Lose yourself in Mika's devious cartoon-pop world

[Ruth]

Music: Lose yourself in Mika's devious cartoon-pop world

By JONATHAN TAKIFF

Philadelphia Daily News

takiffj@phillynews.com 215-854-5960

 

 

 

 

String-bean thin and eccentric, the kid was so bullied in his British school he lost the ability to read and even speak and had to be home-schooled. Music became his salvation. From age 12, he started singing in opera productions. That landed him a spot at the Royal College of Music. An advertising jingle for Orbit chewing gum became his first compositional claim to fame.

 

 

 

Q: How central is opera to your music?

A: I come from opera in so many ways. My first job at age 12 was singing in Strauss' "Woman Without a Shade." I also did a lot of contemporary works. I couldn't read music, but I was good at memorization. That got me into the Royal College of Music, where I studied till I was 20, 21.

 

 

 

Opera has so many ways of singing, from whispering to screaming. I wasn't clever enough to study composition. I wanted to write movie music but they wouldn't let me do the course because I'm dyslexic. But here, too, my ear for melody, my skill at memory, pulls me through.

 

 

 

Q: While your albums layer in vocal ensembles and orchestral flourishes, I'm guessing that's not part of your stage show, right?

A: Live, we're just six people but still creating a world of our own. Would I love to have a string section and chorus on stage? Sure. In fact, I'm doing this [bBC] Radio 2 concert in November with the King's Singers that we're also going to record, that was partly inspired by all the a cappella groups now doing my material.

 

 

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/features/20091016_Music__Lose_yourself_in_Mika_s_devious_cartoon-pop_world.html

 

 

Thanks for posting this.

 

My points - why do they credit Mika with composing the Orbit jingle? I can't count how often I've heard him say he didn't write it.

 

The underlined bits about memory - is this memory the reason he can remember us? I'd sooner have the memory that the music theory skills

 

 

Then the last underlined bit. I hope it is on telly but I don't know if it will be. However.... lots of 'us' will be there and I'm sure, discretely, it could be videoed... couldn't it?

 

I think that answers the sun article that said that Mika wants to quit music soon!

 

 

Never trust a word the Sun says. I was very uncomfortable about Mika cosying up to them last month in London. They have long knives.

[annabelle]

Thanks for posting.

[chickadee]

Droopsy, do you live inside Google?:shocked:Thanks!

 

It's the first time I read that he wanted to study composition to write for movies. I see Mika's records as soundtracks, and I really see him moving into that direction.

 

I was wanting to comment on that also. I get chills at the idea of him writing the score for a movie (good chills:naughty:) and I really hope it's something that he does in the future, particularly since he does have an interest in it. My question is.... how does he currently get around the fact that he doesn't read music, and why could the same technique not have been employed at College to enable him to do the course? If he was blind, would a way have been found around it? I'm pretty sure it would have, lest they be accused of discrimination on the basis of someone's disability. Or are the laws not the same in England?

[sienna]

 

"Androgynous cutie", I like that.

 

 

But that is what he is!

 

Thanks for posting Droopsy, you have really found a bunch of interesting articles lately, I appreciate them highly!