There’s a fair chance that St Mary’s Church has witnessed some jolly fine voices over the generations but perhaps tonight was the first time that 15 of them performed the Macarena complete with the obligatory dance moves. The group in question, Exeter University’s a capella fellas Semi-Toned, are having one hell (or maybe heaven in this case) of a year having come second in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella competition before going on to win The Voice Festival UK, touring the US, playing the Edinburgh Festival and releasing a BuzzFeed bigged up video mash-up of If I Were a Rich man from Fiddler on the Roof and Rich Girl by Gwen Stefani. How’s that as an excuse for getting your dissertation in late eh?
Before all that the sell out
audience...sorry...congregation witnessed a series of beautiful performances
from Orchard Harmony (an all female a cappela group with its creative heart
right here in Whimple) the absolute highlight being a candle lit Ava Maria
sound-tracked procession through the church. Spines well and truly tingled. In
fact, helmed by musical director Julia Green, the
arrangements and staging of Orchard Harmony’s two sets were simply pitch
perfect from start to finish.
Well and truly putting the fun in funky Semi-Toned
practically blew the roof off the place with one of the liveliest and
imaginative a capella sets this side of...well anywhere really.
Boy these dudes can sing (they’re not bad little
movers either) and their choice of material was every bit as impressive ranging
from a fresh take on Fleetwood Mac’s epic The Chain through to a haunting
rendition of Regina Spector’s Samson (which apparently also won the Outstanding
Soloist award for the group’s Michael Luya in The Voice Festival’s Semi-Final)
and on to the aforementioned Fiddler mash up. A sensationally seasonal
Santa Baby, with Julia channelling her inner Eartha up in the pulpit on lead vocals
and the combined might of the rest of Orchard Harmony and all of Semi-Toned
providing the backing, was the metaphorical sixpence in the pudding of a truly
wonderful Whimple evening.
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