A little note: The Sing Off 2011

It's been a year since I made this blog (and half year since I abandon it). Lots of things happened, but this time, I would like to blog about The Sing Off 2011.

Why I suddenly feel like updating this blog? Because I'm quite disappointed with The Sing Off 2011. In terms of vocal quality and performance, The Sing Off 2011 is as awesome as always. Good a cappella can never be wrong. But the fact that most of the group are collegiate a cappella with 10-15 members is really disappointing for me.

Why it matters?

What makes me in love with a cappella is its simplicity. Five-six people standing only with microphone without anything else, delivering beautiful music with daring arrangement. Sometimes they come out with fun choreography, but it's not the most important thing.

Now let's see most of the performances in The Sing Off 2011. Most of them are collegiate a cappella group. That's perfectly fine for me. But when you put 10-15 people compete with 4-5 people group, don't you think it's a little bit unfair? The 4-5 people group must have an amazing members per line/voice, while 10-15 members can have 2-3 people for every line/voice. Of course it's more difficult to make 10-15 group to have a good blending, but it's more difficult to rely on yourself to carry out a line, like the members of small group.

And where's the simplicity of a cappella? If you see Boyz II Men, they just stand and sing. Without many movements and other "entertainment", they can move you with their voice, music and soul. Now what we have in The Sing Off 2011? Lots and lots of choreography. It seems that there's no day without full choreography in The Sing Off. It's hard to sing with movements, but if it's too much, it really can distract you. Last year, Street Corner Symphony blew our mind through their rendition of Fix You. Did they move that much? Nope. What about Committed's "Apologize"? Nope.

Next, daring arrangements. There are groups who tried to make the songs different from the original song and I give my highest respect for them (even though the performance might not that good). Who could forget the sudden latin beat in Nota's Down performance? Or the cozy easy but fun arrangement of Maroon 5's This Love by Committed? That's what I want to see in an a cappella competition. Like Ben said, taking a different perspective of the song.

Now what about the leads? I was quite pissed off when I read someone said that SCS should won The Sing Off 2010 because the lead vocal has the star quality. I'm sorry, but a cappella is about team work. The star is all members, whether they're bass or 1st tenor. A good a cappella group can have any of their member as the lead vocalist while others backing them up. If you watch The Idea North or Naturally 7 concert for example, every body could just take the lead and voila! Do we see that in The Sing Off 2011? Yes, but hey, how may percentage of chance for a member of 10-15 group to take the lead? Not much.

A cappella is music. It's about harmony, passion, feeling and soul. Do I hear that on The Sing Off 2011? Yes, but not much.

Now please give me back the joyful and the simplicity of music called a cappella.

Mir. Off.

Naturally 7, The Idea of North, Rajaton

In the past months, I've been watching a cappella concerts more than what I've watched in my whole life!
Even though a cappella is still not that popular here in Oz, at least international a cappella groups are willing to come here to have concert.

To sum up, on 27 April 2011, I went to Brisbane to watch Naturally 7 concert with The Idea of North as the opening act. I'm speechless. It's damn amazing. Superb! Not to mention I was able to have their autograph <3

On 22 May, Rajaton had a concert in Canberra. A very different genre from other a cappella groups that I've heard. Lovely folk finnish tunes all along the way, very beautiful.

I would love to make the full report, but I have heaps of assignments now (with zero motivation to finish it).

Cheers!

Ini zamannya Twitter, bung!

It's been more than a month since the last time I wrote here. Sorry for that. I was quite busy with....something that's not related with a cappella T_T

This time, I would like to list some a cappella related twitter account. If anybody found more, please let me know and I'll add it here :)

@ACappellaNow "Your daily source for all the latest thoughts, musings, and news in the a cappella world!"

@ACRecords "A Cappella independent record label based in San Francisco."

@basixmusic Danish A Cappella group

@Chapter6 winner of Harmony Sweepstakes 2004

@committedsings The winner of NBC's The Sing Off season 2
@dekesharon The Godfather of A Cappella music
@duwende cool and funky a cappella group from New York

@JamaicaCafe the best a cappella group in Indonesia!
@kingssingers with more than 40 years in this field, they're surely legend.
@mantran It's Manhattan Transfer!
@Naturally7 I still think this group has the best voice percussionist(s) and instrument-imitation voice ever.
@notavocal the winner of NBC's The Sing Off First Season
@peddan Peder Karllson, another Godfather in A cappella music
@RajatonVocal The best Finnish A Cappella group

@RockapellaMusic It's Rockapella, what should I say more?

