by Christopher Sutton | Jan 29, 2012 | A Cappella, Music
This is one of a number of posts on the London A Cappella Festival 2012. You can also read more about Saturday’s events and several other posts about the festival!
After some interesting workshops in the morning, a fun barbershop concert, a fascinating discussion on music education and panel session, Saturday finished the festival strong – with two superb final concerts.
FreePlay Duo
The first concert was the London Vocal Project, who were supported by FreePlay Duo: a collaboration between Dylan Bell (formerly of Cadence) and Suba Sankaran (whose bio is too vast and varied to squeeze into parentheses).
They performed just four songs: two using live looping (the pair had run the live looping workshop earlier in the day) to layer sound upon sound, and two performed directly. As befit the festival, all sounds were created live with the human voice – but the variety of timbres and textures created was truly impressive.
Aside from the skillful use of a digital loopstation, what is perhaps most striking about the duo is their mixing of musical styles, blending pop, and Western and Indian classical music into one surprisingly cohesive performance. Speaking of blending – (more…)
by Christopher Sutton | Jan 14, 2012 | A Cappella, Music
Another amazing night at the London A Cappella Festival. I’m trying hard to avoid these posts just being whole-hearted enthusiasm, but the music is just so good – and let’s face it, there are plenty of professional music critics who can cast a negative light. Let them. I’m having a fantastic time!
Tonight’s line-up was Cadence, Canada’s premier all-male a cappella foursome, and FORK, the relative unknown from the not-so distant shores of Finland. Throw in some more Albert Hera and a few great foyer performances from up-and-coming a cappella groups and you have a second night that managed to live up to the superb first.
Cadence
I came to know Cadence through listening to countless episodes of the excellent podcast “Mouth Off” – a short weekly update on all things a cappella, packed with fantastic tunes and fun chat, courtesy of hosts Christopher and Dave. This was the first chance I’d had to experience them live though and they certainly did not disappoint.
After a sincere introductory reading of that classic poem “Blame Canada” from Swingle Kevin, the Cadence crew took to the stage, immediately setting the tone for a light-hearted but sleek and schmoooth performance. Their repertoire focuses on lounge jazz and big band type numbers, of which they are masters.
I would say the most distinctive aspects of the Cadence sound are their perfectly smooth voice blending and the superb brass section they transform into at the slightest provocation! Brass sounds (think trumpet, trombone, etc.) can be overused in a cappella music and there was no shortage here, but Cadence have it down to a fine art – close your eyes and you can actually believe it’s the real instruments you’re hearing.
Case in point: (more…)
My name's Christopher Sutton and this is my personal blog. You can learn more about me