One Man Bands
For the uninitiated, it can be difficult to understand why people love a cappella. Heck, even for those of us who do actively enjoy it, it can be difficult to put into words why we enjoy this art form so. While we’ll never have a truly comprehensive list of everything cool about a cappella, 200 Reasons to Love A Cappella is our best attempt at assembling a list of what makes it great.
Reason #14: One Man Bands
At heart, I’m all about the live performance of a cappella. I don’t like overly produced recording. I don’t think YouTube ever does a good group justice. All in all, there’s nothing to compare to sitting in the audience and taking in a cappella live.
There is, however, a relatively recent development in a cappella that you can’t see live—the one man band.
One man bands are created when one person covers every vocal part, every syllable, records them all and pieces every one together for one unified piece. Over time, more artists have taken on this charge, but the process is time consuming and challenging enough that it can’t be called popular or at all common. Nonetheless, it’s a truly unique use of the a cappella medium, and the sort of thing that can entertain for hours on end.
I love it!