An out of this world experience with Voca People

Voca People perform at the Al Ghurair Centre in Deira, Dubai.— KT photo by Juidin Bernarrd

While travelling through the vast cosmos, Captain Beat On’s poor driving skills resulted in him crash-landing his space ship on earth. Since then, eight aliens from Planet Voca have been trying to find their way back home. Fortunately for the Planet Voca inhabitants, Earth does possess the fuel that can launch their ship back to space. The fuel happens to be music.

Since the fateful crash five years ago, eight of the Voca People — Tenoro, Alta, Soprana, Tubas, Mezzo, Baritone, Scratcher and Capt Beat On — have been performing ‘earth music’.

In their pursuit of exploring music, the Voca People have found their way to Dubai. They began their performances on Tuesday, and will continue till December 23 at the Ghurair Centre Central Atrium. In an interview with Khaleej Times, the engaging and amusing acapella group churned out popular Western classical, Hollywood and pop music medleys, without the use of musical instruments. Consisting of five men and three men, the Vocas speak in the musical-sounding dialect of ‘Vocish’.

From Beethoven to Lady Gaga, and Mozart to Micheal Jackson, the Voca People are a seriously quirky and talented bunch. They consistently blow the mind of the audiences with impressive and well-coordinated musical skills.

Scratcher, the only alien who can communicate in English, said: “I like Arabic musica. The Darboukaa.” And then he went on to render some oriental-sounding vocal percussion.

Clad in white outfits, faces painted white, with red lips, the Voca People, after a while, gets you wondering if they are really from outer space. “Planet Voca is a whole network of lights and it is freezing cold. Minus 300 degrees, everything is freezing,” said Scratcher.

When asked as to what they think of Dubai, they said they loved the place for the various world music influences, the shopping, the sun and the Burj Khalifa. “Earth is nice. We like the sun, and I like to get a tan,” said Captain Beat On.

“We’ve been all over the world. Germany, Mexico, Costa Rica, New York, everywhere,” said Soprana.

The performances are fresh, high-octane, and fun-filled, and the true highlight of the show is their amazing vocal ability.

Never performing entire songs, the Voca People render medleys of popular numbers.

Catch their free performances at Al Ghurair Centre from 6.45pm to 9.30pm.

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE