100% of proceeds from this album will go towards supporting education and music programs for children in need.
----
Executive Producer: Aaron Sperber
Assistant Producers: Layne Stein, Jamal Moore
----
In May 2011, The YellowJackets traveled across the globe with the simple hopes of singing songs and making friends, and a vague notion of getting a new perspective on life. Little did we realize just how deeply Kenya would change the consciousness of our group. Boarding the plane, we knew little about Kenya, or the people we would meet there. All we knew was that a benefactor from our hometown had funded a school choir’s participation in the National School Singing Competition in Nairobi, and that they had won. We were on our way to their little town to meet them, to sing both for them and with them, and to learn some of their music, while teaching them ours. We worked for three weeks with these schoolchildren in the small town of Maseno in western Kenya. What we couldn’t know until we got there is just what their small a cappella choir, and their national victory meant to them. It evoked in them a previously unknown pride, which in turn motivated them not only to keep singing, but to also stay in school. If they didn’t attend class, they were not allowed to sing in choir. Having triumphed musically, they now believed even more might be possible. Previously ashamed to admit their dreams out of fear of sounding foolish, children now felt that no dream seemed too big! The pride was contagious, and it spread across generations and from town to town.
After witnessing music’s incredible power in inspiring youth to affect positive change in their own lives, we saw no reason the same principle could not be applied back home. Under the direction of senior YJ Aaron Sperber, we started an after-school a cappella program in the Rochester City School District, and we saw a similar pattern emerge: through their accomplishments in music, they were energized and motivated in life!
This album was recorded both in honor of and with these inspirational children. The YJs can’t wait for you to hear students from our Rochester program right alongside our Kenyan students throughout much of the album. We hope that, when you listen, you are transported to Kenya with us; that the Kiswahili phrases embedded in the background vocals of certain arrangements like “pamoja tuimbe”/”United We Sing” and “tunapenda musiki”/”We love music,” will help to introduce you to the people we met; and that those sweet, honest, unspoiled children reach your hearts like they reached ours. We hope it becomes clear to you just how central of a part music can play in elevating our spirits and transforming our lives for the good, no matter where we are from.
Thank you for listening. Just by doing so, you have joined the UWS team, as every penny earned from this album will go towards supporting education and music programs for children in need!
So as we say in Kiswahili, “Karibu! Hakuna Matata!” “Welcome! No worries!” Please sit back, relax, and enjoy “Pamoja Tuimbe!”
----
credits
released December 29, 2012
Wavin’ Flag
OPB: K’naan
Written by: Keinan Abdi Warsame, Peter Hernandez, Philip Lawrence, Jean Daval
Arrangement: Aaron Sperber
Solos (in order): Danny Rubenstein, Christine (Kenya), Galen Dole, Phelgona (Kenya), Abhishek Sharma, Aden Brooks, Ross Pedersen, Dana Huyge, Christopher Young, Sharon (Kenya), Michael Pittman, Jayde Lucas (Rochester program), Jahlil Bell (Rochester program), Aaron Sperber
Mixed by Ed Boyer
I Don't Wanna Change the World
OPB: Alain Clark
Written by: Alain Clark
Arrangement: Ben Bram
Solo: Abhishek Sharma
Mixed by Layne Stein
Awake My Soul
OPB: Mumford and Sons
Written by: Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, Winston Marshall, Ted Dwane
Arrangement: Ben Bram
Solos: Galen Dole, Christine (Kenya)
Mixed by Ed Boyer
Africa
OPB - Toto and inspired by Karl Wolf
Written by: David Paich and Jeff Porcaro
Rap written by: Jamal Moore
Arrangement: Aaron Sperber and Jamal Moore
Solos: Ross Pedersen, Aaron Sperber, Jamal Moore, Matt Francis
Mixed by Layne Stein
Jambo
Traditional Kenyan Song
Sung by Mbaka Oromo School Choir and The YellowJackets
featuring Charles Odero, school choir leader
Mixed by Layne Stein
I Smile
OPB: Kirk Franklin
Written by: Kirk Franklin, James Harris III, Terry Lewis, Fred Tackett
Arrangement: Trey McLaughlin
Solo: Trey McLaughlin
Mixed by Ed Boyer
Human
OPB: The Killers
Written by: The Killers
Arrangement: Ben Bram
Solo: Aaron Sperber
Mixed by Ed Boyer
One Day
OPB: Matisyahu
Written by: Bruno Mars, Ari Levine, Matthew Miller, Philip Lawrence
Arrangement: Aaron Sperber
Solo: Danny Rubenstein
Mixed by Ed Boyer
Webale
Traditional Kenyan Song
Solo: Dominic Khaemba
Mixed by Layne Stein
Look Through My Eyes
OPB: Phil Collins
Written by: Phil Collins
Arrangement: Ben Bram
Solo: Matthew Carlin
Mixed by Layne Stein
If You're Out There
OPB: John Legend
Written by: John Stephens
Arrangement: Ben Bram
Solo: Jamal Moore
Mixed by Ed Boyer
Waka Waka
OPB: Shakira
Written by: Shakira, John Hill, Freshlyground, Golden Sounds
Arrangement: Aaron Sperber
Solo: Aaron Sperber
Mixed by Layne Stein
We Are The World
OPB: USA for Africa
Written by: Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie
Arrangement: Ben Bram and Christopher Diaz
Solos (in order): Aaron Sperber (YellowJackets), Christie Dashiell (Afro-Blue), Mariah Maxwell (Afro-Blue), Troy Horne (Urban Method), Candace Eve Perkins (Delilah/Voices of Lee), Jamal Moore (YellowJackets), Danielle Withers (Afro-Blue), Peter Hollens (On The Rocks), David Pinto (Nota), Laina Marie Blackner (Delilah/Noteworthy), Mitch Grassi (Pentatonix), Hannah Juliano (Delilah/Pitchslapped), Rachael Lampa McCarthy (The Collective), Avi Kaplan (Pentatonix), Sam Tsui (Sing Off Backstage Host), McKay Crockett (BYU Vocal Point), Daniel Ellsworth (The Collective), Guy Chiapponi (North Shore), Therry Thomas (Committed), Michael Odokara-Okigbo (Dartmouth Aires), Kenton Chen (The Backbeats), Amy Whitcomb (Delilah/Noteworthy), Kendall Young (Delilah/Eleventh Hour), Myke Charles (Urban Method), Percussion solo: Kevin Olusola (Pentatonix), Guitar Solo: Richard Steighner (Urban Method)
Mixed by Ed Boyer
----
Arrangement Editors: Christopher Diaz, Ben Bram, Trey McLaughlin, Richard Steighner, Matt Lukasiewicz
Recording Engineers: Layne Stein, Aaron Sperber, Paul Kaleka, Jamal Moore, Sled Dog Studios, Robert Dietz
Editing Engineers: Alex Koutzoukis and Alex Green of Plaid Productions, Layne Stein and Paul Kaleka of Rayne’s Room
Former Majical Cloudz singer channels abstract personal fantasies into an indie-pop extravaganza with action-flick thrills. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 14, 2024
A winning combination of plucked pastorals and wispy, crackling vocals drives the third album from the Austin-based acoustic project Taft. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 17, 2019
