Acapellago triumphs in Singapore tilt

Great news for Filipino music fans. Local a cappella group Acapellago bagged the top prize at the AKA VIII A Cappella Asia Pacific Championship League competition held at the Singapore Conference Hall last Sept. 24. The contest was the closing highlight of the annual event that saw a cappella champions from the region vying for the championship title. This victory is acknowledged as a huge step forward in bringing a cappella singing into the mainstream of Filipino pop music.

Acapellago, who with soul singer Jimmy Marquez interpreted the song entry Stars Are Aligned at the finals of the Philippine Popular Music Festival held last July, is also considered one of the country’s major Internet stars. This is because of the huge popularity of its version of the Filipino nursery tune Tatlong Bibe on the web. Aside from being named champion of the competition, the group also won the Audience Award, which is given to the audience’s favorite contestant. Girl member Michelle Pascual won for Best Lead Vocals while Ron Landeras scored as Best Bass Performer.

Not only that. Now a big feather in Acapellago’s cap is the fact that the chairman of the Board of Judges in the contest was the famous Deke Sharon. Every a cappella group in the world today dreams of singing for Sharon and winning his approval.  This guy is known in global music circles as the Godfather or Pioneer of Contemporary A Cappella Singing. He is a singer, arranger, composer, producer and director for a cappella acts. He was the on set music director and vocal producer, plus arranger of the Pitch Perfect series of movies. 

But the best thing of all is the fact that Sharon was the producer, coach, arranger and consultant of the reality musical The Sing-Off.  This was America’s first-ever television competition series for a cappella singing.  It was in that show where today’s most commercially successful a cappella group, the Pentatonix was discovered. It gives great feeling to know that our very own Acapellago’s singing won the approval of the likes of Sharon, whose demand for perfection in singing is fast reaching legend proportions. Well, cheers to Acapellago. You guys made the grade.

The Acapellago is made up of Michelle Corpuz Pascual, the soprano known as Mitch; Almond Pondevida Bolante, the counter-tenor; former child actor Joshua Fernandez Cadelina, tenor; Ronnel Allen Roman Laderas, the bass singer; and his brother Ricky Gavin Roman Laderas, the beatboxer. Aside from the very famous Tatlong Bibe, the members have a collection of a cappella versions of current favorites like On The Wings Of Love, Triangulo, Uptown Funk, Break Free and many others available for streaming or downloading on the Internet.

The AKA is an annual event held in Singapore to popularize a cappella singing. It features concerts, lectures, master classes in tuning, blending, solo delivery and stage craft. But the event that everybody looks forward to is certainly the vocal competition which is only invitational to the best a cappella singers in the Asia- Pacific region. The contest is best known for its cruel Knock Out Style. This means that the contestants go through a head-to-head process of eliminating the loser in several rounds, until one, the winner, is left standing. And this year, that was Acapellago.  Their winning piece was Whitney Houston’s Queen of the Night.

The other winners were Drums of War from Australia, first runner-up; Pophone Singers from Taiwan, second runner-up; Peace Lo of Senza Cappella from Hong Kong for Best Jazz Arrangement; Michael Homey and Jake Cohran of Drums of War for Best Pop Arrangement; and Amos Ghui of The Usuals from Singapore for the Best Vocal Producer Prize. Drums of War also got the award for Best Stage Presence.

Note that two years ago Acapellago won the Gold Award Grand Champion all over Asia at the A Cappella Championships 2015, which was held at the ITE College Central also in Singapore.  Early this year, that very same prize was won by another Filipino group, the Pinopela, which hails from Baguio and which like Acapellago was discovered in the Akapela Open Competition which has arranger, composer and long-time a cappella proponent Ryan Cayabyab at the helm.

Now for the future of a cappella in the Philippines, you might want to check out the Akapela Open at the Meralco Theater on Nov. 5. It is a contemporary a cappella group competition among groups from here and other countries. Acapellago was a previous winner.