CASA - The Contemporary A Capella Society

Hyannis Sound pulled out an impressive pair of wins: Pop/Rock cover and runner up for album. Recall that this is a summer-only group of college students and recent grads, and that there was some discussion as to their placement (should they be in the college or pro category?). Obviously it didn’t matter.

Ensemble Amarcord released a pair of fantastic albums last year, resulting in an unbelievable first: never before has the same group won every classical award: Classical album and song, winner and runner up. In fact, that’s never happened in any category. It’s like having George Clooney win Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director and Best Screenwriter all the same year.

The 17th Avenue All Stars and The Alley Cats remain at the top of their games with awards in the doo-wop categories, both having won several awards in the past.

Germany’s pioneering quartet Maybebop takes top honors in Holiday Album and Song, proving that it isn’t essential to have an album in English to win a CARA.

Another first: the UVA Academical Village People break through the glass ceiling and win Humorous Song, beating out all professional groups for that honor. Last year’s winner, Chapter 6, had come from the collegiate world originally but by the time of recording had launched their pro careers; AVP is still a bunch of guys in college.

And there were some awards of note in the collegiate categories as well. The Tufts Beelzebubs swept the male awards, winning all four categories (album, song, solo and arrangement). U Penn Off the Beat won Mixed Album, Song and Arrangement again, making them perhaps the most lauded group in the history of the CARAs, pro groups included.

Only a few years old, U of Oregon’s Divisi took Female Album and Arrangement, as well as runner up for Song; an impressive showing from such a young group, especially one who took second place in the ICCA’s last year (most college groups focus on either the ICCA or making a great album; doing so well in both is near unheard of).

A hearty congratulation to all the winners and nominees. Hopefully these awards will help them gain greater recognition.

A special thanks to Julia Hoffmann and Jon Pilat for running such a complicated program, making sure 57 nominators heard every single a cappella release last year in each category, then making sure 57 judges turned around their votes in a short time window. I must say it’s a far cry from the first CARAs, 15 years ago in post-college apartment, where the fledgling CASA board and a few locals got together for a couple nights to listen to a handful of a cappella releases (all that existed back then!).