Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park (just west of Battery Park in Manhattan)
I note the venue because this is the same place the outdoor opera concert was recently held. This one was much better organized. There was still no shell for the bouncing of sound, but the microphone situation was a lot better (if still over-amped). In fairness, this was a three-hour event and I only stayed for the first as I was going to an orchestral concert later in the afternoon (both free in NYC, mind you).
So. Dockapella. It’s like Rockapella in that it was groups singing a cappella (more later) against a backdrop of New York harbor, including Lady Liberty. All of these were college groups. I heard N’Harmonics (New York University), Beelzebubs (Tufts University), and Mixed Company (Yale University).
No printed program, so I was flying by the seat of my pants. N’Harmonics, sixteen members strong, was a mixed group in terms of females/males that started out with (pure guessing here) Do-Oheya, Be-Oheya. That may mean something to some of you out there. For the most part, they had a front person backed up by a variety of close harmony singing from the gang. The sound was a little raw and harsh for me. The third (of five) selection(s) was a bit more formal sounding, as in, structured, clean harmonies. I enjoyed the group sound.
Beelzebubs was a twelve-voice all-male ensemble. They began with Sweet Caroline, featuring tighter harmonies and their slightly goofy group persona. At one point, my scribbled notes said ‘white rap?’ for their second selection. They brought a female parks intern on stage for Do I Love You? which they hammed up quite a bit. Musically, I liked them better than the first group.
Mixed Company continued that trend. The fourteen singers here seemed to pay closer attention to blending their sound. While all three groups were loud and somewhat raucous, Mixed Company tamped that down a bit. Their first number was predictably up tempo and very pleasant (see ‘blend’ above). Their third selection (guessing here), I Keep on Falling in Love with You, verged on doo-wop blues/rock. Who knew?
While this was billed as a cappella, and there were some instances of human beat-boxing (is that the right term?) going on, it seemed to me that there was also electronic rhythm back-up for most of the selections, which took a bit of the spontaneity away from the performances for me.
Kudos to Battery Park City Parks for this one. There were three more groups on the bill that I didn’t hear; I wended my way up to Cooper Union. To be continued …
ConcertMeister
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