World's Largest Hip-Hop Orchestra Visits Scottsdale

Based in Los Angeles, daKAH is the world’s largest hip-hop orchestra featuring 60 musicians, and they are coming to Scottsdale for one performance. The first symphonic ensemble to merge the popular genre of hip-hop with traditional jazz and classical music, the daKAH Hip-Hop Orchestra has taken the music world by storm. The group includes both classical and jazz instrumentalists—including strings, pedal harp, woodwinds and brass—along with congas, sitar and guitars, an Afro-Cuban percussion section and a hip-hop crew. Most daKAH musicians are in their 20s and early 30s and are from all over the country.

daKAH Hip-Hop Orchestra Performance Details

Date: May 13, 2006

Place: Outdoor amphitheater on the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall at 75th Street and Main Street in downtown Scottsdale

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Cost: $28 per ticket. Students with valid student identification may purchase half-price tickets (subject to availability; limit one per student) 72 hours before any performance at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts box office. Student discount tickets must be purchased in person; phone orders are not accepted.

How to get tickets: Call the the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts box office at (480) 994-ARTS (2787) or go online.

The amphitheater’s entrance gates open at 6:30 p.m. Patrons are welcome to bring chairs, pillows and blankets (patrons with lawn chairs must sit in the back so other patrons’ views are not blocked). Food and beverages, including beer and wine, are available for purchase on the amphitheater grounds. Patrons may bring water in plastic containers. Pets, skateboards, and roller skates are not permitted.

More About daKAH

The word “dakah” has roots in Ghana and relates to a policy of societal organization and an understanding of the creative process. The talents of individuals are assessed, and they are grouped with people of similar strengths. This creates a feeling of meaningful work among people, and the satisfaction of being on the correct path. daKAH’s music fuses a swirling mass of singers and rappers in symphonic form, inspired by the rhythms of Cuba, India and Africa. daKAH absorbs influences from every corner of the musical and physical world and infuses them with force, fury and joy, creating a unique, fresh and embracing sound.

Geoff “Double G” Gallegos is the founder and creative leader of daKAH. He began touring as a saxophone player with bands at the age of 15. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Gallegos studied conducting with Larry Baird, worked at the Aspen Institute, had three years of studio work with P-Funk and toured with Fishbone. He dreamed of putting together a hip-hop orchestra while living in Denver and playing trombone with the Colorado Symphony. His move to Los Angeles with its greatly expanded talent base made it possible to bring this dream to fruition. A fan of Charlie Mingus and Igor Stravinsky, he describes his introduction to Arnold Schoenberg’s first quartet as “musical electro-shock therapy.” That introduction provoked him to study traditional musical forms built with nontraditional structures and harmonies. In addition to his work with daKAH, Gallegos composes and arranges for film.

_{Thanks to the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts for providing the information about daKAH and its conductor. Photo of Geoff “Double G” Gallegos provided courtesy of Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.}