In the spirit of absurd (but most certainly divine) combinations of today, the Seattle Symphony — under the direction of Gabriel Prokofiev, London-based composer, producer and DJ — debuted its arrangements of some of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s iconic tunes. Naturally, the headliner, and the only song that could turn an orchestra to an onstage dance party, was “Baby Got Back.”
“What I want to do now is something you really should not do, but since tonight is orchestral movements from the hood night, I’m going to leave some of this open if a couple of ladies would like to get up on the stage,” Sir Mix-a-Lot said to the crowd. “We will not bite unless you want us to.”
Seizing the night, somewhere around 35 women rushed onto the stage for this once in a lifetime opportunity, following the song’s pretty explicit directions as Sir Mix rapped along.
Part of the Seattle Symphony’s Sonic Evolution series, dedicated to Seattle’s music icons, Prokofiev wrote of his composition on his blog: “My aim with this new Sir-Mix-A-Lot inspired Orchestral work was to really get inside the musical mind of Sir Mix-A-Lot; to understand how his rhythms, textures, sounds and harmonies worked, and to create a contemporary orchestral composition that was true to the music of Sir-Mix-A-Lot.”