The Acapodcast

It’s cultural awareness week here at the Acapodcast! We’ve got Armenian Folk, South African anthems, Ancient Celtic melodies, and a touch of American Spiritual (with a Chinese flavor). All of these tunes are modern originals or arrangements, inspired by the history and culture of a people.

Zulal is a trio of women from the US, reinventing and reinvigorating Armenian Folk as they get in touch with their ancestral background. Currently they are producing their second CD. They also had the distinction of being named runners-up for the CASA 2007 A Cappella Community Award for Best Folk group.

Navan is also a trio, two ladies and a gentleman from Madison,Wisconsin. Specializing in songs from the celtic cultures, they have three albums out. The most recent, Lowena, is spectacular, and I’ve chosen a celtiberian song from it for this episode.

Navi Redd hails from South Africa, and this all male group brings us a medley inspired by native music. This track was found on the Podsafe Music Network. Thanks guys!

Harmonytryx, a group of vocally endowed women, sings a wide variety of music. I played their cover of October Project’s Sunday Morning Yellow Sky back on Episode #9.

PennYo is also no stranger to The Acapodcast. As UPenn’s only Chinese A Cappella Group, you’d think I’d play a Chinese folk song, but Amazing Grace was originally penned in the 1770’s in England, and has borrowed a number of different tunes from various hymns over the years. A Christian anthem, it gained the most impact in the American South, but with Christianity on the rise amongst the Chinese, it isn’t much of a surprise that this fabulous Mandarin rendition exists.

Here are the tracks from Episode #29 of the Acapodcast:

Click the Play button below to listen to this episode!

No interviews or themes this time around, just good, solid a cappella.

Click the play button below to tune into Episode #28!

I talk a bit more in this episode than usual, but that’s because there are some serious topics to be brought up. The music is as good as ever though.

I urge all my listeners to consider picking up a copy of the For Today… Tribute CD. Thanks.

Click here to listen to Episode #27

On this show I’m lucky enough to have an exclusive phone interview with Bruce Leddy, writer, producer, and director of the independent film Sing Now, Or Forever Hold Your Peace. Sing Now is the winner of seven film festival awards including Audience Favorite and Best Feature at the 2006 HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. Sing Now is about a group of guys who sang together in college getting back together for a few days when one of them announces his imminent wedding ceremony. It opens in select theaters on April 27th.

During the interview, I play some of the songs from the movie. Here’s what you’ll hear:

And, as promised on the show, here is the trailer for Sing Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEYGwR0zUjU[/youtube]

Without further ado, here is Acapodcast Episode #26!

Last weekend I drove from Boston to D.C. to attend the East Coast Acappella Summit. Most of this show is about the journey to the summit and my time there, so there are only four songs this time around. Songs by:

I also bring up the topic of moving the podcast to AcaTunes. I’d love to hear from you about this, especially if you support it, I don’t think those against it need a reminder to have their voice heard.

Listen to Episode #25!

In this episode, I talk about my introduction to contemporary acappella, St. Patrick’s Day, and the East Coast Acappella Summit, which you should ALL be going to, right?? I’ll be there, and you should be there to come say hi to me. I think I’ll hold a contest. If you come up to me at ECAS and mention this contest, I’ll put your name into a drawing for a free piece of Acapodcast logowear from the Acapodcast Cafepress Store!

In between all my yammering, you’ll also hear great tunes by:

Click here to listen to Acapodcast #24!

Are you watching American Idol? Be sure to vote for Rudy Cardenas from the group M-Pact and Blake Lewis who comes from Kickshaw. An unfortunate goodbye to Thomas Lowe formerly of the Harvard-Radcliffe Veritones. It turns out that good a cappella chops make for good competition chops on thi show. Anyone surprised? I didn’t think so.

This time on The Acapodcast, I’ve got some recent award winners, plus a new CD release track. There’s also a few groups that I’ve had on the show before, and if you weren’t familiar with them before, you are now!

Here’s the lineup for Episode #23:

Cluster is a recent CARA nominee, and Cement is in the Contemporary Pop/Rock Original category. Their album, also called Cement, is in the Jazz Album category. DVN is the winner of this year’s A Cappella Comunity Award for Favorite Comedy Group. LHS Chamber Choir will be on the 2007 BOHSA Album with this arrangementof MLK, originally from the genius that is The King’s Singers (this arrangement, that is; the original song is U2). Trust Me, by Ball In The House, comes from their brand new release, Granite Ave. If you are in the Boston, MA area, you can go to the release party at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge, this Saturday evening.

Listen to Episode #23!

Another few weeks, another few ICCA Quarterfinals down. Go check out the Results Page to see who is moving up in the competition! Go find out when the next rounds of competition are taking place, and make a litle time in your schedule to go see an a cappella throwdown!

I also talk a bit in this show about the CARA nominees, and the ACA Winners. If you’re unfamiliar with who is hot in the a cappella world right now, these two lists read like a Who’s Who, and will definitely give you some names to check out!

And check out who is on the show this time:

I promised a link to BYU Vocal Point performing Thriller on YouTube in the show, but I’m sad to report that the video has been taken down. So here’s a link to them performing Spiderman! and thanks to John pointing out a fresh link, here it is:

Edit: Warren rightly points out that there is a strong connection in this episode: Firedrill! and Slapdash Graduate can both trace their roots to Hyannis Sound. Not only do four of the six songs share that element, and the fact that some of the members show up on multiple tracks, but both Hyannis Sound albums and the Invisible Men EP were produced by John Clark, and Samrat Chakrabarti (a man I’ve had the inestimable pleasure of meeting on more than one occasion) was the arranger for “Pink, “1000 Miles”, and “Lie On Lie” (No surprise if you know Samrat’s amanzing arranging abilitis, especially for all male voices). That means there are a _lot_ of links across the songs in this episode. How cool is that?

Now go Listen to Show #22!

It’s the one year anniversary of The Acapodcast! Thanks to all of you who have made it possible. Rather than dwell on it and make a big deal of it, instead I plow ahead with more of what has made the show what it is: great music. I’d like to push on for another twenty episodes this year. And greetings to all the new listeners from Coverville, you’ve picked a great time to come on board.

I would also like to point people to some of the fabulous photos of UPenn’s Penny Loafers in China, to mention that the deadline to enter this year’s Harmony Sweepstakes has been extended to the end of January, and to wish Rudy Cardenas from m-pact good luck. He’s made it into the most recent season of American Idol!

I’ll be back in two weeks with more great music!

**Update** – Quick apologies to Jeremy from Exboyfriends focalling him Nick. My brain grabbed the wrong part of his e-mail address there. Also apologies to Dischord for listing the wrong soloist on Both Hands. The soloist was actually Emily Garvey. Some real Rookie mistakes on my part.

Listen to show #21 right here!