Good evening friends, and welcome to our Gulf Watchers Block Party! The opening theme for this one is a celebration of a cappella music. Two words, two p’s, two l’s. A cappella comes from the Italian meaning "from the chapel/choir." While the term originally referred to the music of the Catholic church (plainsong or Gregorian chant), it now refers to group vocal music without instrumental accompaniment and includes not only the music of worship, but also work songs, barbershop, doo wop, rock, jazz, fusions of these, and more. We’ve come a long way, baby. Hearing voices is an experience full of wonder.
Regarding my musical skills... I don't play any instrument other than the kazoo. I can't read music or sing it, and keeping to the rhythm is sometimes challenging. But by gum, I can and do listen.
Please share whatever you like. Out of consideration for those on low bandwidth, use links only, no images or embeds.
Here's something to whet your appetite--a couple of selections from a Solvenian choir (??!!? Solvenian? God bless their a cappella hearts!), Perpetuum Jazzile, that uses a wide spectrum of styles, performing complex and dense harmonies. They do jazz, bossa nova and swing, funk, gospel and pop. Did I mention they're from Slovenia?
Africa
Ecce quomodo moritur iustus/Will You Be There
Now on to the rest, more or less grouped until I ran out of categories.
Worship
Let's start with Gregorian chant, shall we? There's simply nothing like a hearty "Dies Irae" to jump start a party and liven up the holiday season. I adore Gregorian chant because everybody sings the one melody line in a rhythm set by the development of the text rather than by measured patterns. And don't you worry, Gregorian chant is alive and well today. The Anonymous 4, an a cappella group whose pure, clear voices could bring tears to the eyes of a viper, offer a chant camp. The 4 do mostly medieval and Renaissance music, but they have a CD called Gloryland with contemporary material, although it seems not to be available on YouTube.
Skipping ahead 15 centuries or so...Composer/conductor Eric Whitacre was born in 1970 in Reno, Nevada. He is one of the most popular and performed composers of his generation. Give a listen to this virtual choral performance of his "Lux Aurumque."
The Westminster chorus, a barbershop group, does their version of this, adding body movement and obvious emotion, as is typical of barbershop showmanship.
For an altogether different flavor, I offer the Soweto Gospel Choir singing "Amazing Grace." The Fairfield Four stir it up with "Dig a Little Deeper." The Dixie Hummingbirds create harmonies so tight you couldn't get a hair between them in "Swing Low Sweet Chariot."
Insofar as worship goes, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers note that "Athiests Don’t Have No Songs." Still, I would think that even the most hard-hearted scientific materialist could respond to Randall Thompson’s choral rendition of Frost’s poem "Something Like a Star." (I cheated a bit in that this includes a whisper of instrumentation.)
Barbershop
Barbershop vocal harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era (1940s – present), is a style of a cappella characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture. (I copied that from Wikipedia. It sounds elegant, doesn't it?) Each of the four parts has its own role: generally, the lead sings the melody, the tenor harmonizes above the melody, the bass sings the lowest harmonizing notes, and the baritone completes the chord, usually below the lead. Your father's barbershop can be heard in The Music Man, where the Buffalo Bills sang several great numbers, including "Lida Rose." There are a lot of barbershop groups out there today doing amazing things. Try The Acoustix, or for some seriously rockin' stuff, the O'Jays with "Loves Me Like a Rock."
These are all quartets, but barbershop is so popular that there are huge choruses and international competitions. Here are the 2010 International Champions, the Westminster Chorus, singing (and dancing) a song I think is called "Mardi Gras." I do know that millions of women sing barbershop, but I couldn't find anything I like well enough to include here. Help me?
Work Songs
Manual labor was sometimes the only power source available, usually for difficult if not barbaric jobs such as chopping cotton, breaking rocks, or hauling sail on whalers. In those instances, the rhythm of work songs served to synchronize movement, singing helped alleviate the monotony, and the stories woven into the songs could help preserve heritage or take a subtle swipe at The Man. Here’s a prison gang work song, "Po Lazarus," as sung by The Fairfield Four (yes there are five of them) in O Brother Where Art Thou. One of my favorite genres is the sea chantey or shanty. Because the sailors came from and visited so many different places, the shanties reflect a variety of sources. Some are based on dance tunes popular in the 16th- and 17th-century Europe, some sound like West African work-songs, some are adapted folk songs or 19th century polkas and waltzes. Here are The Revels "Rolling Down to Old Maui."
Jazz, Rock, Hip Hop and Doo Wop
The Chordettes: So They Say (1954). They started out as a barbershop quartet.
The Swingle Singers: Bach’s Fugue for Organ in G Minor
Hot, hot, HOT!!! Take 6 Live: So Much to Say These guys are masters of extremely intricate rhythms.
Hip Hop Acappella: Ain’t No Sunshine
Doo Wop by The Alley Cats: A Cappella
Rockapella mix
UC Men’s Octet with 7-part a cappella: Bohemian Rhapsody
Not Otherwise Classified
Banda de Boca: Bachianas #5
T-Mobile: Welcome Back. Love these so-called flash mobs, but the name, not so much.
Chanticleer: Cells Planets
Black Voices: Somewhere Somebody
Faraualla: Tonga
Ladysmith Black Mombaza from the Graceland concert in Zimbabwe
http://www.youtube.com/...
The Voca People Interesting, but how exactly would you describe their costumes?
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That's enough outta me. Over to you, friends. Enjoy!!!