@sncmusic Straight No Chaser, male a cappella group from Indiana
@suadevoices One of the most entertaining a cappella group out there.
@swinglesingers another grammy winning vocal group

@take6official one of the most amazing jazz-gospel vocal group for all time
@theboxettes All female a cappella and beatboxing group from London. These girls really show the girl power in a cappella music.

@TheIdeaofNorth the best a cappella group in Australia!

@Thehousejacks  Who said a cappella can't rock? This group proves it!
@therealgroup The Real Group. I can't say anything more about them except they're legend.

@thesingoff NBC A Cappella talent competition show

@VocalAustralia "Supporting, developing and promoting Australian contemporary a cappella vocal music."
@vocalblog vocal - a cappella blog managed by Florian Städtler

@vocalmosaic Mosaic, a funky fun a cappella group who became the finalist of America's Got Talent

I still try to find more but so far, these are the only that I've found. There are groups that don't have twitter account like Neri Per Caso, M-Pact, Groove for Thoughts, etc. So does non-english speaking a cappella group like Rag Fair (they're on hiatus, yes I know T__T) and Try Tone.

I have to mind you that not all of this twitter account is active frequently.

London A Cappella Festival 2011

Awww!! London A Cappella Festival just started last night! From 12-15 Jan 2011, A Cappella fans in UK will be indulged with lots performances, workshops, and competitions.


Please tell me why most of A Cappella Festival occurred in Europe and USA? Why it has to be sooo far away from my place now? And why I don't have that much money to go there (AND SO DAMN DIFFICULT TO GET VISA)? These all rhetoric questions though, no need to answer it ;)


One of my 1000 things to do before I die: attend an a cappella festival in Europe/USA.


Tukang Oceh. Off

Sing Off Finale

A very late The Sing Off Finale video-random comment post. Yes, I'm using english is this post for the sake of.... IDK. I just feel like using english lol Please bear in mind that I always got comment "PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR GRAMMAR" in ALL my essays, and this blog post is not an exception.

Sing Off already ended a month ago. Jerry Lawson and Talk of the Town, The Backbeats, Street Corner Symphony, and Committed, all the finalist performed brilliantly and I really think all of them deserved to be on the final.

The final four had to perform two songs (I think, since I only watched from youtube). In the first round, they had to collaborate with one of the judges and guest star. The final two position was held by Committed and Street Corner Symphony. They had to sing a song of hope.

In the final, Committed collaborated with Boyz II Men and sang  motownphilly. For me, a dream comes true to see Boyz II Men performed with a bass line again. Nine amazing voices sing together, it's surely an amazing performance. Since it's Boyz II Men, of course we were indulged by very smooth ornament in the melody <3



For their solo performance, they sang Hold My Hand. Some people doesn't really like this performance and believe Street Corner Symphony should be the winner. My thought, Hold My Hand is not their best performance, but this performance can touch my heart deeply. Music is not only about notes or words, it's about how we communicate the message to others. Committed did very good job in this field.



Street Corner Symphony performed with Ben Folds for the collaboration and sang Gone. A little bland in the beginning, but getting more momentum towards the end. I love their stage performance with some theatrical effect. Not too much, but effective :) I think that's what made this performance highly enjoyable.



For the hope song, they sang Fix You by Coldplay. A very moving and harmonically beautiful performance. Like always, they always have clean performance, all the harmony sang in pitch, and we can hear all the harmony clearly. In my opinion, SCS has the best vocal blend from all The Sing Off contestants.



For the guest star collaboration, both SCS and Committed collaborated with Neil Diamond singing Ain't No Sunshine. Wow, my big thumb up for the sound engineer. That's such a big number of microphone! (not as much as Jerry Lawson And TOTT - The Backbeats - Sherryl Crow collab though)



Sorry, my slow internet connection made me only wrote about the top two. Patience is really not my virtue.The winner, like we all already predicted since the beginning of the show, is Committed. Yay, congratulations for them! Like what I've said in twitter, music knows no barrier. No matter what's your background, every body is connected through music. I'm waiting for Committed and SCS upcoming works, no matter the context or message that they bring.

Again, congratulations for all sing off contestants. May you'll have a bright future a head. Come to Aussie! (cause it's not going to be too beneficial for them to come to Indonesia. Not enough a cappella fans).

ps: found this fun video on YT XD

Kicauan: Sing Off Episode 3

Episode 3 tayang semalam, tanggal 13 des.

