One by one...

To be perfectly honest, I always felt like Talisman was a little high and mighty. Now, don't get me wrong, I know some singers for Talisman, and they aren't pretentious in the least, but every time I saw them perform, as Fleet Street alluded to in their own spring concert, it seemed like they thought they could end the world's problems, enormous, centuries-old problems, by singing about them. What really blew me away about their concert this past weekend? I think they might be right.

Vocally tight and balanced, Talisman exhibited a breadth of material I had not seen in their other shows. Ranging from African tribal music to Chinese lullabies to American rap, their set list was impressively varied and showed a lot of technical skill and music sense that isn't necessarily obvious when they only sing a couple of very similar songs at a dorm show. On the other hand, the show also demonstrated how strongly the group favors certain voices within itself, showcasing the same soloists (including the musical director several times) when a little more equitable distribution would have been in order and not gone unnoticed.

But I think all this was to be expected; we expected quality music from one of the preeminent campus vocal groups, we expected more breadth in a longer show, we even expected something to be not quite right--in this case the solos--from a group composed almost entirely of human beings. Yet what I at least did not expect was the power of their stories and of their community. Hearing about songs they learned while overseas and the experiences they had there, seeing the way they talked about their travels with such confidence and honesty, and knowing that they are still simply students like us--taking classes, going to parties, and writing papers--was so inspiring. Seeing that they, and thusly we, can make such a difference, even just twenty some people, is really empowering.

And to cap off their already stunning performance, they just pushed me over the edge with their final number. One by One is what I would call Talisman's trademark number, and one with which I was slowly becoming fed up. But at the end of the show, putting it off until the last number, they began to call up all the Talisman alumni in the audience and began to song. Bolstered by dozens of other voices, the sound took over Dinkelspiel Auditorium, washing over the audience in rich waves of tonal ecstasy. Hyperbolic? Perhaps, but accurate to some extent of the short-term effects of the number. I left literally speechless, stunned by the power of their voices and with a new sense of respect for the impact of the human voice.