A Cappella Sundays!

Hi all, it's me again!

I hereby declare Sundays as A Cappella Sundays, because we all...

1. need a good dose of harmony and ensemble singing in our lives,
2. should hear more out there, and
3. understand more to really enjoy ourselves when we attend one of the festival concerts!

But of course, at any time of the week, the blog will be updated and so will our festival playlist on our YouTube channel!

Let's begin from SUADE who will be the opening act for the festival!

My favourite song ever from Billy Joel! Always a favourite Sunday chill out tune. Arrangement by The King's Singers.

(Can anyone tell if the lady at 1:55-1:58 was crying? Haha!)

All male harmonies have taken a cappella music by storm since the early days of music, contemporary groups like Suade, and others like Rockapella, The Nylons are no exceptions to such brilliant blends.

On the topic of all-male groups, let's have an all-female team from the festival - Niniwe, as part of our playlist for the festival, presenting "Your Eyes".

Niniwe has a haunting sound that is so alluring - something which is so endearing to me, because it sounds so seamless!

Now while I go swoon into my couch again, I'll return to blog the next time I have an update or A Cappella Sundays again!

Adios!

International A Cappella Festival!

Hi all!

Derrick here, and I'm reporting from the home of a cappella music here in Singapore, THE A CAPPELLA SOCIETY.

Have you found our beautiful flyers all around, be it online or just around recently? YES, IT'S THE INTERNATIONAL A CAPPELLA FESTIVAL and it's the 3rd year already!

Check out the e-flyer for the international and local lineup!

This year's international line up is wild with personalities and styles. From comedic bantering-infused a cappella, we have SUADE from Australia and VOCALDENTE (Germany) returns to The Arts House this year, and leading the a-Kappella wave, we have A-FIVE from Korean also!

Local teams and those fresh from August's A Cappella Championships are set to take the stage once again for a few nights of music making!

Watch out this space for more updates from me and catch more from our live feed on twitter!

REPORT FOR A CAPPELLA CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010

The A Cappella Championships ‘10 were held on 21-22 August at The Arts House Chamber and 23 August at Esplanade Recital Studio.

The first day at The Arts House hosted the Pop Choir category where the Filipino Voice Symphony, Singapore’s all-Filipino choral ensemble was crowned Champion of the category. This year marked the entry of full chorales like the Singapore Men’s Chorus into the competition.

As the event proceeded into the evening hours, we recorded a full house which saw fine performances throughout from all the groups in the College category. Soul 9 from Republic Polytechnic won the title as Champions. The prevalent opinion from the international judges and audience members was that the standard of A Cappella groups in Singapore has increased drastically and is very high as witnessed in the competition.

On 22 August was the High School and Open categories where we saw a wide range in the age of participating groups and still a rather low number of participants in the Open category as there has been a decline in interests for ensemble singing, much less for a cappella after most people leave their collegiate groups. The mixed-school team The V.O.calists and Malay-based Juz-B took the titles as High School and Open category winners respectively.

On 23 August was the International Category and Beatbox Battle at Esplanade Recital Studio, a first for us as we host 4 foreign teams from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia for the International Category. Taiwan’s jazz ensemble Green Onion proved winner with their all jazz repertoire and evening-wear costumes to match.

The first Beatbox Battle held by us was a success, having 5 very competent beatboxers who battled it out in a 2-stage, knockout round; followed by a Finals, where the remaining 4 contestants fight it out with another finalist to determine the title-winner. Kai (Hwang Kai Wen) emerged as 1st Runner Up, as Zack Arif was crowned Champion after a highly intensed 1-v-1 match before our esteemed judges.

Furthermore, the quality of singing over the period of the competition was high in general which strengthens our hope that the past work is bearing fruit and can be sustained in the future.

Happy National Day everyone!

This year at the prestigious annual A Cappella Championships, we will see 6 international teams, who will travel from within Asia, competing for the top award in our international ensemble category.
This is the first time we have an entire evening dedicated to international teams due to the ever increasing number of teams.

From as many countries as they come from, they will bring their pop and folk musical arrangements, ensuring that the repertoire for the evening will be not only entertaining but also educational and surely inspiring.
Furthermore, we are privileged to host a guest group on that evening all the way from Sri Lanka. The Revelations are currently ranked #4th in the world among male voice choirs, highlighting a truly international evening of world class vocal music.
Please support all the groups by bringing along your friends, colleagues, students and fellow singers to extend a warm Singaporean welcome to our international friends.

June newsletter

Happy belated Vesak Day everyone!

We've just had a great performance from the Yale Spizzwinks, all of you who couldn't join us for the night, you missed something! But don't worry too much, you'll have another chance very soon, in less than 2 weeks the group's all-female counterpart, the Yale Whim 'n Rhythm, will make their stop in Singapore (diverted from Bangkok).

After a short summer break everything is set for the Championships and our Festival. The first registrations from international groups have already come in promising another exciting Champs.

Your team at The A Cappella Society

www.a-cappella.org.sg