Beberapa videonya sudah beredar di youtube. The Backbeats sebenarnya keren, tapi entah mengapa ada sesuatu dari the backbeats yang membuat tukang oceh kurang suka sama mereka. Mungkin fakta kalau anggotanya ada belasan. Entah apa tukang oceh sudah terbiasa dengan kelompok akapela yang tiap-tiap anggotanya punya satu peran khusus dalam harmoni. Kalau belasan, yang lemah bisa tertutup, yang kuat bisa mendominasi, dan pastinya, curang karena mereka bisa memiliki lebih dari 3/4 suara untuk harmoninya XD Entah karena aura panggungnya yang sangat arrtis dan kurang merakyat. Buat tukang oceh, nyawa dari akapela adalah kesederhanaannya. Dengan kostum yang apa adanya, tanpa alat-alat aneh kecuali mikrofon, tanpa properti panggung yang gemilau, akapela menunjukkan bahwa musik yang bagus bisa dihasilkan oleh sesuatu yang sangat sederhana dan merakyat. Kesederhanaan ini juga justru makin menguatkan bahwa penikmat akapela menikmati akapela karena musiknya, bukan hal lain.

Committed semakin turun performanya di episode 3. Salah sendiri keren banget di episode 1 XD

Street Corner Symphony sangat rapih menyanyikan lagu creep :)

Yang lain belum ada videonya.

Sing Off Second Season: Videos

Karena kemarin posting tentang Sing Off, tukang oceh pun melihat-lihat video kontestan Sing Off.

Wow.

Tukang oceh hanya bisa terpukau melihat kemampuan kontestan-kontestannya. Ternyata setinggi ini kualitas kelompok-kelompok akapela di negeri paman sam. Ckkckkckk.

Bisa dilihat dari video pembukaan season kedua. WOW.



Kelompok yang pertama kali tukang oceh lihat videonya adalah Committed. Kelompok yang berangkat dari tim penyanyi gereja ini benar-benar dahsyat. Kualitas vokal prima banget, blending ok, aransemen menarik, tapi yang membuat tukang oceh kagum adalah bagaimana mereka bernyanyi dengan hati. Tapi entah kenapa di episode kedua saat mereka menyanyikan lagu apologise blendingnya ga sebagus episode pertama saat mereka menyanyikan lagu This Love-nya Maroon 5 (walaupun tetap bagus banget). Yang membuat Committed seru juga adalah semuanya bisa jadi vokalis utama. Ini salah satu hal penting dalam akapela. Kelompok akapela yang bagus adalah kelompok dimana semua vokalis punya peran yang sama kuat dan bisa menjadi posisi apapun jika dibutuhkan. Kalau Shawn Boyz II Men aja bisa speechless melihat pertunjukkan mereka, apalagi tukang oceh? Committed mengingatkan tukang oceh akan Take 6.

Committed Episode 1: This Love (skip ke menit 1:46 kalau mau lihat pertunjukkannya saja)



Committed Episode 2: Apologise



Kelompok kedua yang menarik minta tukang oceh adalah Street Corner Symphony. Mungkin mereka terdengar tidak semenakjubkan Committed dari segi vokal dan aransemen, tapi SCS memberikan nuansa yang berbeda dari kelompok akapela biasanya. Mereka berasal dari Nashville yang kental dengan musik bluegrass-nya. Tidak heran, pembawaan mereka, aransemen, dan lagu-lagunya terdengar santai dan merakyat :) Tukang oceh lebih suka pertunjukkan mereka di episode 2. Aransemennya lebih seru.

Street Corner Symphony Episode 1: Everybody Want to Rule The World (ini judulnya bukan?)



Street Corner Symphony Episode 2: Hey Sou Sister



Kelompok ketiga yang menarik perhatian tukang oceh adalah Groove for Thought. Mengusung akapela jazz, kelompok beranggotakan 7 orang ini mampu membawakan harmoni dan liukan jazz dengan sangat baik. Vokalis utamanya juga punya suara yang seru diajak ngejazz. Tukang oceh membayangkan, kalau TION anggotanya 7 orang, mungkin jadinya seperti Groove for Thought ini :) Bass-nya mantap! Buat tukang oceh, ga ada yang nandingin bass di kelompok akapela jazz, karena selain notnya banyak dan meliuk, ritmenya juga sulit.

Groove for Thought Episode 1: I Wish



Groove for Thought Episode 2: Cooler than Me



Kayaknya sekian dulu. Lanjut lagi di postingan selanjutnya.