A Cappella News

Singers stretch their voices in a cappella contest

The Olympian (WA)

A cappella singing is an art as old as music itself. The first instrument anyone ever had was their voice,” said Jason Caffarella of Rezonate, which will perform Saturday in Olympia as part of the Northwest Harmony Sweepstakes, an a cappella singing competition. “Sometimes, people think a cappella singing is something fresh and different, but it’s not really fresh and different at all,” Caffarella said, pointing to a cappella’s start as music in the church.

But as the saying goes, everything old is new again. And there’s new excitement about a cappella singing this year thanks to NBC’s “The Sing-Off,” a reality show based on the sweepstakes. “We’ve all been talking about this,” said Gary Witley, artistic director of Masterworks Choral Ensemble, which hosts the event, part of a national series of competitions. “I don’t have a TV, but as I understand it, the show was a big success, so there is a lot more mainstream awareness of a cappella singing.”

Producers of “The Sing-Off” are looking to Harmony Sweepstakes to provide contestants, Witley said. Last year, the all-female group Max Factor, which won the sweepstakes, was a contestant. “I’ve seen a lot more buzz on the Internet,” Caffarella said. “People are discussing the art of a cappella music a lot more. Whether people were pro or con on the show, it has generated a lot of interest in a cappella, in contemporary stylings of mostly pop tunes.” Read more.

She opens her throat and The North comes out

Winnipeg Free Press (Canada):

Four years ago, Andrew Balfour, artistic director of the Camerata Nova vocal ensemble, needed a last-minute replacement for an Inuit throat singer. In a panic, he called the Aboriginal People's Television Network to ask whether staff there had any suggestions. That's how APTN host and accomplished singer-songwriter Madeleine Allakariallak found herself drafted for the première of Balfour's Northern Lights-themed oratorio, Wa Wa Tey Wak.

Allakariallak grew up in remote Resolute Bay and learned to sing from elders, particularly her grandmother, who had lived on the land until the 1950s. Although there are different styles of throat singing in different regions, she says, the style she learned doesn't use words. Often guttural-sounding, it mimics sounds from nature -- particularly animals and birds -- and is done by a pair of women in friendly competition. Each tries to outlast the other.

"Traditionally, women throat-sang as a way of entertaining each other while their men were out hunting. It was a game. One creates a sound and the other follows, and creates the exact same sound. The sounds overlap... Whoever starts laughing first, loses. "When you close your eyes as an audience member, you actually start to hear sounds: the mosquito, the water passing through rocks in the river."

A centuries-old, funny nonsense song handed down through the oral tradition ties in perfectly with Balfour's theme of first contact between Inuit and Europeans. Read more.

Harmony Sweepstakes season begins!

It's the first big weekend for the Harmony Sweepstakes with shows on Saturday night in San Francisco, Pacific Northwest (Olympia) and Rocky Mountain (Denver). Now in our 26th year there has been a certain amount of ebb and flow over the years but we are pleased to report that this year we had a record amount of group submissions including groups from Spain, Canada, Mexico and The Philippines. All regional line ups are now complete and many have the strongest line up they have had in years. A list of all the participants can be seen here.

We also received today from the manufacturer the Harmony Sweepstakes 25th Anniversary CD featuring a selection of the best tracks from the first 25 years on one CD and the 25th National Finals on a 2nd disc. We are very proud of the recordings and feel they demonstrate well the variety of talented groups we have been fortunate to have on our shows.

We are interested in having our regional shows reviewed and are seeking folks who would like to attend and write about the events. We can offer a free ticket or a selection of a cappella CDs as compensation. We are looking for a colorful, creative, informative documentation of the event rather than critiques but would welcome any and all comments and opinions. It's a way of letting folks who didn't make it that evening to get a feel of what it was like to be there. If you are interested please contact us by email.

Happy Birthday Bobby

Congratulations to Bobby McFerrin on his 60th birthday today. He is and always will be the true master of the art of a cappella singing.

Blake Lewis goes Hollywood

I just came across this photo of Blake Lewis, former a cappella singer (Kickshaw) and the American Idol runner up. Well this is not the Blake I remember singing at the A Cappella Summit - yes Blake has certainly gone Hollywood! And why of course he is guest blogger this week at Hollywood Life.

Ballads by Candlelight - The Idea of North

Australian Stage:

They just get better and better. Australia’s premier a-cappella vocal ensemble held a capacity audience completely wrapt in the neo-gothic splendour and superb acoustic of St Peter’s Cathedral for over an hour. This awesome foursome has earned well-deserved paeons of praise wherever they have performed around the world, and deserve a fuller following in their home country; surely one of our best artistic exports.

