Top Ten List Why A Cappella is Popular in Singapore:

10. Singaporeans are cheap. No need to buy instruments.

9. With basic training in numerous Karaoke rooms around the island, Singaporeans are prepared.

8. Even army boys get singing training in NS. "Purple light..."

7. How to setup drum set, electric guitar and amps in cramp HDB blocks? Kena whack by neighbours only.

6. Singaporeans very good at "Kao Peh lah"!

5. With decades of training by the government, Singaporeans are very good at singing to the same tune.

4. We have racial harmony, religious harmony, political harmony, so must also have vocal harmony.

3. It's like the Singaporean Dream. Got 5 C's - Crotchets, Chords, Chorus, Choirs, Cringing.

2. We are SINGapore.

1. A Cappella? Popular? In Singapore?!

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Post Concert photo with The House Jacks at Fort Canning Green on 26th March 2005.

Thanks for all your pointers at the workshop, guys!

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A cappella is more mainstream than most of us believe it to be. Take Björk's latest album for instance. It's 99% a cappella. Keeping true to her unconventional melodic structures, the album was conceived out of a collaboration with promising producers and beatboxers from around the world. My favorite track in this album has got to be "Who is it" which features the über beatboxer Rahzel. Speaking of beatboxers, I'm a proud owner of a personalized, signed copy of Kenny Muhammad's live CD (muahaha!).

Another mainstream pop singer who's been noted to have slipped in one or two a cappella tracks in a commercially released album is Brian McKnight. I've been following Brian McK's career as far back as I can remember. He certainly still shines in the R&B ballad area. His latest album "Gemini" includes a 3-part harmony barbershop-ish song "Stay With Him" as the first track. Like the rest of the songs in the album, this a cappella track is definitely ear-candy.

If alternative and R&B is just not your scene, you can also check out Jay Z's The Black Album (a cappella edition). Yes, the rapper that's feuding with R Kelly. So if hip hop rap is your thing, you should check out Jay Z and his words sans the overpowering bass lines typical rap tracks are known to have.

A cappella is another genre to express musical ideas and it's a style that has been used by different singers and performers in different ways. Clearly it's not a novel or even exquisite an art form. But why has there been a push for it in Singapore?

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Perhaps this will start a trend in American Idol (not this season, of course). I've never really liked the arrangements AI uses. Some of the background instrumentation sounds really cheesy. Notwithstanding his biased views, Simon was justified to put on record that he blamed the band for a particularly horrific arrangment of Carrie's "If You Don't Know Me By Now".

Bo reminds us what the competition is about. People all comment on how brave or how risky the move was. But I think Bo was neither of those. He sings that song as his warm-up for gigs! Surely he's smart enough to pick a song that he can sing in his sleep without the band behind him.

He's up against Carrie. Carrie of pure voice and perfect hair. Carrie, who could have her own Barbie doll series. Not to take anything away from her. She has a voice that can part the clouds and calm the ocean.

But Bo's voice is raw, textured, rich, organic. It brings chaos to a bright sunny day. It resonates at the frequency of the human flesh. He knew what would win him the competition. Bo needed the audience to hear his voice. And what a great voice we heard.

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