The term "a cappella" appeared at the end of the 17th century and, translated from Italian, means "as in a chapel." The term is usually associated with the practice of papal worship in Rome's Sistine Chapel.
The current a cappella bands have tried to bring a modern approach to the non-instrumental performance of melodies, often interspersing such an attribute of hip-hop culture as beatboxing and vocal reproduction of instrumental parts of famous songs.
TUT.BY has chosen 10 most unusual and famous a cappella bands in the world.
Barbatuques
Barbatuques was founded in 1996 by Brazilian musician Fernando Barba. For a long time, Fernando has been researching body percussion techniques - musical performance by extracting sounds with the help of the human body. First as a hobby, but then, while studying at the State University of Brazil in the course "Popular Music", he delved into the study of rhythm, and a few years later he founded his own research center. With the Barbatuques team, which includes students of Barba, he took part in many social and cultural projects and traveled almost the whole world. At the moment, the band's discography includes two albums and two DVDs from the Corpo do Som show.
Jukebox Trio
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A cappella trio from Kazan, performing in their own style of "street beat a cappella" and performing cover versions of famous songs and their own works. Jukebox Trio began their creative activity in 2004, in 2006 at the New Wave music festival in Jurmala the musicians received a special prize - Alla Pugacheva's Gold Star, and exactly a year later the musicians opened Elton John's performance in Rostov-on-Don before 90 thousand people.
The team was especially famous for their work on the full-length film "Alvin and the Chipmunks", where the musicians sang all the Russian-language songs of the cartoon characters.
At the moment, there are three full-length albums in the Jukebox Trio discography: Acappellipsis, Rodina I and Rodina II.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
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Ladysmith Black Mambazo (Ladysmith is the name of the South African city in which the group originated, Black Mambazo is a black Zulu ax that, according to legend, defeats opponents in battles) was founded by Joseph Shabalala. In the 1960s, he created a children's Zulu "song and dance" group, which then transformed into a male choir. The choir revived the tradition of Zulu choral singing iscathamiya, which in Zulu means "crouching step". This style originated in the mines of South Africa, when black workers after a six-day work week wanted to amuse themselves with late-night singing and dancing "at their fingertips" so as not to attract the attention of the guards.
The first album Amabutho was recorded by the choir in 1973. It was the first African LP to be certified gold in sales. The record was transferred to CD and is now sold all over the world, becoming the best-selling record in the history of South Africa.
The band's discography includes more than 40 albums, for which the musicians were nominated for Grammy 13 times, four of which they put in their piggy bank.
local vocals
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Danish choir, founded by conductor Anna Ostergaard and consisting of 23 people. It consists of singers of various ages, including programmers, actors, teachers and retirees. There are no professional singers among the participants. In 2013, the choir won second place at the international vocal competition in Aarhus.
The group's repertoire includes Danish folk songs, as well as cover versions of songs by Leonard Cohen, Dido, Tori Amos, Michael Jackson and hits from the 90s. By the way, a potpourri video with hits from the 90s has gained more than 6 million views on YouTube and has become one of the most viewed clips among Danish artists.
Naturally 7
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American a cappella group formed in New York in 1999. The founders - brothers Roger and Warren Thomas, having gathered 5 more vocalists, actively participated in many US music competitions, in most of which they won prizes and won.
Over the course of 16 years, Naturally 7 released seven full-length albums, and a cover version of Phil Collins' In the air tonight reached number three on the charts in France, Belgium, and South Africa. The album Wall of Sound took 29th place in the British music tops in 2009.
Out of the Blue
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Out of the Blue is the men's a cappella choir at the University of Oxford. The team was founded in October 2000, but since it consists of university students, it does not have a permanent membership. The choir participates annually in the Edinburgh Arts Festival. Also on the track record are: a performance at the Royal Palace, a tour of the United States and numerous victories in major vocal competitions in Britain, including the International College Choir Festival and The Voice Festival.
The group gained great popularity by participating in the popular British TV show Britain's Got Talent and a cover video for Shakira's song Hips Don't Lie, which received more than five and a half million views on YouTube.
Pentatonix
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Pentatonix is the most popular a cappella band of our time with 7 million subscribers on YouTube and 57 million views of the Evolution of Music video. Founded in 2011 in Arlington, Texas. After winning the American a cappella show The Sing-off, the five singers were noticed by the Sony Music label.
