On Dec. 6 at 7 p.m., the a cappella community of UC Davis will come together for the annual Alotta Cappella show. Alotta Cappella is an a cappella showcase hosted by the undergraduate a cappella group, the Liquid Hotplates. This year, the show will take place in Freeborn Hall.
The Liquid Hotplates host the event on the last day of class instruction each year. Though in the past Alotta Cappella has featured some graduate groups, this year only undergraduate a cappella groups will be performing.
Some of the a cappella groups joining the Liquid Hotplates include The Lounge Lizards (a coed a cappella group), The Spokes (an all female group), Afterglow (an all-male group) and Jhankaar (a coed South Asian group). Each of the diverse groups performs a set of two to three songs.
“It’s just a really fun show. It involves the whole a cappella community within Davis so it should be very high energy,” said Jaimie Wu, a fourth-year exercise biology major and the Liquid Hot Plates’ business manager.
Additionally, the groups themselves arranged the songs that will be performed.
“People will be amazed by the arrangements that are made from the songs they know and love,” said Jessie Herrera, a third-year animal science major and music director for the Lounge Lizards.
Wu said she hopes the show will be more exciting than ever, as it has grown increasingly in size.
In the past four years the annual event has transformed in size. The event has gone from a free show performed in a classroom of the Social Sciences building to its current location in Freeborn hall. The 2012 show was hosted in the Science Lecture hall, which holds approximately 500 students, whereas Freeborn accommodates approximately 1,200.
“Last year we sold out and even had to turn people away,” said Sydney Kovacs, a second-year biology and music double major and Liquid Hotplates member. So, this time we hope to accommodate everyone who wishes to share an evening of a cappella.”
Wu attributes some of Alotta Cappella’s success to the recent film Pitch Perfect. The film, which premiered in 2012, was highly successful in its portrayal of collegiate a cappella. Wu said the film took a cappella from something many people didn’t know about to something in the forefront of popular culture.
“A cappella is in right now: people love the movie Pitch Perfect, the show The Voice and the new season of the Sing-Off is premiering on Dec. 9,” Herrera said.
Wu hopes this boost in popularity will allow her to bring what she feels is exciting about a cappella to a wider audience.
“[I think it’s really fun] hearing how people take songs and completely change how they are sung and make them a cappella,” Wu said.
Herrera said he too hopes that the Allotta Cappella show will be able to bring the unique performance aspects of a cappella to more people in the Davis community.
“The appeal of contemporary a cappella isn’t just that it’s people singing with no instruments; it’s people replicating the same instruments you would hear in a song using only their mouths,” Herrera said. “There are thousands upon thousands of noises that the human voice and mouth can make, so why not use them?”
Alotta Cappella tickets are available for $7 presale and can be purchased at Aggie Stadium or tickets.ucdavis.edu. Tickets will also be available for $10 at the door on the night of the event.