Their perfectly conceived opening with Bobby McFerrin’s gorgeous treatment of the 23rd Psalm set the atmosphere for this often contemplative, sometimes subdued, and almost always sublime concert by candlelight. A pot-pourri of ballads by such diverse composers as Sting, Peter Allen, George Gershwin, ABBA and Charlie Chaplin followed, each showing only some of this group’s range of talent, including Alto Naomi Crellin’s relaxed smoothness and admirable accuracy, Soprano Sally Cameron’s clarity crispness and range, Tenor Nick Begbie’s appealing penchant for passion as well as subtle humour, and Bass Andrew Piper’s rich tones and grounded, rock-solid rhythm.

Together, TION demonstrates exemplary ensemble. Sting’s “Fields of Gold” shone in this with its crunchy harmonies, and showed Sally’s versatility. The group’s own arrangement of “How Fragile We Are” showed seamless passes of tune from Nick to Naomi. Her arrangement of “I Still Call Australia Home” with some wonderful key changes should be taken notice of by Qantas. It brought the audience to its feet. Read more.

Rajaton showed extraordinary skill in ABBA concert

Chronicle Herald (Canada):

The excitement started when Symphony Nova Scotia, led by Bernard Gueller, played a full and symphonically righteous ABBA medley at the top of the Pops Series concert in the Cohn on Friday night.

The magic started when Rajaton, three 30-something women and three ditto men from Helsinki, Finland, strode across the front of the stage, spaced like the Beatles crossing Abbey Road.

The feeling of deep happiness that instantly came from who knows where — though the medley probably had something to do with it — stayed in the house for two hours while these six virtuosic singer-musicians and the symphony, enhanced by a baker’s dozen of extra players, gave their all for ABBA.

With Rajaton in the house, the sweetness of their voices, the honeyed quality of the women’s voices, the gentle warmth of the men’s and the extraordinary level of musical skill they have developed over the last decade as an a cappella group whose only peers are The Nylons and The King’s Singers. It extends to inventing shockingly realistic imitations of instruments, ranging from snare drums to bells to whining wah-wah trumpets and trombones, as in their extraordinary performance of Fernando.

They brought the house down with that one on Friday night. Even the symphony musicians were impressed. Rajaton’s own arrangements are astonishing in their inventiveness and their sheer musical genius. All the elements of first-rate musical craftsmanship are present in the layering of inner voices, the rhythmic interchanges and the seamless exchange of colours.

Bass Jussi Chydenius sounds like a double-bass or creates an entire drum corps, realistically snapping out a snare drum rhythm and rolling it off into silence. Cymbals splash from everywhere in the group as needed but all these effects, marvellously, reach a pared-down level of subtlety which is neither under- nor over-done. The tiniest vocal inflection is inserted precisely in place, not studied, but spontaneous.

And though all these singers are strikingly fine, an extra word needs to be said of Soila Sariola’s Streisand-esque soaring over the top of the tune in The Winner Takes All and of Hannu Lepola’s Jaggeresque skipping across the stage, doing lead-singer gyrations with a fine mixture of comic irony and metaphoric precision. Read more.

Sing Off back for second season!

TV Guide is confirming that NBC does plan to bring back The Sing Off for a second season. No dates, judges or other info has been decided. The industry word seems to be the show got solid ratings during a tough week and is the latest singing-related series to get some traction. Yeah!

How singing could save cash

Kent News (UK):

Ground-breaking research into the effects of singing on health could lead to significant savings for the National Health Service (NHS), according to experts. And a unique study, commissioned by Eastern and Coastal Kent NHS Trust, could also reveal whether crooning delays the onset of dementia and prevents depression in older people.

Professor Stephen Clift, who is leading the project at Canterbury Christ Church University’s Sidney De Haan Research Centre, said: “There is now more interest in how simple things can improve well-being. "Group activities such as singing stop elderly people feeling isolated and anxious, which improves their mood and can help deal with issues such as depression.

The 12-week project, which was made possible through £250,000 of funding from the National Institute for Health Research, is the first of its kind in the UK.

The project will see over-60s split into two groups, a singing group and a non-singing control group, enabling a comparison to be made. Health measures will be monitored, such as how many times they visit their GPs over the 12 weeks. Prof Clift said: “This will allow us to test the value of singing in relation to well-being and health. As people live longer, the NHS is keen to ensure a good quality of life for the elderly.

