Local a cappella groups featured on CD

IU's Straight No Chaser and Ladies First will be featured on a CD that showcases the best of collegiate a cappella. The CD, which will be released at the end of this month, will feature songs from the University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan and University of Pennsylvania.\nThe CD, Best of Collegiate A Cappella (BOCA), has been produced since 1995, and until 2000 it featured the upper echelon of only American collegiate a cappella. Since 2000, other countries, such as Japan, UK and Canada, were considered and chosen for the album, as well. The CD is produced by Varsity Vocals -- the scholastic branch of Mainely A Cappella, a company that releases the world's largest a cappella mail order catalogue. Varsity Vocals is in charge of putting out the BOCA CD and playing host to a cappella competitions at both the high school and collegiate levels.\nJessika Diamond, producer of BOCA at Varsity Vocals, said a cappella has grown in popularity over the years.\n"When college a cappella first started getting noticed, there were only about 100 groups," Diamond said. "Now there are about 830." \nThe process involved in choosing the groups to be featured on the BOCA CD was a long one. Diamond, along with the president of The Contemporary A Cappella Society of America, spent four days listening to the submissions of many groups from around the world. This year there were about 125 submissions. Groups from 19 schools were chosen.\nLadies First, IU's only female a cappella group, was formed in 1999 and has already cut two CDs. The group sent in copies of its CD to Varsity Vocals and was selected to be a part of the BOCA CD. It will perform the song "Independent Women," made popular by Destiny's Child.\n"I'm extremely proud the group is being featured on the CD because we worked extremely hard on the album," senior Nora Colwell, director and member of Ladies First, said. "It really shows how far we've come in such a short time." \nStraight No Chaser, one of IU's all-male a cappella groups, has been together for five years. SNC was selected for the CD in much the same way as Ladies First.\n"We sent in a 'rough draft' of our upcoming CD, and the selection committee chose 'I Belong to You' to be on the compilation," Jermaine Miles, sophomore and member of SNC, said. \nSNC was also featured on BOCA in 1999, performing its version of the song "Ghost Train." \n"I was excited because SNC hasn't been on the BOCA CD since 1999," Miles said. "I hope it's foreshadowing for how our CD will be received by critics, and more importantly, our fans."\nDiamond predicted the BOCA CD will come out by the end of January. Each group featured on the CD will receive 50 copies of BOCA to sell to fans around campus. The rest of the CDs will be sold at shows hosted by Varsity Vocals and through the Mainely A Cappella catalogue. The album will also be sold in select record stores. \nBeing featured on the BOCA CD is an honor for both members of SNC and Ladies First.\n"I was very excited when I found out we were chosen to be in the CD," Miles said. "The group was excited as well. It's a great honor"