Northern Harmony was an experiment, pure and simple. The people south of us have these big a cappella festivals and competitions every year, gathering hundreds - sometimes thousands - of people together to celebrate the power of the voice. If Canadian a cappella fans wanted to go to large celebrations of vocal music, they had to cross the border. And a number of us did, every year...
The test was to see, could we do the same thing on the northern side of the border?
Answer: Yes. And how!
Northern Harmony I, October 4 1997, was meant to be a small event. Grant MacEwan Community College donated their concert hall to the evening in exchange for the profits for a scholarship for vocal music students. No one - not us or them - expected to make much of a profit the first year; if we'd filled 2/5ths of the hall (that would have put us just past the break-even point), we'd have been happy.
Northern Harmony was an unexpected smash, selling out half a day in advance. The store selling the tickets and the woman running the box office the night of both said they'd never seen anything like it.
The experiment was a success!
Not only did it bring fans together here, but it brought international attention to Canadian a cappella - a growing and thriving industry. And there remain no worries about whether there will be future Northern Harmony events, since Northern Harmony event venues are full year-after-year.
Northern Harmony was created to be a competition, pure and simple. Groups were judged by industry professionals with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes being awarded in addition to other awards such as Best Soloist, Best Arrangement, and Best Vocal Percussion.
2005 marked a special event for fans of Northern Harmony - a Canadian A Cappella Hall of Fame was created with the innaugural winning group - the Heebee-jeebees as the first inductees. Read more about the Hall of Fame here.
In 2007, Northern Harmony's format changed. It went from being a competition to a showcase concert for groups. The pressure of competition was gone and the groups were able to relax and entertain the audience without fear of being judged on a wrong chord. The response from the performing groups and the audience was overwhelming - the new format was a success.
2009 marks Northern Harmony's tenth show, and it promises to be a completely unique experience from any other Northern Harmony show in the past.