The first Spookapella began in 2003, when Deborah Foner, a volunteer at TCAN and director of In the Moment, had the idea to create a performance opportunity for professional a cappella groups traveling to Boston for the East Coast A Cappella Summit. These out-of-town pro groups were scheduled to perform at the East Coast Summit on Saturday or Sunday. “[A concert] Friday evening would enable the pro groups coming into town to do an additional gig locally, increase their exposure, sell CDs, and have some fun.”
Crediting Amy Malkoff for the name of the event, Foner thought it was appropriate that the event was given a Halloween theme due to the time of year it was presented.
“The idea took off - five groups appeared in the first Spookapella, tickets sold well, and the suburban Boston audience was treated to a collection of top-notch bands, most of whom do not appear in Boston often,” said Foner.
TCAN, an intimate 275-seat auditorium turns into a spooktacular haunted-house for the event. The staff dresses in costume (as do some of the performers), the hall is decked out with Halloween decorations, candy, scary pre-show music, and there’s even an 8-foot tall blow-up statue of Frankenstein.
Foner attributes the success of the event to the ever-growing support for a cappella music in Boston, noting the size of the listening audience of WERS’ “All A cappella Show.” “I guess we built it, and they came”.
This year, Spookapella will feature three a cappella bands: Duwende- a pop/rock group from New York City, Harmonytryx- six divas from New Jersey, and Moosebutter- a four-man comedy a cappella group from Colorado.
When asked about next year, Foner said, “TCAN will offer a cappella shows in June, August, and December, featuring a selection of local and not-so-local groups. As for Spookapella 5 in October, expect another fabulous lineup of solid a cappella bands, bringin' it to a sellout audience of screaming music fans!”
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