Village Harmony put tradition to music

The crystalline notes of traditional acapella rang throughout Fairchild Chapel Monday as choral group Village Harmony presented their spring program to an attentive audience. The works sung ranged from East European village folk songs to traditional gospel music; some numbers accompanied instrumentally and other solos within the group.

The 20 member ensemble from Bakersfield, Vermont, led by director Larry Gordon, gave their concert in a relaxed manner, announcing each piece as they went along, adding anecdotes between titles. The insight lent the program an informal tone, but was beneficial in allowing more room to appreciate the musical characteristics of the eclectic repertoire.

Where the concert could have seemed almost too informal, as compared with the usual black tie oriented guest recitals, instead, it was a welcoming, family-like appeal to winning over the audience. In fact, several members of the group were family. First-year Jena Carpenter, though no-longer a member of the group since coming to Oberlin, took to the stage with her brother, sisters and mother for several numbers. And even the non-related members of the group provided the feeling of a large, harmonious family. Each member contributed his or her own unique style of expression to the music, while simultaneously in beautiful collaboration with the others.

The variance of the works themselves encouraged the vocal creativity displayed so strongly Monday night. Most numbers were folk-like and even spoke of global awareness and self well-being, but no matter what the subject was, Village Harmony sang it with pride. Though unamplified in any way, the singing was not only incredibly loud, but confident and crisp.

Even the youngest of the group, at age 12, displayed a maturity and knowing talent that she was part of a group that truly sang what it believed in. The entire concert was almost like a testimony for the singers; the harmonized melodies channeling their good karma into the air and ears of the chapel's attendees. The voices were clear, the pitches were sharp and the blend of multi-voiced precision was remarkable.

One particularly fantastic display of Village Harmony's talent came near the end of the program. A member of the group gave an explanation of the piece by saying, "One of the aspects of the song is to see who runs out of breath first," but no words can quite justify how this theme was put into music. Like wild calls reminiscent of something out of a jungle, a pair of singers would loudly yodel their melodies with strong gusts of voice until their song boiled down to a battle for air consumption. The effect was incredibly unique: the voices rung loud in themselves, but more amazing was how long they could be held out - sometimes as long as 20 seconds before flattening out.

Village Harmony provided a much-needed transition from the predictable Oberlin acapella concert. Full of both pleasant cultural aspects and wonderful selections, the harmony group proved themselves to be one of the best vocal acts of the year. Though traditional old standards are always safe, Village Harmony belted their lungs out in their own style of eclecticism, and did so beautifully.