UP FRONT ENCORE
75 Years of Song
Mall City Harmonizers celebrate diamond anniversary ROBERT M. WEIR
Courtesy
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"H
ow do you hit all the high spots of 75 years in a couple of hours?” asks Michael Sobel, president and vice president of marketing for the Mall City Harmonizers, a male a cappella chorus that has been bringing tunes to Southwest Michigan since 1941. The answer will ring forth in song at the Harmonizers’ Diamond Jubilee concert, set for 7 p.m. Sept. 17 at Western Michigan University’s Dalton Center Recital Hall. “We’ll sing iconic songs that represent the history of those seven decades,” says Sobel. Among the tunes will be the group’s signature song, “I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo,” which Glenn Miller and His Orchestra recorded 74 years ago and which the chorus sings at every performance. The Harmonizers sing in barbershop style — a sound that, according to Harmonizer literature, involves “unique tuning” known as “chord busting,” “ringing chords” or “the angel’s voice” that can be attained only with human vocal cords. The barbershop genre grew out of the minstrel shows of the late 1800s. It became “official” in 1938 when Owen C. Cash of Tulsa, Oklahoma, convinced his musical colleagues to create the Society
10 | ENCORE SEPTEMBER 2016