The study will also allow us to assess whether this could result in savings for the NHS and local authority services. “If we can prevent a small number of people being hospitalised, we can save a considerable amount.” The project will be undertaken with partners from Sing For Life, which operates more than 40 Silver Song Clubs in the South East. Read more.

Here's that "socialized medicine" for you. Funding studies to create a more rewarding and healthy life for its senior citizens. And actually saving health care costs as well! While here in the US costs soar, service suffers, less people are insured and still we have no Health Care bill. We just heard today that the mother of one of my daughter's classmates has been diagnosed with breast cancer and apparently does not have health insurance due to a preexisting condition. So on top of the emotional and physical distress of chemotherapy the family faces severe financial distress as well. I simply can not fathom why so many politicians can ignore the plight of such hardworking yet unfortunate citizens.

Sing Ahh!

Boys just wanna have fun

Sydney Morning Herald (Australia):

When Irwin Keller of the Kinsey Sicks isn't singing in drag, he's teaching at the synagogue, writes Katrina Lobley. By day, he's a highly unconventional lay rabbi. By night, Irwin Keller breaks even more rules, dressing in nerdy drag to sing, rather than lip-sync, everything from sassy doo-wop to stinging satirical songs.

Keller - and the rest of his "dragapella quartet", the Kinsey Sicks - are visiting Australia for the first time to join this year's Mardi Gras line-up. The quartet has taken aim at everything from George Bush and Republican politics - "Obama was definitely bad for the comedy industry," Keller says - to inane television news broadcasters. Their latest show includes original songs and parodies of pop's biggest stars - think Britney Spears and Beyonce.

The quartet came together thanks to Ben Schatz, who plays Rachel in the Kinsey Sicks (a reference to the Kinsey sexuality scale, where six signifies ''exclusively homosexual''). "Ben used to organise these drag excursions - we were all busy young professionals and activists - and to cut loose, he would say: 'OK, Friday night we're all getting in drag and going to San Francisco airport,''' Keller says. ''It's not easy to stun people in drag in San Francisco but we tried really hard.''

It wasn't until they dressed as the Andrews Sisters for a 1993 Bette Midler concert - "We were surprised we were the only drag queens there other than Bette" - that the seed for the Kinsey Sicks was planted. A promoter asked if they'd consider a professional gig, which was when the friends realized they each had great pipes.

"We sat up all night coming up with ideas and harmonizing and we thought: 'Gosh, doing a cappella in drag would be hilarious,'" Keller says. "We spent the next six months putting together our first show and we performed on a street corner but we never starved. ''I was working as a lawyer with the AIDS Legal Referral Panel. Ben was running a national policy program advocating on behalf of lesbian and gay healthcare workers and he was also one of President Clinton's advisers on HIV policy." Read more.

Swedish Radio Choir soars

Chicago Classical Review (IL):

The composer Ingvar Lidholm once defined the Scandinavian brand of choral singing as “an absolutely even, equalized sound, in which every singer consents to relinquish his or her own personality in favor of the choir’s.” While said roughly a decade ago, it’s difficult to imagine a more fitting description of the Swedish Radio Choir today, whose 32-voice instrument is truly a cohesive musical force.

In their terrific concert Tuesday night at the suitably grand Fourth Presbyterian Church downtown, the a cappella ensemble offered a wide-ranging program under guest conductor and San Francisco Symphony chorus director Ragnar Bohlin.

Although the SRC is adept at making music from all corners of the globe, these Swedes are at their finest when they dig into works from their Scandinavian compatriots. Hugo Alfven’s free-wheeling Aftonen commanded one’s attention with its slivers of melody rising over easy swaying accompaniments, like that of an American spiritual.

All evening the altos and sopranos were impeccable with their tonal precision. Sven-David Sandstrom’s Lobet den Herrn, based on a text from Bach’s motet of the same name, showed the choir’s affection for experimentation; here stagnated bursts of notes projected out into the cathedral like drops of rain hitting a windshield.

Easily the evening’s most mesmerizing work was a wordless panorama of sound from Stockholm-born Anders Hillborg. Mouyayoum, in fact, hardly registers as music sung by people. More like that of effects pedals, Hillborg’s timbral collage approximates a family of woodwinds than human voices, and the effect was wholly seductive.

Read more.

Singing therapy helps stroke patients regain language

CNN:

When mothers speak to children, it's often in a singsong tone. That's no coincidence, scientists say, given that music and language are so intricately linked in the brain.

