rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (08/13/84)
A colleague at work has requested some information. He recalls (and I do, too) a particular style of vocal group "choral" singing that was prominent in some 1960's movie soundtracks (esp. Burt Bacharach [?]). They were prominent in chase scenes and the like, and their sound consisting of polyphonous voices in sort of contrapuntal motion (fairly fast) that sounded like: Ba-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba Ba-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba (these were the "lyrics") Does anyone have further info on this style? What movies it was found in? Who wrote the music? And what records it might be found on? Thanks much in advance. -- "Come with me now to that secret place where the eyes of man have never set foot." Rich Rosen pyuxn!rlr
gtaylor@cornell.UUCP (08/14/84)
Yeah, Rich: The people you're alluding to were called the Swingle Singers. They had a habit of doing mostly Bach, and the choice of dumb syllables was supposed to help the voice blending and the timbral stuff. Right up there with SPike Jones, and the Cleveland Dog CHorus...... They have a couple of records available under their own name and those probably date from the late 60's sometime,... ________________________________________________________________________________ If you ask me, I may tell you gtaylor@cornell it's been this way for years Gregory Taylor I play my red guitar.... Theorynet (Theoryknot) ________________________________________________________________________________
pam@cepu.UUCP (Pam McGarvey ) (08/14/84)
I believe the group is the Swingle Singers.
parker@psuvax1.UUCP (Bruce Parker) (08/15/84)
Now, now, Greg. Be nice. The Swingle Singers have done at least one thing of merit, namely, Luciano Berio's "Sinfonia". I'm enjoying this piece more with each hearing, but then I like James Joyce also. In case you didn't catch their performance with the New York Philharmonic that was broadcast as part of the Horizons 83 program, it should still be available on CBS with the NYPhil conducted by Berio. Bruce Parker
keesan@bbncca.ARPA (Morris Keesan) (08/15/84)
---------------------------- > . . . a particular style of vocal group "choral" singing that was > prominent in some 1960's movie soundtracks (esp. Burt Bacharach [?]). > They were prominent in chase scenes and the like, and their sound > consisting of polyphonous voices in sort of contrapuntal motion (fairly > fast) that sounded like: > > Ba-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba Ba-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba (these were the "lyrics") This style of choral music was made famous by the Swingle Singers, under the direction of Ward Swingle. Their repertoire consisted largely of the instrumental music of J. S. Bach arranged for chorus with nonsense syllables, with accompanying jazzy bass and drums (usually played with brushes). They also did the music of other composers, generally centering around the Baroque era. They made several albums, all excellent; I don't remember the names of any of them. One I particularly like is an album they made with the Modern Jazz Quartet, which included some of their usual repertoire and also some compositions by John Lewis. If interested in specific album titles, send me mail, and I will check my collection. Ward Swingle was (formerly?) a member of the Double Six of Paris, a jazz vocal group which did some of the same sort of music. They made a great album with Dizzy Gillespie. I think Swingle is currently leading "The New Swingle Singers", performing the same sort of material. In the mid sixties (1965? 66?) there were some choral arrangements of Bach pieces in the Swingle style published for school choruses, et. al. I remember singing a few of them in Jr. High School chorus. They generally had cute names like "Bourree' for Bach" ("Bourree'" rhymes with "hurray", sort of), and "GaVOTtE for Bach". The one I remember most strongly was an arrangement of the "Wachet Auf" choral prelude, with lyrics that went, "Doot doobie do do-wah, do-wah, do-wah, doobie do do-wah, do-wah." These arrangements are probably still available. -- Morris M. Keesan {decvax,linus,ihnp4,wivax,wjh12,ima}!bbncca!keesan keesan @ BBN-UNIX.ARPA
jrh@edison.UUCP (08/15/84)
[imagine an egg, buried in a shoe, under a chicken coop for a week] I have heard the famous Ba badaa badaa bada badaa singers. They make me yearn for the quiet humility of total deafness. I can site 2 exact sources: Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (probably the most popular), and more recently a Friskees(?) cat food commercial. My immediate reaction to the possibility of an album of such cutsey-poohbadaa nausea was not unlike George Carlin's response to 'NON-disposable douches'- "WHO would want to KEEP THEM?!!?". But then, tastes vary. This was possibly very 'MOD', back then. (plastic was mod). -Jim Huddle please send flames (I eat them for breakfast) to: !decvax\_!mcnc!ncsu!uvacs!icase!oducs1!eclipse !duke/ "...The time is gone, the song is over, Thought I'd something more to say.."