A Cappella ‘throwdown’ a battle of the voices
Campus Entertainment Commission presented the Second Annual A Cappella Throwdown on Saturday, Nov. 14, which was held in the Centrum. The event started at 8 p.m. and opened with its host group, Six Appeal. They performed an opening number and then an entire set during the judges’ deliberation. The opening number, “The Circle of Life” from the Lion King, kicked off the start to a promising battle. The event featured regional groups who trekked it up to Moorhead—the St. Olaf Limestones, Carleton’s Singing Knights, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s Fifth Element, and The Enchantments from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
First up to the throw down was Eau Claire’s Fifth Element.
“Clap when they please you—yes, please you. Trust me, they will,” Master of ceremonies Michael Brookens said.
These six men started of the night with “Everybody,” by the Backstreet Boys. It had the crowd in a tizzy. They began reminiscing of their childhood and it was really well done, despite level issues. The groups as a whole were obsessed with the bass when all I wanted to hear was the actual soloist.
Fifth Element were consistently good. They did a Taylor Swift medley featuring, “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story,” which was hilarious, mostly because it was done with two men soloists. Then when the song seemed to end, the bass stopped the song and made a Kanye West-at-the-VMA’s reference which had the audience rolling in their chairs. The group finished the song singing and doing the choreography to, “Single Ladies” by Beyonce.
“They got my vote,” audience member Joanna Shields said.
The Carleton Singing Knights were next up to bat with nine men. Because of a rule about only being able to have eight members on stage, they would rotate one person out. Their first song was “Everything” by Michael Bublè, which has been made popular at Concordia by Six Appeal’s A Cappella version. They didn’t use a pitch pipe, which made things really sketchy. They just picked a random note out of the air. I believe this is what caused Jamal, the soloist who had some amazing pipes, to lose his place and have to start over. It was bizarre. They also did most of the music way too fast with too much background chords. The Knights also did “Pop Goes My Heart” from the movie, “Music and Lyrics,” which was lost on almost the entire audience except for me and a few other random ladies. Maybe that movie was popular in Carleton but Concordia prefers the Beyonce reference.
The Enchantments from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities represented the female vote.
An audience member who would prefer to remain anonymous said, “The A Cappella world is so dominated by men that when you see a women’s group you just want them to succeed.”
The only thing I enjoyed from this group was the female vocal percussionist. The other nine women I was under-whelmed with. They were under pitch and out of rhythm. I found only one voice to be worth listening to and she had a country style voice that really helped the group get through, even though she undulating during the entire song. “Emotions” by the BeeGees was their final song and it went on forever. These ten women just didn’t have the same game as the other groups.
The Limestones from St. Olaf wrapped up the competition for us. The group has existed for 21 years, but not with the same people of course, and had a really good sense of togetherness. However, they really didn’t have the same stage presence or energy that the other men’s groups brought. They have a beautiful tone but they really seemed in their own category, doing mostly Christian music when contemporary was more the style of the evening. They were good, just not as fun.
After the four groups performed, Six Appeal did a set during judge’s deliberation. Six Appeal did well, performing quite a few new songs including “Low Rider” which featured their bass, Ray Noble, a “Party in the USA” remix to the tune of “Fix you” by Coldplay, and a brand new song written by Michael Brookens. After Sic Appeal had finished their performance, the judges announced the winners without any comments. I know it’s not “American Idol” but I would’ve appreciated some insight to their decision.
The winner of the $1,000 prize was, Fifth Element, with Limestones as a runner-up. The judges also gave prizes for best soloist, best vocal percussionist, and best arrangement. Best soloist was a tie between Jamal from the Carleton Singing Knights and Jake from the Limestones. Best vocal percussionist was Cody from the Limestones and the best arrangement was by Fifth Element for their Taylor Swift/Beyonce remix.
