Great news from the World Choir Games!

We're back from our very first full-group international competition experience, the 6th World Choir Games Shaoxing 2010! What an amazing trip!

We selected new choral pieces for these Games, and used the past few months to rehearse eight contemporary choral works (two were composed by our very own Patrick and Ernest) with the help of our two conductors as well as Apollo Wong.

Honestly, it was not easy - we have not performed choral works for a long time, so it was hard to adjust to this singing style... but it was worth it! We got extraordinary results, placing second out of 16 groups in Champion Class: Mixed Chamber Choirs, and obtaining Hong Kong's first (and so far, only) Gold Medal in Shaoxing. We also placed third out of 19 groups in the Open Class: Contemporary Music category, earning a Gold Diploma.

We also were very lucky to see other choirs perform in the Games - they were amazing! We'll write more about them in the future.

If you want to hear our competition songs, come see our November concert! Details to follow.

For the full results:
blog.interkultur.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Champions_Competition_-_Part_I.pdf
blog.interkultur.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Open_Competition_-_Part_I.pdf

清唱感動人心

上星期有團員告訴我，他被母校邀請為校歌編成無伴奏合唱版本，把向來感覺嚴肅的校歌以 a cappella演繹，唱出來必定有另一種感覺！碰巧我的中學老師也邀請我回到母校擔任歌唱比賽評判，順便跟師妹分享一下有關無伴奏合唱的點滴。原來她們三月份有到伊館看<<2010國際無伴奏音樂盛典>>，自此更多同學認識了a cappella。而中學老師亦告訴我，自從那場音樂會後，各級的音樂課也加上無伴奏音樂的介紹，因此很多師妹都對無伴奏合唱略知一二。似乎隨著愈來愈多的無伴奏合唱音樂會，成功把a cappella推廣至更年輕一代；而且最近亦有不少由年青人新組成的無伴奏合唱組合，當中學生對a cappella也感興趣時，亦正正代表a cappella在香港開始慢慢普及化呢。

回想起初初接觸a cappella的時候，當時我是那些「只聽不唱」的a cappella fans，除了聽音樂會，便是留意相關的a cappella訪問。有一次我訪問了a cappella的「前輩級」人物，他的其中一句說話我一直記到現在。他說，不少無伴奏合唱組合難逃「三年魔咒」，經營一個a cappella group的確會面對很多問題。由於大多組合都是業餘的關係，若未能解決排練、團員相處、經營分工等種種難題，很可能唱了兩、三年還是要解散，實在可惜。當時的我只是被a cappella的魅力感動，也預料不到自己今天從台下走到台上唱a cappella，幸好HKMM裡的每一個團員都為經營這個樂團而努力。我想，這裡的凝聚力除了是音樂本身外，也是每個人對a cappella的熱情和堅持。也許這就是每一個熱愛a cappella、熱愛音樂、熱愛藝術的人的共通之處吧！

記得上次有提及過我們接受網上直播訪問嗎？現在能夠在youtube重溫了，節目中我們除了介紹a cappella，團員更示範了模仿樂器呢，千萬不要錯過！;)

<<清唱感動人心>> Part 1 --U21專訪青協香港旋律

<<清唱感動人心>> Part 2 --U21專訪青協香港旋律

A cappella 近期動向

自從香港2010國際無伴奏合唱節於4月結束後，香港無伴奏合唱的消息卻未有停止。不知道大家有沒有在去年和今年的無伴奏合唱節中欣賞過<石堅>無伴奏劇場，<石堅>創新以音樂劇形式演繹無伴奏音樂，更於今年5月把這套嶄新的無伴奏合唱表演帶到上海世博，成為香港五十多場世博表演中的首場代表，把屬於香港的A cappella帶到世界各地的人面前，更獲得不少好評！希望日後有更多如<石堅>的不同演繹方式出現，使A cappella更具屬於香港的創意和文化特色。

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTY3MTUzNzY4.html

(有關<石堅>在上海世博的新聞)

話說回來，這個月我們雖然沒有公開演出，但是大家有沒有在不同的媒體，曾經發現HKMM的縱影和A cappella的消息呢？其實自3,4月的無伴奏合唱節開始，不但有愈來愈多雜誌和報章刊登有關A cappella的報道和訪問，網上媒體和電視台都紛紛播出有關A cappella的節目，相信經過A cappella Festival和這些節目的介紹，會有愈來愈多人對A cappella產生興趣呢！如果大家有時間，不妨翻看節目，當中包含A cappella愛好者的心得，也有不少HKMM的專訪呢=)其中，有線電視於5月在音樂節目中，一連用5集介紹A cappella，每集有不同的集中點，也值得一看！

有線電視--<拉近文化>無伴奏合唱第四集:原聲原音無伴奏  

http://cablenews.i-cable.com/webapps/program_video/index.php?video_id=77902

有關無伴奏合唱節的報章訪問

http://teenpower1.rthk.org.hk/teenspecial/tptv/inside.php?id=288

(重溫3月27日《2010國際無伴奏音樂盛典》)

這兩個月我們雖然沒有公開的表演，但其實HKMM一直在密鑼緊鼓準備繼A cappella Festival後的重要節日-- 2010 World Choir Games！相信對於熱愛Choral Music的朋友而言，都會認同兩年一屆的World Choir Games是一個不容錯過的盛事。今年World Choir Games會在中國淅江舉行，我們將會在7月份到紹興比賽，相信屆時必定能夠欣賞到世界各地頂尖隊伍的演出呢！

P.S. 今晚7點至7點半,U21網上直播室將會有HKMM的直播訪問--<<清唱感動人心>>，大家記得收看啦！http://live.u21.hk/

2010 Sapporo Tour Day 2 Vlog Part II!

2010 北海道札幌之旅 Day 2 Vlog Part II !

