This weekend the Bloomberg Auditorium will emanate with the delightful sounds of three a cappella groups hosting fall concerts Friday, Saturday and Sunday, each at 8 p.m. All of these promise to be great concerts.
Starting out Friday night will be the Sirens, presenting "Sirens Night Live." Formed in the fall of 1994 by Ani Pahlawania and Olivia Sykes, the Sirens cover a wide range of popular music.
As the only all-female a cappella group at Hopkins, they average around eleven to sixteen group members from all four class years. At this year's concert, they will be continuing their repertoire with hits such as, "I'll Be," by Edward McCain, "Hunter," by Dido and "Remedy," by Jason Mraz. They will also be hosting three guest groups: Kingsmen from Columbia University, Sixteen Feet from Swarthmore, and the JHU Buttered Niblets. They welcome guests with their beckoning, "Come see us and we'll make sure you have a wonderful time!"
Next up, on Saturday the wacky co-ed a capella group the Mental Notes established in 1994, will take the stage. Off from their Fall Tour of schools such as Skidmore, Harvard, and George Washington University, the group is well-known for their craziness and Hawaiian-print shirts.
Boasting 14 members, the group usually sings a variety of comedy, pop, and classic rock, with those most notably from their last CD being, "You Oughta Know," by Alanis Morrissette, "Video Killed the Radio Star," by the Buggles and "Love Shack" by the B-52s. Sure to present an entertaining show with songs from Madonna, Save Ferris, Metallica and recent visitor Reel Big Fish. Go check them out, or they say, "there will be firstborns to steal ..."
Rounding out the weekend will be Ketzev, the Jewish a cappella group on campus, presenting, "Ketzev's Fall Festival of Jewish a cappella" on Sunday. They will also be featuring guest groups Kaskeset, from SUNY Binghamton, the Shabbatones, from the University of Pennsylvania and Ani V' Ata from New York University. A relatively new group, Ketzev encompasses 11 members to sing in Hebrew, Yiddish and English. The concert will be free and refreshments provided, so why not go see them?
For more information, check out the Web sites for the a cappella groups at http://www.jhu.edu/sirens, http://www.mentalnotes.org, and http://www.jhu.edu/~ketzev. There will be so much a cappella music this weekend, they'll have you singing in your seat!
