Mercer Bearitones bring us Back to Black for Halloween

Mercer’s 3-year-old acapella group, the Mercer Bearitones, will have their second Halloween concert on Oct. 30 at 6 p.m. in Willingham.

“It’s a Halloween concert, so there will be typical Halloween songs,” said Mary Marudas, the organization’s president. “But we will be singing songs not necessarily for Halloween, but still spooky.”

Marudas hints at a Gnarls Barkley acappella rendition along with Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black.

The marketing major explained the process for preparing for the concert. Members are expected to have practice on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

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“We just have so many passionate, dedicated members,” she said.

The president went on to explain how Mercer Bearitones recently performed at Pilgrimage to Penfield.

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Even though the Mercer Bearitones group puts in long hours to make every performance euphonic, the members consider themselves close friends.

Vice President and pre-medical major Darian Bishop said, “The most fun part about being apart of Bearitones is traveling together as a team. We’ve grown to be friends and family and we’ve developed a lot of camaraderie.”

The Mercer Bearitones won’t be the only family performing at the concert. The Korean dance group, Mercer KPOP team, has also been asked to perform.

“We didn’t want us to perform our songs, be there for 15 minutes and then leave,” said Marudas. “If it was just us, we would have to perform for about an hour, and that’s a lot of material.”

Marudas said Hana Hollis, the choreographer and member of the Mercer Bearitones, suggested to her that the two groups should partner up.  Hollis believed both clubs were small but had immense talent.

The Mercer Bearitones are looking to collaborate with other organizations in the future as well.  

“If you don’t go for the music, go for the performance. It’s fun,” said Marudas.

With pop, rhythm and blues and dancing, The Mercer Bearitones take pride in being diverse in not only singing, but entertainment in general.

We asked other members why Mercer students should attend the Halloween concert.

“Because we’re aca-awesome,” said Mason Mishael. “We’re singing a handful of cool songs most people will know, and MKT will be there!”

Pooja Gala, a mezzo-soprano, said she also believes they will put on a great show. “It’s a different experience that people don’t know about. True music to the ears!”

 

Editor's note: This article was edited 10/26/17 to reflect that this Halloween show is the second for the Mercer Bearitones, not the first, the correct spelling of Gnarls Barkley, the name of the Korean dance group, Gala's vocal specialization, the correct spelling of Mishael's name, and the correct spelling of Hollis's name.