KATHRYN VAN DEN BERG
As the end of the Semi-final round of the competition took place on Sunday evening, everyone now impatiently wait for the arrival of the 2019 SU Acapella (SUAC) final round.
Only twelve out of the thirty registered ensemble groups have the opportunity to continue to the finals. Being the performers for the last of three evenings in the semi-finals, the ‘mens’ ensemble groups waited for Blain Josephs, the Culture Committee (KuKo) chairperson, to deliver the fate of the 2019 mens’ finalists.
Of the six men’s ensembles who performed on Sunday evening, Eendrag, Simonsberg, Huis Visser and Wilgenhof are the finalists who will compete this Sunday. They will be joined by the four finalists from the Girl’s category; Aristea, Irene, Nemesia and Sonop, the two finalists from the ‘Mixed’ category, Hippokrates and Osler, as well as the Overtones and The Buskers who are performing in the newest category to feature at SUAC: the ‘Open’ Category.
Van Wyk Venter, who is competing in SUAC and is the Musikultus liaison in KuKo, is also the ensemble coach for The Overtones. “Balancing my responsibilities as a KuKo member with arranging the music and rehearsals for the Overtones was the biggest challenge for me,” Venter said.
On top of balancing his own nerves before his group’s performance, Venter also had to complete his KuKo duties on the night of their performance.
He does, however, appease his fellow-competitors that, although he is on KuKo and also competing as a contestant in an independent ensemble, he has “absolutely nothing to do with the judgement of the competition or any of the results.”
Brendon van Niekerk, who is a part of the third ‘open category’ ensemble, ‘Blended’, which did not make it through to finals said that “the energy we had as a group before the performance was basically uncontrollable.”
Nicholas Wilkinson, who is an avid SUAC supporter and who has also performed in the competition before, said that “it was exciting to see what groups could do with the wider vocal range available in a mixed group”. He also said that he enjoyed the open category, and it was “interesting to see what non-res Acapella groups exist on campus. I’m glad that there’s a platform for independent groups to perform and compete”.
Wilkinson, like all the other SUAC fans, wait in anticipation for Sunday evening which, in true SUAC style, promises to give us a show worth a standing ovation.