4-8.2.2010 Sapporo Tour Day 2 Vlog Part II !!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Dq8XAcmrQ

終於有時間剪片了!

Day 2 - 2010年2月5日 - 大雪

1630 到小樽運河看當地的節日佈置, 在地鐵站巧遇一隊女子a cappella合唱團, 決定跟大家分享當地組合的表演!

1800 為免凍僵找個地方解凍+練歌 (有人聞歌起舞, 好high...)

2000 醫肚, 回程, 準備第二天演出

下回有演出的片段!

The Real Group in Hong Kong

Did you guys see The Real Group this past Tuesday? "The 2010 a cappella Real Premiere" was simply amazing!

My first 'exposure' to The Real Group was back when HKMM first started, when we tried to sing 'Chili Con Carne' (which didn't turn out very well, of course!). All I knew then was that they were one of the best vocal jazz groups out there. After this concert, I found that they do all sorts of music - from pop to contemporary to classical to even country music! (I also found out that a lot of Britney songs are of Swedish origin) Nowadays they write a lot of their own songs, which are performed by a cappella groups worldwide.

What's more, they're really nice people! Chatting with them over dinner was a very pleasant experience; you'd think they would be jaded after performing for 25 years and doing more than 3000 shows, but they're not!

Listening to 'The Real Album' after the concert was another great experience. They did many songs from this newest album during the Tuesday concert - my favorite are 'Bumble Bee' and 'Lay It In My Hands'. Did you know that they arrange two versions of each of their songs - one for CD recording, and one for live performance?

Go listen to 'Gota', the final song of their show in Hong Kong.


The final Festival performance is Rock Hard on April 22. This CASH-award-winning local production will also be the first show from Hong Kong to perform in the Shanghai Expo 2010 when it opens in May! (Only two tickets left...)

HKMM 演出成功!

呼，HKMM籌備接近4個月的演出終於都告一段落了！這幾天大家有在網上/街上/場館內看到我們的表演嗎;)？

等我總括一下呢半個月先。自從3月27日和王菀之及方大同那場演出後，除了vocal band3月28日在海洋公園有一場演出外，前天(4月9日)HKMM也再次和R.X一同演出，還有美國的Noteworthy及日本的V.I.P，相信當天有到場館睇騷的你一定對他們留下深刻印象啦:) 而昨天(4月10日)在文化中心的Piazza Show更加精采了，雖然天陰也有下雨，但觀眾卻意想不到的熱情呢！即使雨愈下愈大仍留低聽到最尾，台上的表演隊伍自然更賣力了，Noteworthy的女孩子們還邊唱邊跳，真的很厲害！

講返琴日個Piazza Show，其實今次HKMM的5位表演者正正是2個月前到北海道札幌雪祭表演的班底，不過當然經過這2個月之後歌曲的演繹方法會有不同，最開心的地方是大家更有默契了:)有趣的是，今次在台上唱到中途突然下起雨來，(我還記得那一首是Close to You 和Ninja呢)，冒著雨演出不自覺就回想起2月在札幌雪祭表演時，邊下雪邊唱歌旳感覺。當時同樣是唱Close to You，卻突然刮起風雪，不慎給了一整口的風雪差點嗆著，睇返片段，好回味冒著風雪在台上的那十多分鐘！話說回來，雖然昨天演出的片段未有，但2月的「雪中唱歌」片段將陸續放上網，大家記得密切留意!

HKMM 4月的shows雖然完了，但是今次A cappella Festival還有2項盛事，包括下星期二的The Real Group演出，當然還有Potenza有份演出的石堅無伴奏劇場，加油呀!

(和日本組合V.I.P合照)

Video: Hong Kong 2010 International a cappella Extravaganza

The largest-ever a cappella concert in Hong Kong was held in Queen Elizabeth Stadium on 27 March 2010, with an audience of almost three thousand. Performers included the USA's Eclipse, Sweden's Riltons Vanner, Singapore's MICappella, as well as Khalil Fong, Ivana Wong, R.X., and the Hong Kong Melody Makers.

If you missed the concert, don't worry! RTHK has the full concert video here (requires Windows Media Player):
http://teenpower1.rthk.org.hk/tptv/inside.php?id=288

Personally, I'm especially proud of what we did with Ivana's cantopop song 我來自火星 'I Come From Mars' (about 1 hr 54 mins into the video) - it's a very unique arrangement to a meaningful song. Thanks to our very own Ernest for arranging this amazing piece.

Next show: 2010 a cappella in Town, 9 April 2010! This show will feature young a cappella talent from the USA, Japan as well as HK. If you want tickets, get them quick - they're very nearly gone!