Arts

Acapella Festival Features College Acapella Groups

The harmonizing of varying ranges of voices kept the audience on their toes as two college acappella groups, Harvard University’s Callbacks and Boston College’s Dynamics, and Andover’s own Yorkies, Keynotes and Azure took the stage last Friday night.

Dressed in all black, the Callbacks, a co-ed acappella group, took the stage as the opening act with a chorus-like rendition of Sara Bareilles’ “Kaleidoscope Heart.”

The performance then took a quick shift towards the more commonly known type of acappella complete with beatboxing and simple yet synchronized dance movements as the group sang Alex Clare’s “Too Close.”

The catchy beat of the song created an instantly engaging atmosphere, in which the audience applauded and cheered for the singers on the stage.

The group continued to sing contemporary songs such as Britney Spear’s “Toxic,” Jason Mraz’s “Geek in Pink” and Hanson’s “This Time Around,” as well as older songs such The Box Tops’ “The Letter.” The strong and prominent rhythms of these songs, as well as their familiarity, prompted many of the audience members to bob their heads and tap their feet.

The small setting of Susie’s caused the music to fill the room while its casual and intimate setting allowed the event to have a more laidback and informal feel by giving space for interaction with the audience in between song covers.

The BC Dynamics kicked off their performance with a rendition of “Without You” by David Guetta. The popular pop song seemed to immediately grab the attention of the audience with familiar tunes. The group followed with songs by other well-known artists, such as Justin Timberlake’s “What Goes Around Comes Back Around” and two of Beyonce’s songs, “Best Thing I Never Had” and “Smash Into You.”

During a short introduction after their first number, Kristina Rex ’11, a singer on BC Dynamics, revealed that she started singing acapella during her time at Andover as a part of Azure, Andover’s all-female acapella group.

Unfortunately, the performance ran into Senior Hour, and many underclassmen weren’t able to finish watching the end of the BC Dynamics’ performance.

“I thought that the overall performance was a bit long, but each individual act was entertaining and fun to watch, since the performers sang each song with so much passion and emotion,” said Myracle McCoy ’14. “The performances were also very distinct, as each singer’s voice was unique and had a different texture to it.”

Slipped in between the Harvard Callbacks’ and BC Dynamics’ performances, the Yorkies used the event to test out new songs they had just recently learned. The group sang the first part of Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” before Angelo Morlani ’13, Yorkies Co-Head, decided halfway through that the song was not ready.

The Yorkies, however, gave the song another go during a Revisit Day performance.

According to Caroline Sambuco ’14, Azure Co-Head, Acapella Fest was an opportunity for the group to solidify songs that were already in their frequently performed repertoire.

Keynotes received loud applause with their performance of “Titanium” by David Guetta that featured numerous parts with high-pitched notes, followed by a rendition of “Uprising” which was also performed during Grasshopper Night.

During Azure’s performance of Cher Lloyd’s “Want U Back,” however, the technical equipment suffered some glitches, resulting in a lacking performance. Azure was able to draw cheers once again from the audience with its cover of Janelle Monae’s “Tightrope.”