The musicians released two full-length albums, in 2013 they received the YouTube Music Awards for their cover version of the Imagine Dragons song "Radioactive", and this year they were awarded a Grammy in the nomination "Best Acapella Band".
Perpetuum Jazzile
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Slovenian acapella band, founded in 1983, but gained wide popularity only in 2009, after performing their own interpretation of Toto's song "Africa" at a concert in the Italian city of Udine.
The video gained 17 million views, and the choir went on a tour of Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Canada and the United States, accompanied by constant sold-outs. In 2009, Perpetuum Jazzile won a prize at the World Choir Games, called the Choir Olympics, in Graz, Austria.
Spiralmouth
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The Spiralmouth band practically does not give concerts, spending most of the time in the studio perfecting their vocal skills. The self-titled debut album was praised by music critics and in 2009 won the "Best Pop Rock Album" award at the British Acapella Awards for Recording Innovation.
Van Canto
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German a cappella metal band formed in 2006. Performs music in the style of A Capella Hero Metal, invented by the participants themselves. The group consists of five vocalists and one drummer. According to the musicians, they wanted a beatboxer vocalist instead of a drummer, but not a single candidate could physically withstand more than 5 minutes of performing the band's rhythms. The band's repertoire includes their own compositions and cover versions of famous songs by Metallica, Black Sabbath, Nightwish and many others. In 2014, Van Canto headlined Europe's largest metal music festival, Wacken.
Cappella is the most famous brainchild of the Italian producer Gianfranco Bortolotti. Following the example of the famous British production trio Stock, Aitken & Waterman, Bortolotti joined forces with producers DJ Profxor, R.A.F. and DJ Pierre to create such famous bands as Cappella, 49ers, Fargetta, R.A.F., Clubhouse and East Side Beat. For the first time, the Cappella project debuted at the end of ... Read all
Cappella is the most famous brainchild of the Italian producer Gianfranco Bortolotti. Following the example of the famous British production trio Stock, Aitken & Waterman, Bortolotti joined forces with producers DJ Profxor, R.A.F. and DJ Pierre to create such famous bands as Cappella, 49ers, Fargetta, R.A.F., Clubhouse and East Side Beat. For the first time, the Cappella project debuted back in the late 70s. In 1987, Bortolotti revived this project by releasing the single "Bauhaus (Push the Beat)" under his name. And the next year, the composition "Heylom Halib" was released, which entered the TOP10 and became the standard of Italo House music. To build on the success, Bortolotti recorded the first album and two new singles: "Be Master in One's Own House" and "House of Energy Revenge", and then added the singer Loleatta Holloway to the project, who performed the song "Take Me Away", more beautiful, but less successful than the previous ones.
After several new hits from 1992-93, including "U Got 2 Know", Bortolotti decides to also add two British singers to his project: Rodney Bishop (formerly of the Positive Gang group) and Kelly Overett (vocalist from SL2 "). The singles "U Got 2 Let the Music" and "Move On Baby" performed by them became Cappella's top hits and during 1994 took the first line in the charts of several countries. The new album "U Got 2 Know" is also highly regarded.
In 1995, Kelly Overett replaced vocalist Allison Jordan, with the participation of such singles as "Tell Me the Way" and "I Need Your Love". However, these compositions were barely noticed by the European charts, and their album "War in Heaven" (1996), released not only in Europe but also in the USA, is sold out very poorly...
Discography:
1990 - Heylom Halib
1994 - U got 2 know
1996 - Move on baby
1996 - War in heaven
They teamed up ten years ago. Six talented young people gathered in one team to do their favorite thing - to sing. Surely everyone heard their voices on television - not a single holiday is complete without a brilliant consonance. Jazz professionals, virtuoso improvisers and inventors, brilliant arrangers who work great in a team. This is all - the vocal group "Acapella Express".
Max, Ksenia, Narine, Anton, Katya, and Andrey are six simple names of difficult vocalists who charge the halls with their energy and easy attitude to the stage. Those who like to fool around and dream up create bright arrangements that no one has ever done. This group can be compared to a single organism full of health: they “melt together” so well with each other. Each shade of one voice perfectly matches the shades of the other five, each part of this one whole works so harmoniously that it is impossible not to admire them.
Acapella is the imitation of the sounds of musical instruments with voices. The addition of "Express" in the name of the group justified itself immediately after its creation. The guys wanted to create something special, expressive and intriguing, unusual and exclusive, extraordinary. And they did it. Absolutely different works, harmoniously combined with the acapella genre, causing goosebumps. A successful idea resonated in the hearts of the inhabitants of the whole Earth: Asia, Russia, Europe, they are eagerly awaited everywhere - from Singapore to America. As an innovative train rushes along the rails, so the Acapella Express rushed energetically through different countries.
"Acapella fusion" - this is how the vocalists themselves define the style of their work. The group's repertoire includes a whole range of works of various genres, which, nevertheless, are in perfect harmony with each other. Here are world hits, and folklore, classics, pop music, jazz. In addition, the own fruits of the work of the mind, fantasy and voice are also fulfilled. These are works in the style of r&b, choral singing, soul, reggae, swing - the virtuosos succeed in everything.
At their concerts, you can often see how the audience looks around in search of musicians. The vocalists are so good at imitating bass guitar, saxophone and drums. Exclusive individuals who created an exclusive group impress with their skills and abilities. From the very beginning of the performance, when the first chord sounds, to the very end, when the last sound dissolves in the walls of the concert hall, Acapella Express keeps the audience in an intriguing delight. An impeccable combination of voices, strong dramaturgy and an indispensable surprise in each performance make it impossible to tear yourself away from the stage.
Naturally, outstanding talents were noticed. The legendary record company "UNIVERSAL MUSIC" signed a contract with the vocalists and now their album "Voice meSSSage" is distributed worldwide. This is the only group in Russia that has reached such a high international level.
The list of the team's trophies includes numerous awards at jazz and vocal festivals, such as "Montreux Jazz", "Jazz In Time", "Slavianski Bazaar", etc.; award of the Contemporary Association of Music Acapella in the nomination "Best Jazz Album 2004"; Ward Swingle Award for Best Jazz Vocal Group. Acapella Express wrote and performed several soundtracks for feature films and repeatedly occupied the lines of the Jazz radio charts, where only recognized authors get. Acapella Express is a truly new sound of music.
Acapella Express in Durov club
Max Timoshin and production company tMotion present
in the club "Durov"
The most popular a cappella group in Russia!
Vocal group "Acapella Express"
Their music dreams at night, and in the morning, they say, wings grow from it on the back ....
There are six of them. They are young and beautiful. Talented dreamers, tireless inventors, lovers of fooling around on stage and at the same time - real pros. Experience and an impeccable sense of proportion give rise to stylish arrangements, ingenious improvisations and that very rare "singing" when several people become a single organism, all of whose components exist in perfect harmony with each other.
It all started ten years ago, when vocalists Narine Dzhinanyan, Max Kostra, Katya Nadareishvili, Anton Kasatkin, Ksenia Penkovskaya and Andrey Tunik, who had known each other for a long time, decided to work together. Completely different personalities, united by one desire - to create something new, truly interesting and extraordinary, intriguing and expressive, international and exclusive in the acapella genre.
The intricate name "A`cappella ExpreSSS" justified itself almost immediately: the newly minted group, soon after its creation, went on a great musical journey. They rushed swiftly and energetically: from Singapore to America, through Asia, Russia and Europe, kindling the flame of inspiration with the power of voices and the beauty of harmony, coloring the canvases of arrangements with bright colors of musical cultures around the world. The musicians themselves define their work with the term "acapella fusion". The repertoire of "A`cappellaExpreSSS" organically coexists with world hits, "non-standard jazz standards", folklore of various nations, classics, current pop music and their own compositions: reggae, swing, r&b, soul, Russian folk or Georgian choral singing - they succeed with amazing ease.
From the first minute of the concert to the last chord, they enchant the listeners with the perfection of the impeccable polyphony of voices, amaze with musical surprises and the unique dramaturgy of each individual number. The secret of success of "A`cappellaExpreSSS" is both simple and very complex: they do what they like in the first place.
This approach was appreciated not only by the band's fans, but also by top managers of the recording industry: by signing a contract with UniversalMusicRussia, "A`cappella ExpreSSS" became the first jazz musician in Russia, whose album ("Voice MeSSSage") was released worldwide.