Scientists are using this fundamental connection between song and speech to treat patients who have lost their ability to communicate. There's evidence that music can be used to help people with severe brain impairments learn how to speak again, scientists said over the weekend at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Doctors at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, are treating stroke patients who have little or no spontaneous speech by associating melodies with words and phrases.

"Music, and music-making, is really a very special form of a tool or an intervention that can be used to treat neurological disorders, said Dr. Gottfried Schlaug, associate professor of neurology at Beth Israel and Harvard University. "There's rarely any other activity that could really activate or engage this many regions of the brain that is experienced as being a joyous activity."

There are between 750,000 and 800,000 strokes per year in the United States, and about 200,000 of them result in a kind of language disorder called aphasia, he said. About one-third of those patients have aphasia so severe that they become non-fluent, meaning about 60,000 to 70,000 patients per year could benefit from the music therapy.

The left side of the brain plays a key role in speech and language ability. But the right side of the brain has the capability to become enhanced and change its structure to compensate for left-side deficits, researchers have found.

Schlaug's group's technique, Melodic Intonation Therapy, involves singing tones with the patient and having the patient repeat words and phrases to the sound of those tones. Melody and rhythm are incorporated in getting the patients, who would otherwise not be able to speak, to sing.

The observation that some patients with brain damage can sing but not speak has been around for at least a century, Schlaug said. However, it's only recently that the phenomenon, and how it works in the brain, has been scientifically studied.

Anyone can be trained to do this therapy, including nonprofessional caregivers and family members, he said. It is not widespread, perhaps because of people's natural inhibition about singing with patients, he said.

Read more.

Craig Arnold steps down

Decorah Newspaper (IA):

Craig Arnold, Luther College professor of music, director of choral activities, and conductor of the internationally acclaimed Nordic Choir, has announced his intention to leave his position at Luther at the end of the academic year. Arnold, who joined the Luther faculty in 2005, plans to join his wife, Sarah, who is teaching at University Medical and Dental School of New Jersey and finishing a doctorate from Drew University. The Arnolds will reside in Summit, N.J.

Professor Arnold will resume leadership of Manhattan Concert Productions with plans to conduct the Manhattan Concert Chorale and Chamber Orchestra. The Arnolds' sons live in New York City and Washington, D.C. Arnold will continue his teaching and conducting duties at Luther through May.

"Dr. Arnold has taken Luther's vocal music program to a new level of excellence and has advanced the Nordic Choir's reputation as one of the nation's premier college music ensembles," said Luther President Richard Torgerson.

"We are deeply saddened that he will be ending his teaching and conducting career at Luther. He is an outstanding musician, connects exceedingly well with students, and is committed to the faith and learning mission of this college. Nevertheless, we support his decision to move on, and wish him the very best as he shares his many talents in new ways."

Arnold said his decision to leave Luther was a difficult one after five years of success in the transition of Nordic Choir to a new era. Arnold was named director of the Nordic Choir after the storied 57-year tenure of internationally known conductor Weston Noble who retired in 2005. Arnold said his time at Luther has been a rewarding experience.

"I have so enjoyed fine colleagues, students, teaching and performing opportunities," Arnold said. "I will remember these years fondly. Luther is well supported and poised for continuing growth and excellent music making."

Torgerson said the college will soon begin the search for Arnold's successor.

Review: Manhattan Transfer

Variety:

40th anniversaries are no longer a rarity in popular music, but they're usually accompanied by some degree of acrimony -- manifested in public sniping, separate buses and the like. But as they commemorate that milestone, the Manhattan Transfer haven't aired a shred of dirty laundry and -- as evidenced at the first night of their Gotham stand -- seem every bit as enthusiastic about their musical collaboration as they were decades ago.

Playing a venue that often brings out the more affected facets of most artists, the quartet acted as if they were treading the boards of an old-school jazz club. Each of the members played to their particular vocal strengths, but just as importantly, each showcased a singular personality -- from the deadpan stylings of founder Tim Hauser to the coltish giddiness of Cheryl Bentyne, who looked as thrilled when one of her bandmates seized upon a successful riff as when she did so herself.

There were plenty of winning notes in the 80-minute perf -- Janis Siegel's wide-eyed lead vocal on "A Tisket, A Tasket" and a slinky, low-slung take on "Route 66" among them -- but none more captivating than the interludes where they brought out their octogenarian mentor Joe Hendricks to harmonize, and take a few leads of his own. Hendricks has changed his vocal range a bit, naturally enough, but his phrasing and cadence are still razor-sharp, notably on a spry version of "Gimme That Wine," a tune he popularized as one-third of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.

