there’s an element of truth to them. Due respect to all of the many singers (yet a small percentage of the overall cohort) with an excellent sense of time, and with the realization that hip-hop may produce a disproportionately large number of performers with excellent time.

  • NuckForman says:

    This article and the comments on it are super cringey…..

  • Robert Roy says:

    A bit like the ‘Hooked on Classics’ franchise that was so popular in the 1970’s…

  • anon says:

    Is he trying to civilize rap or make opera hip?

  • Glenn Winters says:

    It’s like asking “Can opera be sung to the ticking of a metronome?” Well, yes – clearly it can, but………………..

  • MOST READ TODAY: