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We are tickled pink to be in the position to tell you, we won the 1st prize in the famous internationally renowned a cappella competition TAMPEREEN SÄVEL in Tampere, Finland.

The competition, with overall prize winnings of €8,500, is one of the most famous competitions in the world. All the current popular vocal groups of the "younger generation", such as Rajaton, amarcord, Singer Pur and the Calmus Ensemble, have claimed victory in Tampere.

This year, there were numerous competitors too. Only 14 of 27 groups who applied were chosen and invited to the final contest on June 6th, 2007 in Finland. The participants from six European countries faced a jury consisting of members of leading vocal groups like the famous Hilliard ensemble, The Real Group, Rajaton etc. (see the photo on the right).

The vocal competition in Tampere is very special because there are no distinct categories. Thus, there were many plugged and unplugged groups this year, coming from several different genres such as classical vocal music, folklore, advanced music and various popular music. In order to get a fair and expressive assessment of the varying performances, the jury reaches its decision by analysing components like intonation, rhythmical precision and voice blending. Furthermore, the jurors note the quality of the individual voices, the compilation of the songs, the arrangements, the creativity and the performance of the group on stage.

Due to the huge variety of the vocal ensembles, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes in past years were often shared. This year, the jury took care to reduce the vast quantity of prizes. Nevertheless there were also four groups awarded in 2007: The 3rd prize was shared by aSwedish group and Sound Affaire from Munich. The great British female trio Juice, who impressed the audience with their experimental world music, took the 2nd prize. We were awarded the 1st prize in form of a huge cup - the "Näsinneula Trophy" (and, of course, the envelope with the money we won ;-) ) and so we were – no, we are – over the moon!

Our performance (each group was allowed to perform a 15 minute program, without interludes and with a single round of applause after the last piece) consisted of the songs "Let's Misbehave", "Emotions", "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" and "Juegalo". Tremendously impressed by the announcement of the jury´s decision, we finally sang "A Thousand Miles" at the end of the awards.

In this season the sun never sets in Finland, so it was very easy for us to “turn the night into day” at the farewell party that followed. And there was also a lot of music – from us as well. But this time we did what we abstained from in the competition: singing with microphones.

Calmus-Ensemble, who won the 1st prize two years ago, gave a concert during the supporting program of this year´s festival, and so will we during the next TAMPEREEN SÄVEL in 2009. It is a great honour for us and we are really looking forward to it. Furthermore, we have been invited to do a concert tour and attend several festivals in Taiwan and potentially other Asian countries next year. :-)



The next newsletter with even more information and photos is coming up soon. In the meantime, enjoy the nice weather!