DG is down with the APO

Check out DG's mad tune, and then go grab the free download. Go Westside! Officially released by the APO, the free download is 256kbit/s audio.

From APO: "DG’s ‘Down’ and ‘Everything’ by REVU$ featuring 2Phat and JEM are the result of a scholarship offered by an unlikely source: the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (APO).

DG (real name Danielle Peeni) and REVU$ (Bob Fa’atiga) were among 25 participants in the APO’s 2013 Remix the Orchestra programme, Remix Out West. The pair showed such ability that the orchestra offered them scholarships to create the professionally recorded singles with hip-hop producer – and Music Director of the Remix programme – Anonymouz (Matthew Faiumu Salapu).

A propulsive slice of old school hip-hop, ‘Down’ is notable not only for DG’s rapping but for the saxophone of gifted multi-instrumentalist and composer Yvette Audain.

REVU$’s ‘Everything’, meanwhile, has a loping Pasifika reggae beat and features a distinctive violin line played by APO Assistant Concertmaster Miranda Adams.Watch the video here.

“Classical instruments are often used as samples in hip-hop but this is different,” says Anonymouz. “What’s distinctive about these tracks is that they've been written from the ground up to incorporate hip-hop and orchestral elements.”

The tracks are both available to download for free from the Remix section of the APO website, apo.co.nz/remix. Each song has a video shot by talented director Corey Fleming of Arcpitch Films, and made with extensive creative input from DG and REVU$.

- Usually sited in Otara, 2013 is the first year Remix has gone to West Auckland. Since 2008, people involved with the APO Remix programme as mentors have included David Dallas, Dei Hamo, Tyree, Ermehn, King Kapisi, John Psathas and Jack Body.