by Christopher Sutton | Jan 13, 2012 | A Cappella, Music
Last night was the first night of the London A Cappella Festival 2012, and it certainly got off to a tremendous start.
The evening began with foyer performances by several choirs from the “Music In Offices” initiative, including from the BBC and Channel 4. They sang from the balcony above the concert hall foyer downstairs, which a friend of mind pointed out was a kind of reverse serenade…
The Vasari Singers
The first concert was the Vasari Singers – a choir I’d heard of but never heard. Before they took to the stage though, we were treated to a mini performance by Albert Hera, who apparently has been called the Italian Bobby McFerrin – not a bad description! He has an incredibly versatile voice and evokative facial expressions, and as he bopped and hooted his way through announcing the “L-O-N-D-O-N a capp-ell-a twen-ty twelve” he repeatedly cracked the audience up with his playful expressions, gestures, and sounds. Wonderful to start the festival with laughter and such a show of vocal capability!
Then the Vasari Singers began the festival in earnest, (more…)
by Christopher Sutton | Nov 12, 2011 | Church, Music
This is part two in a series of posts on music in the Catholic Church. Part One covered my background and experience of Church music growing up.
So what does Church music look like today? Well it’s often very much that traditional hymn-singing I talked about.
But there are a few other types of church music…
Raise your hands
One mode of modern church music is what I think of as “Happy-Clappy” style. That’s too disrespectful a name really, but it’s the kind of music where you’re singing songs rather than hymns, the words aren’t based on scripture but are much more informal and secular-sounding, the music is more poppy and modern. Often there are actions (I must confess I cringe just saying that) and there’s a lot of clapping and waving arms in the air.
For a long time I was absolutely dismissive of this.
There’s a body of church music coming from African-American Gospel music, which is more upbeat, lively, and, well, ‘clappy’. I respect that as a genre and a mode of worship, although it isn’t one I’ve ever identified with. I think that’s the influence behind the rise of guitar-based poppy music in Catholic churches, often as part of youth outreach efforts, or children’s masses.
In dedicated family or children’s masses I think the agenda is different, and I think that style of music definitely has a place there. But until recently I would have been pretty resistant to its inclusion in any other masses, where I feel it’s mostly a distraction.
Waking up
I was given cause to rethink this by my experiences in Madrid this summer. (more…)
by Christopher Sutton | Jan 15, 2011 | A Cappella, Music
One of my favourite things about moving to North London has been setting up home just five minutes from Kings Place – a tremendous two-hall venue which houses a wide variety of live music, comedy, and spoken word performances throughout the year (and earns bonus points with the office-less entrepreneur for offering good coffee and free WiFi during the day!)
Last night I had the pleasure of attending not one but three concerts as part of the London A Cappella Festival 2011.
I very rarely read music reviews and don’t imagine myself any kind of a journalist, but I wanted to share some of the wonderful experience of the evening. So what follows isn’t intended as a critical review or a thorough recounting of the programme – just some thoughts and highlights from one excitable a cappella fan.
Note: I’m not one to snap photos during gigs, so please note none of the pictures or videos below are from the actual event.
If I’ve made any factual errors or you disagree with any of the views expressed – please shout in the comments below!
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My name's Christopher Sutton and this is my personal blog. You can learn more about me