The Sapphires serenade a full house at Tate Street.

By Shanece Brent, Staff Writer

Published in print Oct. 22, 2014

On the night of October 17, UNCG’s A Cappella groups converged at Tate Street Coffee House to put on a fantastic show – the third annual UNCG Fall Aca-Jam. 

By 7:30 p.m. the coffee house had transformed into a standing room only venue. UNCG’s Sapphires, Seraphim, Chariots and Spartones were all in attendance, as well as Appalachian State University’s A Cappella group, Higher Ground. This year’s Aca-Jam was put together by the UNCG Sapphires.

“I see the owner, Matt [of Tate Street Coffee House] a lot in the morning, so it wasn’t hard to go out of my way and contact him to ask,” said Shelbi Flanagan, Events and Tours Manager for the Sapphires. “He’s always so open and excited about us coming out and singing. He loves that a cappella groups come out and sing here.”

At the back of the house, The Sapphires began the night’s performances, singing three songs before UNCG Chariots took their places. The Chariots began their set with a rendition of Matchbox 20’s “How Far We’ve Come”. Next, the members of Higher Ground, in blue sweaters and gold ties, preformed a four song set.

Aca-Jam was third stop on Higher Grounds’ first annual “Down the Mountain” Tour. “Typically it’s an all-UNCG A Capella night, but this time we were actually fortunate enough to have the Appalachian guys,” Flanagan said.

Singing is a love for all involved in the groups involved in Aca-Jam.

“I love how true to our colors we are. We’re a female a capella group and we stand for women’s empowerment. We also stand for being true to ourselves and who we are as a group and as individuals,” Flanagan said. “We’re all so close; we’re a sisterhood, and I just love that whenever we’re preforming songs, even in the a cappella community, we’re just known for being this certain group of girls that bring this deep and hardcore music to the stage.”

“We make it a point to spend time with each other. I’ve met some of my best friends through Seraphim,” said Seraphim’s Music Director Katie Cooke. Seraphim preformed two songs during Aca-Jam, including a powerful rendition of Mary Mary’s “Praise You”. Their performance was followed by two songs and an encore performance by the Spartones.

“The most important aspect for us tonight was the community,” said Wesley Gwynne, president of the Spartones. “UNCG has a lot of music groups, and there’s a lot of variety in our groups. I think tonight was a wonderful opportunity to bring us together as a community.”

In addition to the feeling of community, the A Capella groups also enjoy audiences’ reactions to and participation in their performances. “I just love the audience feedback,” Alesa Moore of the Sapphires said. “Having people like us so much and cheer us on is very uplifting.”

Matthew Tolodziecki, the Tours and Gigs Manager of the Spartones, agrees. “My favorite part of performing live would definitely be the response we get from the audience. It definitely feeds back into our energy and actually helps us perform even better,” he said.

To hear more of UNCG’s A Capella groups, you can go to iTunes where all of the performers’ music is available.

The Spartones will be having their 4th annual Acappelloween concert on Halloween night at 7:00 p.m. at College Place United Methodist Church here in Greensboro, NC. Tickets are $2 for students and $5 for non-students. The Sapphires have a concert on November 18 at the Blind Tiger, and are currently fundraising for their third album, “Silhouette”.