The Transfer touched on their recent Four Quarters release "The Chick Corea Songbook" in a three-song mini-set keyed by a wending "Spain" suite, and picked up considerable steam at set's end, with Bentyne delivering a knockout lead on Gilberto Gil-Tracy Mann's gorgeous "Hear the Voices." By the time they wrapped things up with their take on "Birdland," it was easy to believe one had actually been transported back to that hallowed hall.

Presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center. Musicians: Tim Hauser, Janis Siegel, Alan Paul, Cheryl Bentyne, Yaron Gershovsky, Steve Hass, Gary Wicks, Adam Hawley. Special Guest: Jon Hendricks.

History has never sounded so sweet

Pioneer Press (MN):

History shouldn't be boring. The best writers and teachers of the subject know that you make people care about history by bringing them to feel a kinship to those who experienced it, a sense of the spirit and mood that surrounded the major changes in a culture.

For 20 years, Minneapolis-based choral group Vocal Essence has been marking African-American History Month with its "Witness" concerts, bringing the music of African-American composers to the fore and honoring the lives of key historical figures. But never have they brought history to such vivid life as at St. Paul's sold-out Ordway Center Sunday afternoon. For that, they can thank their collaborators, Sweet Honey in the Rock.

The six-woman a cappella vocal group from Washington, D.C., has spent its 37 years surveying a varied compendium of musical styles while keeping social justice issues at the center of their repertoire, particularly the struggle for equality for African-Americans and women. Sunday's concert proved a marvelous showcase for their unique talents, with almost every song bringing exhilaration, chills or both.

The group used its voices to create propulsive rhythms and rich harmonies, combining them with purposeful lyrics and a colorful stage presentation (literally, in the case of their vividly hued outfits). And the songs they performed could doubtless revive the spirits of even the weariest of fighters for peace and justice.

Such struggles were the theme of the concert's second half, separated into songs about the movements for labor, civil rights and peace. The group would perform a few songs on each subject, then conductor Philip Brunelle and the VocalEssence Chorus would deliver one of their own.

The most memorable collection came when Sweet Honey in the Rock followed a medley of civil rights anthems with the moving "Ella's Song" by their founder, Bernice Johnson Reagon, and VocalEssence chimed in with Rosephanye Powell's "I Dream a World." While the musical styles were quite different, they complemented each other well, just as when VocalEssence wove placid harmonies on one gentle chorus of "This Little Light of Mine" before Sweet Honey turned it into the ebullient gospel roof-raiser most listeners have come to know. The crowd stood to clap and sing along, but it's likely that Sweet Honey would have inspired them to stand and cheer at concert's end, regardless.

Fisk Jubilee Singers singing spirituals since 1871

News Tribune (WA):

When the Fisk Jubilee Singers first formed a group singing a cappella spirituals, they weren’t just introducing audiences to songs that had been heard before only by slaves. They were crossing boundaries: political, racial, social and spiritual. It had a huge effect. The group will perform in Tacoma this weekend.

“When the Fisk Singers came to my hometown in Arkansas in 1954, my father was on the symphony board, so one of them stayed in our home,” says Dr. Diana Marre, a Tacoman and longtime fan of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. “My mother hit the ceiling – it was obviously a color thing. It was unprecedented to do that. But the impact of their singing on the white members of the symphony was tremendous. People had tears in their eyes. And they’ll have the same effect here.”

Formed in 1871, the Fisk Jubilee Singers have been credited with introducing the Negro spiritual to the world and making it mainstream. In their first half-century, they broke racial norms as they toured Europe and performed for kings and queens. In 2008, the group received the National Medal for Arts, the nation’s highest artistic honor. This year, they were nominated for a Grammy. They’ve collaborated with performers from Jonny Lang to Neil Young and were the subject of a 1999 award-winning PBS documentary.

But their real effect, as Murre says, is on the audiences who hear them. Despite an ever-changing makeup (the 16 singers always are students at Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn.), the Fisk Singers still sing the same powerful spirituals as they did in 1871, just different arrangements. Read more.

Rockapella offers free download

Rockapella is offering a free download of "Cupid" which features newest member Steve Dorian. In other news group member Scott Leonard suffered an accident just before Christmas resulting in broken ribs and cracked wrist. He is recovering nicely and is now back in the studio recording a new Rockapella CD.