An overflow of talent led to the creation of a second women's a cappella group on campus. Its formation instilled a healthy balance to the a cappella community, rounding out the numbers to two co-ed, two all male, and two all female groups.
BellaMafia, which performed for the first time on March 31, as the opening act for the Meddiebempsters, was formed because there was the feeling that if there was talent yet to be employed, someone should find a way to do it.
The auditions in the early fall for the five existing a cappella groups reaped only a slice of the female voices available. Many people mentioned that there was still a good amount of unclaimed talent to be had.
From conversations with members of the existing groups, Aurora Kurland '09 gathered that "There was a lot of talent floating around out there."
With this in mind, Boka singer Jessie Ferguson '08, Ursus Versus singer Julia Bond '09, and Kurland decided to see what sort of talent would show up should they hold their own set of auditions. The turnout was strong and intriguing enough for the group to begin practicing.
BellaMafia is made of singers with a wide range of experience, some never having sung a cappella before and others being veterans of the genre. Bond and Ferguson arrange the pieces and make an effort to experiment with a "different style of female percussion," said Bond.
BellaMafia is young, not only in its recent creation, but also because it is made up entirely of first years and sophomores, 13 to be exact. This is advantageous because it gives the women time to grow together as a group, and in two years they are likely to have developed a strong sense of their dynamic performers. Conversely, their youth could be a drawback from the perspective of experience, but their recent performance suggested that these ladies are not having trouble with that difficulty.
The group began practicing last fall, starting with once-a-week practices; the girls were unsure what form the group was going to take on and how serious an endeavor it would prove to be. Also, they felt that it was important for the members to get to know each other. By the time they felt they had truly established themselves as a compilation of voices, winter break interrupted their progress.
It is evident that the women made the serious choice to commit themselves to become a viable a cappella group on campus, but in terms of the dynamic of their performance, serious is no where on the list.
Their interest is to present themselves as "upbeat and energetic," said Bond.
The group was given opportunities to perform earlier on this semester, but they wanted to wait until they were at their best before presenting themselves to the Bowdoin community.
It was evident that the student body was curious to see what BellaMafia was all about, as the chapel was full and many came explicitly to see the ladies sing.
"It was really exciting to debut on this campus because we were so well received," said Bond.
BellaMafia will be performing for Faculty Appreciation week on April 14.