The Real Group

Probably my most current favorite music group is The Real Group.

The Real Group is a five-member a capella group from Sweden. They do a lot of vocal jazz, which I love, as well as some very good, original, and creative contemporary music. Their well-trained voices blend really well, they have excellent technical execution (i.e. the way they use time, dynamics, and general vocal acrobatic ability), and they sound good live. Having experience with live performance vs. recording, I have a lot of respect for vocalists (especially a small vocal ensemble) who can sound as good live as they do recorded.

Here are some videos of The Real Group so you can get a taste. I hope you have the time to listen to some or all of the songs. (There's more on the net and on their website.)

[Unfortunately, Internet flash video quality sort of dilutes a little of the experience. To really appreciate good a cappella music (or any music for that matter) you need the full, crystal clear, frequency range to capture the fullness of the human voice with all of its overtones and depth. Often in recordings and playback equipment the lower frequencies are 'clipped' off leaving kind of a 'telephone' quality. So if you have the means, I recommend listening to them on a system that lets the bass through, otherwise you probably won't hear the bass or baritone. ]

Alright enough technical details. :-)



This is The Real Group's arrangement of the popular ABBA song, "Dancing Queen" featuring Frida from the original ABBA. I've been impressed with the bass vocalist, Anders Jalkéus, because he has a pure tone, bounces amazingly accurately between the notes without 'swooping' to the right note--he also doesn't do the 'growl' bass thing that a lot of contemporary bass vocalists do which makes them sound lower without having to use as much tone.



This song does a good job of illustrating the bass' ability to take big, clean jumps between notes. Although they are Swedish, they have a pretty good command of the English language and I find their English lyrics down to earth and often poetic. Although they all take part in writing and arranging songs, I think Anders Edenroth is on of the genre's most creative musicians. One of the challenges that I love to hear when its done right, crisp and clean, is dissonance. No other instrument can make dissonance sound as good as with the texture of the human voice. Its also a challenge to 'clash' with someone an hold your tone. But when its done with exactness, it creates an incredible sound...its like a whole new spectrum of tones pops into existence at that moment of dissonance. If you study sound wave characteristics, you can understand what I mean.



This song is simple, but has a beautiful feel to it. One thing that is actually very difficult in singing is singing the same note straight over long periods of time without slowly dropping the pitch. Its especially hard to make single notes maintain an energy over time. Breathing is also a very big challenge in a song like this...to hold steady and breath at strategic times so it doesn't disrupt the flow of the song. Then synchronize that with four others. Singing a unison note with multiple people can be almost as challenging a singing dissonance--multiple people matching the same pitch.



This is one my kids really like. I like it too--it's fun. I'm fascinated because the bass sings the lead at such a 'non-bass' level. The Real Group was popular in Korea and did a tour in Korea. Look at how the Korean translators translate "Perpetual Motion Thingamabob." In Korea, they don't have an 'f' sound (they replace it with a 'p' sound) in their language. Just goes to show how confusing English is. After serving my mission in Korea, it makes these Korean tour videos extra special to me.

Actually I learned some things about singing from the Korean language: English has so much slurring which tends to slow down the energy of singing, but Korean is crisp and clean; the consonants have a quick, solid attack and the vowels are an exact, pure tone. Listening to a native Korean speaking is very cool. I've tried to speak and sing English with more clarity when bouncing from consonant to consonant, but it still doesn't sound as clean as the Korean language.