Lafayette’s performing arts organizations channeled their inner “Pitch Perfect” this past weekend with two annual music-filled events: MAFia’s lip-sync competition and Evening of A Cappella.
Last Friday, MAFia — which stands for “Music Appreciation Floor is awesome” — held their annual lip-sync competition, an event that invites students to show off their comedic performance skills.
MAFia is both a special interest housing floor and a music club on campus. Every week, members of MAFia come together to listen to a different album. Though this is the main activity that the organization does year-round, the lip-sync competition is their way of sharing musical appreciation with the Lafayette community.
President of MAFia Sebastiano Riverso ‘24 described the lip-sync competition as MAFia’s “biggest event of the fall semester.”
Riverso feels that the lip-sync competition is a positive way for all members of campus to let loose and not take themselves so seriously, all while having fun with their friends and peers.
“It’s just stupid fun. Come, make your friends come, convince them to make fools of themselves, make a fool of yourself. Just have the most fun that you can,” Riverso said.
Although the lip-sync competition is a casual event that allows competitors to win prizes such as gift cards from Lafayette favorites like Mojo Cafe and Bank Street Creamery, the competition is also a fundraiser for the J. Larry Stockton Scholarship, which funds music lessons on campus.
In addition to the lip-sync competition, last weekend saw Lafayette’s four a cappella groups come together for the yearly Evening of A Cappella. The event, held on Saturday, showcased the talent of Lafayette’s singers as well as two a cappella groups from Muhlenburg College.
All of Lafayette’s a cappella groups — Soulfege, Mar-Keys, Cadence and Chorduroys — performed a variety of songs at the event, each group showcasing their singing talents with some choreography mixed in.
Meredith Forman ’24, music director of Soulfege, appreciates that the event connects the a cappella groups with the rest of campus, as it is the biggest event of the fall semester for these groups.
“If you’re not in arts, you don’t really know what’s going on [with a cappella], and so [the Evening of A Cappella] is an opportunity for the rest of campus to really see what’s going on and to hear us perform and see what we’ve been working on,” Forman said.
“[A capella] is a fun experience for all involved — for those who do it and those who watch,” Matthew White ‘23, music director of the Mar-Keys, said.
According to Forman, this year’s Evening of A Cappella was a major success, with every seat in the Williams Center’s theater sold out.
“The balcony was full, the main floor was full, and you don’t really see that often … It was so nice to be able to go onstage [and see people] smiling and waiting for you to sing,” Forman said.
Forman and White added that students can look forward to an a cappella holiday concert at the end of this semester.
White said that events like Evening of A Capella are important to display the creative passions of many members of campus.
“I think it’s really important to have that for all of us to have the opportunity to showcase our artsier side and be able to perform in such a public and publicized manner,” White said.
