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March 13, 2010
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.
Posted by acapnews at March 13, 2010 12:00 AM
