The Dean Rodney Singers are on tonight.. Interview time!

Welcome to the magical world of The Dean Rodney Singers. It's a magical music project that involves 7 dimensions, 7 countries, 72 musicians and is inspired by dreams, bright colours and superheroes. Sounds wicked, doesn't it?

Dean Rodney, front man of the punk/funk/hip hop group The Fish Police, created this project together with Heart'n'Soul, an arts organisation that provides artistic opportunities to learning disabled people.

Seven countries are part of the Dean Rodney Singers, and each country represents another dimension of Dean Rodney's vision.

During the Unlimited, The Dean Rodney Singers' project will take over a space at the Southbank Centre, and will also present dance videos and remixes that people have uploaded through youtube. Unfortunately I missed the deadline to do something, but you can watch their call out here:

In anticipation of their Unlimited project, Heart'n'Soul granted me a little interview, talking about the ideas behind the project, about the Unlimited and about how the Dean Rodney Singers have been received by the media so far. You can read it below. Enjoy!!

SW: The Dean Rodney singers project sounds amazing, all those different Countries and even dimensions that are involved! I also love how people could do their own videos or remixes to be involved (unfortunately, I missed the deadline myself to do something). What was the initial inspiration, or idea, behind the project? 

The initial idea came from a dream that lead artist Dean Rodney had in 2008. In the dream he saw a band with 72 different performers and they were called ‘DRS’. The band wasn’t sure what ‘DRS’ stood for, so Dean named them the ‘Dean Rodney Singers’.

 

SW: In what respect, do you think, is the Unlimited different to other disability arts events?

What makes Unlimited different to other disability arts events is the scale and ambition of the project.  It’s not putting disability arts into a box, it’s about recognizing that there are deaf and disabled artists in the UK whose work is suitable for the global platform that the Paralympic brings. Unlimited is putting their work on a par with all the other artists commissioned for the Cultural Olympiad.  

SW: Do you think the Unlimited will create a legacy for the disability arts?

I think that Unlimitedwill definitely create a legacy. However, perhaps one of the best legacies would be for the term ‘disability arts’ to become less important and for people to think more about the individual artists involved in the programme and their creative opportunities. 

SW: How was the response of the media so far regarding this project?

4. The media response to Unlimited has been very positive so far. Our experience has been one of genuine interest in the creative product rather than the traditional focus on the artist’s disability. 

SW: Thank you very much for the interview, Heart'n'Soul. Can't wait to bust some moves to the Dean Rodney Singers!