Category: Voice
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Titian 2012 – a Contemporary Response to The Renaissance Master
There’s not a lot more you could ask for from a high-end cultural experience than witnessing the work of leading artists, choreographers, ballet-dancers and composers- all rolled into one. This Summer, in the lead up to the Olympics, the Royal Opera House will have just that. Between the 14th and the 20th of July this […]
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Barbados: Don’t Bother, Frankly
The architecture is pseudo post colonial; the tree crickets are drowned by the roar of leaf blowers, hedge trimmers and lawn-mowers and the air-con ensures that warm tropical nights are a thing of the past.
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Dub Your Weekend Down
This great selection of unreleased dubs has surfaced on Mixcloud from Soothsayers, a jazzy reggae band hailing from South London with their brand of vintage roots reggae spiced with their jazz, funk and afrobeat influences to keep things fresh. Perfect timing as Spring’s here, and you can never have too much dub at an eager […]
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Critics Divided on Robert Pattison’s Bel Ami Performance
While most of the big-hitter reviews of Bel Ami, the British film adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s ripe tale of an impoverished ex-soldier’s social ascent through seduction in belle epoque Paris, were brutal – they were also divided. Some spoke highly of Robert Pattinson’s performance, while others took no prisoners. Ultimately, of course, it will […]
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Hollywood Elite Snub Franchise Blockbusters
With no clearer example than this year’s 84th Academy Awards to demonstrate the old guards’ resistance to reflecting the choices of all viewers, millions watched as the Oscars gave a cosmetic nod to – but ultimately ignored – the enormous success of the so-called young adult (YA) franchises. In the same year that the Oscars lost […]
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Funkafrika – a Beginner’s Introduction to African Fusion
Here’s a taster course in African funk. Not that I’m a teacher in African funk. I just like African funk, especially with dope remixes thrown in for good measure. Ethiopian musician and arranger Mulatu Astatke is best known as the father of Ethio-jazz, a genre fusing Astatke’s vibraphone, piano backing and Mediterranean-inspired conga drums. Ghanaian musician Emmanuel Tettey […]
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Interview with JRR Tolkein: New York Times 1967
In 1967 Philip Norman interviewed JRR Tolkein for the New York Times. Here’s the scoop. It turns out that the author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings was born in South Africa, worked as an altar boy in Birmingham (England) and ended up pals with C.S. Lewis.
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EXCLUSIVE: Jermaine Jackson Interview
In September 2011, controversy surrounded Jermaine Jackson. A misquoted portion of his memoir had sparked outrage. A planned tribute concert in Cardiff had caused a rift in his family. Amidst all of this, Dr Conrad Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial was mere days away. Shelved without explanation by the Huffington Post, Charles Thomson’s interview with the star provided a window on his state of mind amid the brewing storm. Over four months later, fans can finally read it exclusively on The Orchard Times.
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D’Angelo Stokes Anticipation For New Album
D’Angelo was in Brixton, London last weekend, on the last leg of his European tour. Aside from being a supremely talented pianist & guitarist, he is blessed with a voice that had every female in the audience swooning, alongside some equally captivated gentlemen. On his acclaimed album Voodoo from 2000; he supposedly wrote, produced, sung […]
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Facebook IPO: EVERYONE is Connecting
Courtesy of The Verge. LETTER FROM MARK ZUCKERBERG Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission – to make the world more open and connected. We think it’s important that everyone who invests in Facebook understands what this mission means to us, how we make decisions […]