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Pushing the Musical Boundaries with the Girls of Aliqua
by Reg Seeton and Troy Rogers
 It's not often that you check out a live show and end up seeing a group that could headline its own lavish production on the strip in Las Vegas. How about an ultra-modern vocal ensemble that's an interpretive cultural Broadway act just waiting to happen? How about a nine member, all-girl group of vocalists with a name that's tailor made for a Jumbotron in Times Square or any major hotel in Vegas? And with the recent March 10 release of their self-titled debut album on Nettwerk Records, that name is Aliqua. Aliqua, however, is much more than simply a name. Latin for "parts of a whole," Aliqua is an eclectic experience waiting to be discovered.
On March 26 Aliqua took to the stage at Vancouver's Centre Theatre, a venue that has played host to many a traveling Broadway production over the years, as part of the city's Fashion Week festivities. On hand for Aliqua live, not only did we get to see a vocal act that defies categorization but we also kicked back to take in an opening act that we've never experienced until now, a fashion show. Complete with runway, models, Euro-techno, a flamboyant RuPaul vibe, the real deal, it was a fitting opener that set the tone for a night of musical diversity, artistic expression and cultural dance.
Picture a nine member vocal tapestry of French lullabies, Mexican melodies, Spanish dance, Argentinean tango that sews their own unique choral threads on the rebellious lesbian undertones of 1800s opera song Sous Le Dome Epais, Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," Etta James' "At Last" and Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" and you have Aliqua. However, with genreless original songs like "Three Ways to Vacuum Your House," Aliqua is most defined by the ambiguity within average sounds that you hear in your house each day set to Arabic percussion and Flamenco.
 Prior to the show we caught up with three of Aliqua's nine vocalists, Tavia Cosper, Erin Bishop and Sarah Jane Bird, backstage where the momentary trio took us on a journey from the group's inception back in 2001 and its choral roots, their love for world music, breaking boundaries of choir, the unique individual qualities within the nine member collective, and how Aliqua approaches both original works and timeless classics.
As we sat down, though, the burning question on our brain was how nine unique personalities are able to get on the same page creatively to continue making music. As Tavia Cosper, a beautiful brunette soprano and near dead-ringer for Crossing Jordan's Jill Hennessey, explained, with smile that lit up the room, it comes down to the age old "give and take" scenario. "Well, luckily, big picture-wise it’s pretty simple," Tavia revealed. "Because we all sort of have the same initial vision. But it’s really hard to get us to agree completely on almost anything. We sit and discuss it out with all of us and sometimes you've got to give up certain fights and compromise." As for Erin Bishop, a Kate Beckinsale meets Sharon Stone soprano, the secret to maintaining a healthy nine member collective is nothing more than democracy in action. "Usually if we can’t agree on something, we’ll either abandon what it is if we’re not unanimous for it. Or if it’s something we have to do, either this way or that way, then we’ll vote."
But when all of the girls look to approach a soft classic like Etta James' "At Last," as Aliqua's class and sass recipe of Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Jane Bird, explains, it's a total team effort. "We went through a lot of versions of that song, and the early one sounded like the Etta James version, and it just wasn’t working," Bird admitted. "It sounded like a cover and it didn’t have any of us in it at all. So it was actually Ellie [Lesani] and Bree [Greig], two girls who were really inspired by that song, who went away and kind of thought, what does this song mean? How can we take it in a different direction and still keep this iconic song still somewhat intact? And they went off and sat down and wrote some stuff and came back to us with this great track."
 In a musical age dominated by mainstream pop divas and wannabe idols, people tend to forget there's a whole other rich and diverse musical world out there to explore beyond the confines of Top 40 airplay. When watching Aliqua perform on stage now that they've just begun their label career on Nettwerk, the diversity of music, melodies, and modern cultural influences is an experience that sometimes pushes you beyond the boundaries of the safe and secure. Although it was electrifying to hear an all-vocal rearrangement of "Sweet Dreams" by The Eurythmics and a more traditional take on the classic song of female strength, Ava Maria, Aliqua delved into more challenging interpretive territory with their "buzzing" vocal version of "Flight of the Bumble Bee." In certain portions of the Aliqua show, the room was filled with chants, the timed beat of sticks, and the playful vocal dancing like you've heard in the Sound of Music.
With so many eclectic influences and styles, has Aliqua found their one niche market to break into and call their own? As Tavia explained to us before the show, it's an ongoing organic process. "I think our niche is developing into modern world music that we just have to take a certain edge to." Cosper said from across the table as she elaborated on who they feel the Aliqua audience is. "I think we found that it’s anyone, really. It can be students who are in university and high school who are interested in music. It’s great for them to see we came from that place and it’s something that they think is cool. It could also be people that love classical music. So our audience is very interesting for us as we watch it develop."
On the same musical note, Sarah Jane was quick to point out how the members of Aliqua aren't afraid to go beyond the sexes, as reflected by taking on Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters," a power ballad they embraced since Tavia is one of the many disciples of the San Francisco metal gods. "I mean, we also feel comfortable to take a piece that’s written for men," said Bird, "and try to filter it as necessary so we can sing it, because we don’t want to have to discount those pieces from our repertoire." For both Erin and Tavia, it's also about not closing the doors on your potential while working to redefine the perception of choral music, as Cosper echoed. "I think it’s really important to try and appeal to as massive an audience as we can. We can’t pigeonhole ourselves in one certain area to just sing acapalla on an album or to just sing covers."
 Aside from Aliqua's collective cohesiveness on stage, what was most striking about the ensemble was their unique and powerful presence that begged for larger song-to-song production storytelling in similar fashion as what you'd find from a bigger stage in Las Vegas. Given the diversity of an all-female group that has so many international and cultural layers, at times tribal, combined with the contemporary modern appeal of well known hits , the self-titled debut of Aliqua can only pave the road to bigger heights as the nine girls hone their live act and stay true to both themselves and the music.
Before the girls took to the stage, Aliqua's Sarah Jane Bird said it best in regard to the unique qualities of their special parts of a whole. "One of the things I love about the group is that we do things that we love to do. And it doesn’t matter necessarily if it’s going to be a cover or a song from the most remote area of the globe. If we love it and believe it in, we do it."
For more on the music, head over to the official Aliqua website.
-- Reg Seeton and Troy Rogers
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