John Nyren squeezed his eyes shut and belted out Sam Smith’s "Lay Me Down" on Monday night.
About 300 people crowded into the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom, where The Staff, a UF a cappella group, held its annual "Falala Cappella" concert. This was the first time it was held in the ballroom rather than the music building.
The Dartmouth Decibelles traveled to The Gator Nation from New Hampshire, said Edom Wessenyeleh, the group’s musical director. As the first group to perform, members sang four songs, including "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips and "Santa Baby" by Eartha Kitt, which they ended with jazz hands.
Dressed in Santa hats and red-and-green dresses and sweaters, Tone Def took the stage next to sing a mash-up of Lana Del Rey’s "Summertime Sadness" and Calvin Harris’ "Outside." They then switched to seasonal favorites: "Hanukkah, O Hanukkah" and "Silver Bells."
The loudest applause for Tone Def came when Nyren sang.
Although Nyren appeared calm and composed on stage, he said he was shaking inside. He only started singing with Tone Def this semester.
"I’m not really used to singing on stage," the UF computer science senior said. "I was really nervous."
In late September, Nyren said Tone Def started practicing "Lay Me Down."
"All these people are like my family," the 22-year-old said. "I love them so much."
For the first time, Gator Awaaz performed at the Falala concert. The members of UF’s South Asian a cappella group sang "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift and then mixed in Hindi and Tamil songs. They finished by crooning Swift’s lyrics, "But I’ve got a blank space, baby, and I’ll write your name."
Ruth Antony, a member of Gator Awaaz, said the group wanted to perform with UF’s other a cappella groups.
"We just wanted to use pop culture with some Indian music," the UF biology sophomore said.
The 18-year-old said the group wanted students to know UF has a Bollywood-style group.
"We just hope everybody gets to know there’s diversity on campus," Antony said.
UF marine sciences freshman Sebastian Slagel said he particularly liked listening to Gator Awaaz’s multi-lingual songs. He didn’t know UF had a South Asian a cappella group.
"It’s nice to see the different cultural groups," the 19-year-old said.
Shahzaade Robinson, a UF nursing senior, said it was her first time attending Falala Cappella, and she liked the break from studying.
"It helps bring the Christmas spirit into the last week of finals," the 21-year-old said.
Contact Caitlin Ostroff at costroff@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @ceostroff
John Nyren, a 22-year-old UF computer science senior, belts out “Lay Me Down” by Sam Smith with the UF a capella group Tone Deaf at the annual “Falala Cappella” concert in the Reitz Grand Ballroom on Dec. 7, 2015. Nyren has been with the group one semester and already says he “loves them like family.”
