Jewish A Capella Group Visits WFHA

The recent NBC reality television program, The Sing Off, has turned a capella into a pop culture phenomenon. Students at WFHA, however, didn't have to turn on their TVs to experience a capella at its best, thanks to a recent visit from Kaseset.

Kaskeset, Binghamton University's Jewish a capella group, performed at WFHA in January and conducted small workshops with the students. Currently on tour, Kaskeset took a side trip to WFHA thanks to Arielle Sokoloff, a junior at Binghamton and the group's president. Sokoloff's mother, Erica, is Director of Jewish Life at WFHA.

The college group gave three lively concerts at WFHA, singing first to the middle school, and then to divided groups of lower school students.

"We love singing for kids; they have a lot of fun and they really appreciate the music," said Binghamton senior Dan Goldberg.

Formed in 1996, Kaskeset began as a small group of students with the strong desire to sing Jewish a cappella. The group has a wide range of repertoire; including traditional Jewish songs, Israeli pop classics, Yiddish and Spanish songs, as well as a select few Disney and Parody songs. The group is in the midst of recording it's fifth CD, and recently won the 2009 Contemporary A Cappella Awards with Mima'amakim for the best World/Folk song.

Toes were tapping, hands were clapping and WFHA's students joined in to sing after learning a few verses. One of the highlights was when the group's beat boxer, sophomore Benny Summers, gave a solo performance and taught the children basic beat boxing skills, a form of vocal percussion popular in hip hop music.

After trying his hand at it, WFHA seventh-grader Ezra Hurvitz said he has a new appreciation for the art. "It is really hard to do," he said. "I couldn't do it."

After the performance, students peppered the Kaskeset members with questions ranging from how often they practice to what they are majoring in at the university.

The group members spoke about their commitment to Kaskeset, explaining that they practice seven hours a week, and spend a lot of time writing and arranging songs, as well as coming up with new choreography.

"One reason we really like to visit schools is to show children it's cool to have Jewish pride and pride in who you are, no matter what stage you are in your life," said freshman Jenny Kornblatt.

"It's important to set an example that there are ways to stay active and connected in the Jewish community when you are in college," Arielle Sokoloff said. "We are all involved and active in Hillel at Binghamton and we are very proud of that."