The day began with what Ryland Pampush ’21 called an “all-hands-on-deck rehearsal.” Then came the individual sound checks for each generational group throughout the day. By 7 p.m. on Oct. 27, the 55th Reunion concert for the Mendicants a cappella group was ready to begin.
Pampush and more than 100 other Mendicants, including current members and alumni, attended the reunion concert in Dinkelspiel Auditorium. The night ended with an after-party at Old Union, where the a cappella group gave an impromptu performance of “Runaround Sue,” which is the first song new members hear when they discover they’ve been accepted into the group.
The University’s first official a cappella group, Hank Adams ’64, Pearson Spaght ’66 and Dick Grant ’66 founded the Stanford Mendicants in 1963.
According to Pampush, the three Mendicants founders wanted to bring a cappella to the West Coast; Spate and Grant attended high schools on the East Coast, and Adams transferred to Stanford from Yale University.
The Stanford Mendicants were the first of many a cappella groups that would come to campus over the years.
“We have this community of groups on campus that represent a variety of cultures and eras and styles that really make the Mendicants a part of something bigger than just themselves,” Pampush said.
The Mendicants’ inception was soon followed by the creation of Stanford’s only all-female a cappella group, Counterpoint, which was founded in 1979 by Joyce Rogers ’81 and Linda Chin ’81.
According to Counterpoint member Elena Georgieva M.S. ’19, the group was also one of the first all-female a cappella groups on the West Coast. Counterpoint performs mostly pop music, specifically focusing on songs by female artists.
Counterpoint members have already begun planning their 40th reunion next fall. They’re working to collect all of their recordings, some of which are still on cassette tapes. They are currently working on an album to be released later this year.
“I’ve listened to all of the group recordings, and I think about how one day someone might listen to something we’re making right now,” Georgieva said.
Two years after Counterpoint was established, Tim Biglow ’82, Kyle Kashima ’82 M.S. ’85 and Chris Tucci ’82 M.S. ’84 started the Stanford Fleet Street Singers, an all-male a cappella group dedicated to comedic, original music.
Fleet Street member Connor Meaney ’21 said the founders created the group after being rejected from the Stanford Mendicants. They drew inspiration from the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band as they wanted Fleet Street to be more comedic than a traditional a cappella group.
The group now performs outside of the bookstore by the Claw every Friday at 4:30 p.m. for Claw-Cappella.
“We’ve definitely evolved over time, but I think we still have the same core values — writing our own music and being funny,” Meany said. “Or attempting to be funny.”
Mixed Company, the first all-gender a cappella group on campus, was founded by Bonnie Zare ’88, Gina DeLuca ’88 and Fritz Stewart ’87 in fall 1985. The group began with professional arrangements of pop songs, but it soon branched out into original arrangements created by Stewart and other members.
Mixed Company began its annual concert “Love Sucks” in 1988. The concert is held around Valentine’s Day and emphasizes some of the negative aspects of love.
Two years after the creation of Mixed Company, Larry Shorter ’89 and Tony Stovall ’89 formed another all-gender a cappella group, known as Everyday People, Stanford’s first and only a cappella group with an emphasis on Motown, hip-hop and R&B music. The group’s founders said they drew inspiration from the band Sly and the Family Stone; Everyday People is one of the band’s albums.
In an effort to bring underrepresented music to campus, Joe Pigatto ’92 created Talisman in 1990, during the Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa.
Talisman has performed at the White House and the Olympics. The group has performed in front of guests including Bill and Melinda Gates, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey.
Talisman member John Okhiulu ‘21 said the group has expanded its repertoire since its founding. The group has featured music from Southeast Asia, Mexico, Bulgaria, the Pacific Islands and the American South.
In 2020, Talisman will celebrate its 30th anniversary by inviting generations of group members to perform at a concert.
“We appreciate the great challenge of responsibly engaging with the genuine roots of the songs we sing, and [we] are committed to bringing these songs to life as best as our abilities allow,” Okhiulu said.
One year after Talisman was founded, Stanford saw the creation of yet another group: the The Harmonics.
Harmonics member Río Padilla-Smith ’19 the founder supposedly started the group after being rejected from Mixed Company.
The group has transitioned through several eras since its founding. It began as a mainstream pop group, but Charlie Forkish ’11 M.A. ’13 moved the group towards more heavy metal music in the 2000s. During this era, The Harmonics won best album in the Contemporary A Cappella Awards for “Escape Velocity” in 2009.
By the early 2010s, the group had shifted towards performing more alternative-rock. Now, it performs a mix of alternative- and hard-rock songs.
Also in 1991, Christian a cappella group Testimony was formed. The group has performed at a variety of venues, from dining halls to homeless shelters.
Raagapella was formed in 2002 as one of the first South Asian a cappella groups in the country. It began as an all-male a cappella group, but it transitioned into an all-gender group in its 2016-17 season.
Raagapella member Connor Holland ’18 M.S. ’19, who joined Raagapella during its all-male era, said the group’s transition to all-gender status was well-received. He added that making the group all-gender led to tremendous growth among members.
“We decided there was no real reason why we needed to stay all-male,” Holland said. “There were so many more possibilities, and exciting possibilities, to go co-ed.”
Raagapella performs a variety of South Asian music, from Bollywood to Persian to Carnatic. This quarter, the group is experimenting with doing mashups of songs from both the Western and Eastern canons.
“We really have an amazing breadth that we can draw from,” Holland said.
More recently, Michelle Jia ‘16, Jae-Young Son ’16 and John Ahern ’16 founded the jazz a cappella group Volta in 2013.
Former Volta member Monica Chan ’17 said the group disbanded in 2016, when all of its then-members graduated.
During the fall of 2015, Zhengyuan Ma ’17 and Ye Wang ’17 M.S. ’19 met in Wilbur Dining to discuss the idea of starting an East Asian a cappella group on campus. By winter quarter, their idea came to fruition as they, along with Vickie Wang ‘19, created Stanford O-Tone.
“The a cappella community at Stanford has been incredibly supportive of us, offering advice and lending equipment as we figured out how to run a successful group,” Ye said. “I’m really proud of how much O-Tone has grown as a community and as a musical group over the past few years, and I’m excited to see how it will continue to grow.”
By the fall quarter of the 2016-2017 school year, Stanford O-Tone had secured an New Student Orientation performance, known as the O-Show, and the group also held auditions with the other a cappella groups.
O-Tone President Jonathan Chhang ’20 joined during the group’s first full season, when Chhang was a frosh. He said he has seen tremendous musical growth from the group, and he attributes this growth to Vincent Woo M.S. ’17, who served as the musical director during Chhang’s freshman year.
“He really drilled us to higher standards,” Chhang said. “Now, the O-Tone community is pretty strong, and there are a lot of dedicated members willing to work for O-Tone’s case.”
Next year, Counterpoint will celebrate its 40th anniversary with a reunion. And in 2020, Talisman will celebrate its 30th anniversary.
“The Mendicants are proud to be the first a cappella group on campus, but they’re also proud of Stanford a cappella as a whole,” Pampush said. “We have 10 unique a cappella groups that all bring something very different to the table.”
Contact Ellie Toler at ‘etoler’ at stanford.edu.