Have you ever thought about using your singing talents to change the world? Or, at least, your community? HALO quartet, led by tenor and HALO Incorporated’s Executive Director, Shana Oshiro, is doing just that.
Building off the concepts of barbershop, they are working on bringing more harmony to the world, and not just in the musical sense. Listen in tonight at 6:30 Pacific or Sunday at 10:30 am/pm Pacific to hear more about their Race and #RealTalk series and invaluable advice from the barbershop Queen and Board Certified Music Therapist.
Amanda and Rachael also discuss what they hope to see more of this year in a cappella.
Episodes are available at vocalherspective.org or your favorite podcast network theMonday after airing.
The first day of contest and shows at the 2019 BHS Midwinter Convention was especially significant. It started with the first-ever Next Generation Junior Quartet Contest and ended with a barn-burning Heritage of Harmony Show on the stage at the Grand Ole Opry.
The significance of both events is the demonstration of the Barbershop Harmony Society’s ongoing mission of “Everyone in Harmony” with a focus on youth and the roots of barbershop in African-American music tradition.
15 young quartets, all singers under the age of 18, took the stage in front of a rowdy crowd in the ballroom at Opryland. There were both men’s and women’s quartets and one mixed quartet. While most of the singers were in high school, Elementary Mix from Quinton, NJ – a quartet of elementary school students – charmed the crowd with their rendition of “The Chordbusters March.”
At the end of the contest, the Quin-Tones, a men’s quartet from Salem, NJ, took home the gold medals with a score of 219 points, edging out both 2nd and 3rd by just one point. Singing “My Ideal,” these young gentlemen demonstrated musicality and personality far beyond their years.
Tying for 2nd and 3rd were Singing Double, a quartet of two sets of twins from Tampa, FL, and Vintage Mix, seasoned barbershopping quadruplets from Milwaukee, WI.
Singing Double; Photo: Rick KrebsbachVintage Mix; Photo: Rick Krebsbach
The evening was a true celebration of barbershop not only coming to terms with a segregated past, but celebrating a new path forward where diversity and inclusion is paramount.
In addition to all of the great variety of a cappella you can hear ’round the clock here at Acaville Radio, we’re going to bring you some bonus releases each Tuesday to make sure you’re finding all of the latest and greatest this talented community has to offer.
Here to save us from U.S. Election Day madness, the magical voices of Duwende are back with a cover of the Bee Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love.” Just pour a glass of wine and put it on repeat as the polling results come in.
This game-changing Harmony, Inc. quartet had a pretty great week in Orlando – they finished 13th overall in the International Quartet Contest and also received service award at IC&C on behalf of Harmony, Inc. for their community work with Race and #RealTalk. Here is their rendition of Fats Waller’s and Andy Razaf’s “Black and Blue” – arrangement by David Wright.
In honor of Halloween, Backtrack gave us the “The Sort-Of Ballad of Sweeney Todd” featuring an arrangement and guest appearance on bass by Evan Feist. Pretty amazing set provided by YouTube, too!
Top Irish vocal band, Ardú, released another music video from their latest album, Gravity. This time it’s Elbow’s “Lippy Kids” now on rotation on Acaville!
2018 AcaOpen Champions dropped their first music video this week and it brings back all the warm fuzzies that took over Carnegie Hall the night of their big win. Here is “My Favorite Things.’
