Shades Concert at Spelman College
Monday, March 17, at 7 p.m.
Background information taken from:
www.yale.edu/shades
Shades is a co-educational collegiate a cappella group founded to celebrate music of the African Diaspora.
The group's mission is to “offer a unique, musically excellent, and spiritually enriching performance experience to audiences at Yale University and beyond.”
Titilayo Ngwenya and a small group of other Yale freshman established the group in 1988 at a pre-orientation program for freshmen of color then known as the Puerto Rican Orientation Program (PROP), now known as Cultural Connections.
Shades has come a long way since its early years, when the group would gather its limited resources to perform a humble, yet beloved Valentine's Day concert at a small convenience store on campus.
In the few years since its inception, Shades has become one of Yale’s premiere a cappella groups, presenting four highly-attended jams per year in some of the biggest concert halls and performance venues on the Yale campus.
Shades has established a reputation for excellence outside of Yale as well, touring extensively both domestically and internationally to places like Puerto Rico, Boston, Houston, Jamaica, California and Japan.
One of the group’s most notable tours was in August of 2003, when Shades was invited to Phokeng, South Africa to sing for the enthronement ceremony of Kgosi Leruo Molotlegi, King of the Royal Bafokeng Nation. The group's stay culminated in a performance at a soccer stadium with an audience of over 20,000, including former President Nelson Mandela and the royal family of Botswana.
Sample tracks from Shades’ four albums, including Sankofa (2005), are available online at www.yale.edu/shades.
