In the 10 years that Random Voices have been performing, their main concert event is the one they will host on Saturday: the ninth annual California A Cappella Festival.
Fourteen other a cappella groups from various colleges around California, three groups of which are from UCLA, will join Random Voices in the Ackerman Grand Ballroom for free performances on Saturday from 12:30 to 3 p.m. and 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.
The event is organized by Random Voices for audiences to see a variety of performances that tackle many genres, and so that participating a cappella groups can network and learn from one another.
Random Voices, which released their fifth album last spring, cover all types of genres and musical styles, performing renditions of popular songs from the likes of Ciara, Jason Mraz, Danity Kane and Carrie Underwood. For the A Cappella Festival, Random Voices will add to their varied musical repertoire, performing three songs for the day performance and four in the evening, with very different songs like Lily Allen’s “The Fear” to Jordin Spark’s “Battlefield.”
“We like to perform indie music as well as mainstream popular music,” said assistant business manager Padmini Cheruvu, a third-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student, who has been with performing with Random Voices for two years. “We also try to create a balance of upbeat and slow songs.”
Since Random Voices is the first all-female a cappella group at UCLA, songs are also chosen to complement female voices and are arranged.
“The songs we choose showcase and unite these beautiful and charismatic women,” Sico said.
The festival as a whole features many groups that have been decorated with many awards from the a cappella community, including Cloud 9 from UC Santa Cruz, which will perform a mashup of MGMT’s “Kids” and Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face,” and UCLA’s Bruin Harmony, the all-male a cappella group that will tackle the Kings of Leon hit “Use Somebody.”
While each group will perform two songs during the day and three in the evening, Random Voices will perform three and four, respectively, in addition to organizing and hosting the event.
“Each of our girls will be responsible with a performing group, so that these groups will know when their sound checks are and when they are supposed to perform,” said Random Voices business director Natalie Moyce. “What’s really fun about this event is seeing what other groups arrange. Anything can be turned into an a cappella song, so all genres are covered by these groups.”
Transforming the normal song to an a cappella song is the process of altering the instrumental music of the original and creating vocal parts out of them. Many people have been exposed to this kind of performance thanks to the success of Fox’s hit show “Glee.” Random Voices will perform “Keep Holding On” from Avril Lavigne, which was featured in “Glee” as well.
“Since the song has already been transposed for a cappella, it makes it easier and useful for us to see how they performed it and allows us to create our own spin on it,” Moyce said.
The musical director for Random Voices, who is primarily responsible for arranging the music for these performances, drew inspiration from the “Glee” version and the original Avril Lavigne recording. This song in particular also has an emotional connection to the group, which originally performed it for a Haiti benefit concert.
“We try to give the audience that emotional context every time we sing that song.” Sico said.
In addition to the individual performances, this year, the A Cappella Festival will feature something that has never been done before. At the end of the festival all the groups will join together to sing “Imagine” by John Lennon. “Collectively singing in unison will show the unity that exists through music. This will be something powerful, new and different for the UCLA community,” Sico said, who, as the only senior member of Random Voices, will also have a solo during the performance.
Random Voices added this group performance to provide something new for their audience.
“We really just want to put on a good show,” Sico said. “There are great renditions of current and older songs. There will be something for everyone.”