The group's arsenal includes not only performances at major festivals and music fairs, but also collaboration with well-known performers, including Russian pop star Laima Vaikule. And at the end of last year, the group debuted in a new genre of vrock opera "Perfumer" based on the novel Patrick Suskind n and music by IGOR DEMArin.
In addition, the new composition of ACAPELLA EXPRESS "It's time to go after the women" hit the top lines of the hit parade on "Russian Radio".
Among the achievements of the group:
Ward Swingle Award for Best Jazz Vocal Group
(competition "Vokal Total" 2003, Graz, Austria)
CARA Award (Contemporary Acapella Music Association, USA) for "Best Jazz Album 2004" ("Magic Moment")
Festivals "Montreux Jazz", "Vokal Total", "Jazz Parade", "Solevoci", "Jazz In Time", "Slavianski Bazaar", "Jazz Province" and others...
Soundtracks for the films "Life is One" (music by A. Rybnikov, special award of the festival "Kinotavr"), "Phiromancer" and others...
Concert « A` cappellaExpreSSS» will take place within the framework of the project « JazzmInMotion» - a series of weekly concerts of the best Russian and foreign jazz musicians at one of the most comfortable and stylish venues in the capital. Recognized luminaries and rising stars, followers of the old school and experimenters who discover new modern trends - « JazzInMotion» gives the audience great jazz in all its manifestations!
Concert starts at 20.00
The address of the club "Durov": st. Pavlovskaya, 6 (metro station Dobryninskaya/Serpukhovskaya)
I often watch how new a cappella groups are being formed in Russia, and almost always I am perplexed, because not only do they all look alike, but also their activity is more like amateur art in some provincial recreation center. It seems that they received a choral education and intonation is pure, but the meaning of what they do remains a mystery to me. The reason for my attitude is the repertoire, arrangements and manner of performance of such groups. I am convinced that if there is no talented arranger in the team, then everything the group will do is secondary and parody. Why do we need another “Doctor Watson” and “Turetsky Choir”, why produce what we need to get rid of :)?
In order to more fully develop my idea, I want to cite as an example the young a cappella group Pentatonix, which became known only in 2011, after winning the competition "The Sing-Off", about which I have already.
Here's how things unfolded. In Arlington, Texas, 3 friends study at Martin High School - Scott Hoying, Kirstie Maldonado and Mitch Grassi, that is, they are friends who have been friends since childhood, grew up together and they have a common interest - singing.
One day, they hear on the local radio that a music competition is being held in which they can take part. They record their own version of Lady Gaga's "Telephone" and submit it to the competition. Despite the fact that they did not win this competition, they managed to attract the attention of their native school to their activities and they begin to perform as a trio.
In 2010, Scott Hoying and Kirstie Maldonado are finishing school, while their third member Mitch Grassi is still in school (he is one year younger than them.)
Think about it, I'm talking about a group that consists of schoolchildren without any special education.
So Scott Hoying then goes to the University of Southern California to get a bachelor's degree in Pop Music, where he joins the SoCal VoCals until he finds out about the competition in 2011.
"The Sing Off". He invites his friends from school to join him, but the competition requires the number of participants in the group to be at least five, and there are only three of them. Then they find Avriel "Avi" Kaplan and Kevin Olusola.
They meet the day before the start of the audition for the "The Sing-Off" contest, that is, in fact, the group was originally formed specifically for the contest.
Here's the performance that started it all
I can’t say that this is something special and outstanding, many started this way. But firstly, these are schoolchildren, and secondly, look at how and what they are performing now, and even 2 years have not passed yet
Here's How Will I Now, in memory of Whitney Houston
Here is another from the last, and recorded at home
And here is one of the first clips
I guess some people may not like their style and something else in what they do, but one can definitely say that they have a rapid development, and also definitely have a taste in music, their own style and professionalism.
By the way, in the descriptions for their videos they write that the arrangements are collective, that is, all members of the group take part.
P.S.
Take 6, which is an unattainable standard of this direction, the participants have repeatedly spoken about who is the "musical architect" of everything they do - Mark Kibble (Mark Kibble). Arrangements and musical taste - that's what distinguishes the real a cappella bands.
If this is not the case, then it is better to listen to some professional choir than to listen 101 times to a parody of a cappella.
Executor.
