Libera Dreams

I've notice a trend on the board. Whenever we discuss the "new" boys voices we tend to compare them to previous members i.e. Alex sounds like Tom, Kavana sounds like Josh etc. so on and so forth. I do admit that I am guilty of that myself.

But I have been thinking, why are we comparing these boys voices to others? Why does it sound like the newer boys are trying to imitate the older ones? Isn't RP trying to encourage the soloists for any song to find their own sound and their own? For instance, if Lacrymosa is NOT sung by Ben but by a newer boy, then why is the newer one trying to sound like Ben instead of showing us his own style that is comfortable for him. After all Mini-Ben performed the score with a different style from Big Ben.

Please don't take this as an offending rant for that is NOT my purpose. I just feel it is unfair to continually compare the Privates to the Corporals. As it seems, we(myself included) tend to do this off hand without realizing it. Should the boys not be encouraged to have their own sounds?

Any thoughts? Again I do not intend to offend anyone in the process

Contrast and compare, then try to do better. It's the whole ethos on which society is driven. Benchmarks, league tables, exams, salary scales, etc... all these are in place to seperate the wheat from the chaff. Life is just one never ending competition if you think about it.

"The same and yet different..."

Liam C used those exact words when asked in Manila about how they maintain consistency. The inheriting soloist tries to maintain the consistency of the delivery of the departing soloist but injects his own flavor.

Comparison is inevitable with remakes. Just ask Quincy Jones
and the cast of "We are the World 25"

We can't really say conclusively that a new boy is trying to sound like the old one. For all we know, they could just have very similar voices and RP chose them to sing that particular song to have some consistency as others have said.

As for comparing, I think there's one where we tend to compare one as being better than the other. But the usual ones that we do for the younger boys is to compare them with the old ones that we are used to for the benefit of those who have not heard the newer boys sing. We all like to know how the new ones sound and as it is difficult to describe a person's voice on its own, it is inevitable that we will try to draw comparisons basing on an older boy that people are familiar with. For this case, I think it is more of mentioning how they are alike and different. Not that one has a better voice, but that each boy has a different, unique quality that differentiates their voices.

Just my two cents.

In my opinion I think that if the boys listen to recordings of the songs that they are singing solo on, they will try to imitate what they hear. As they get older they will develop more of their own style.

I know as an instrumental musician and as a choral musician, we try to do this all the time. You always aim to match with one who is more experienced. For example, I'm learning a solo right now and reference youtube recordings of pro's to get an idea of how to sound. I do what I think sounds nice of course, but it is nice to have reference.

As we know, older boys helping new boys is a big part of the way Libera runs. It could be that an older boy who once sang a solo helps the younger one learn it. So the learning boy will likely pick up on most of the teaching boy's stylistic ways.

And as someone above said, boys who sing certain solos may have certain voice characteristics. Some have lower, sweet voices. Others have light and whispy voices. Just depends on the boy.

I think whatever RP and his staff are doing, it's working. They make beautiful music, and most importantly the boys basically have a second family who they have tons of fun with! Good deal.

carina_gino20 wrote:We can't really say conclusively that a new boy is trying to sound like the old one. For all we know, they could just have very similar voices and RP chose them to sing that particular song to have some consistency as others have said.

As for comparing, I think there's one where we tend to compare one as being better than the other. But the usual ones that we do for the younger boys is to compare them with the old ones that we are used to for the benefit of those who have not heard the newer boys sing. We all like to know how the new ones sound and as it is difficult to describe a person's voice on its own, it is inevitable that we will try to draw comparisons basing on an older boy that people are familiar with. For this case, I think it is more of mentioning how they are alike and different. Not that one has a better voice, but that each boy has a different, unique quality that differentiates their voices.

Just my two cents.

Agreed! I am not as familiar with certain soloist's voices, especially the newer boys who have soloed in concert but not on an album yet, so it helps when people say a certain boy "sounds like Josh" or "sounds like a young Tom Cully" and so on.

I do also agree about the whole soloists sounding "alike" for the purpose of consistency, yet each boy also adds his own particular interpretation of the song. For example, "Stay with Me". It was originally sung by Joe Platt, who had a light, innocent, high voice and later sung by Ed Day, who had a similar voice, but with a little bit fuller sound to it, so the delivery had a solid sound, instead of an ethereal sound. Later Joe Snelling took it on, and now it's Daniel Fontannaz's solo. I hear he has a softer voice, so maybe a combination of Joe P. and Ed? A better example might be "When a Knight" which was performed by the aforementioned Joe P. on "Free" and later by Ed on SoP. They sound more similar to each other on that song, but they interpret it differently. The list could go on but I will stop here.

plumpuff6 wrote:A better example might be "When a Knight" which was performed by the aforementioned Joe P. on "Free" and later by Ed on SoP. They sound more similar to each other on that song, but they interpret it differently. The list could go on but I will stop here.

And when I listened to Stefan's rendition of it in the Manila concert, I thought he had the same soothing, light voice of Ed but still distinctly different. Maybe a little fuller, a bit less light.

carina_gino20 wrote:

plumpuff6 wrote:A better example might be "When a Knight" which was performed by the aforementioned Joe P. on "Free" and later by Ed on SoP. They sound more similar to each other on that song, but they interpret it differently. The list could go on but I will stop here.

And when I listened to Stefan's rendition of it in the Manila concert, I thought he had the same soothing, light voice of Ed but still distinctly different. Maybe a little fuller, a bit less light.

Oh, that's interesting to hear! I wondered how Stefan sounded on "When a Knight" ever since I heard he performed the song in the Philippines.

Did Stefan take over the solo on "Sancte" as well?

plumpuff6 wrote: Oh, that's interesting to hear! I wondered how Stefan sounded on "When a Knight" ever since I heard he performed the song in the Philippines.

Did Stefan take over the solo on "Sancte" as well?

He was absolutely sweet and endearing on When a Knight. A pity it was a very short song.

And yes, he took over the solo for Sancte and his voice was piercingly clear. His voice was not as 'light' as Liam's voice, but Stefan definitely nailed the high parts. He did most of the high parts in the concert as well, backed sometimes by Kavana.

heeh91 I do quite understand the fact of listening to other people's versions of a song, because I did that for choir and band myself, but maybe its just a few who don't try to imitate the same after the first few listenings, i've always tried doing it differently after the first time ::shrug:: probs just me.

JoelinMkt, I see that point now that I think about it.


I posted this not as an accusatory(it seems that it has come off that way) post, but merely an inquiring post only because the musical environments that I've come from we rarely, and I mean rarely, imitated an original or another's version the same, even after the first time, so I'm not use to that. I quite agree that whatever RP and staff are doing is most definitely working, and I'm not complaining about that, i was just again wondering.....

In my opinion, it may be that they are not trying to sound like the other boys, but it may be how it sounds to us as an individual. For example, when I heard Guadete with the solo of Liam and Guadete from the Luminosa album, I heard some similarities, but I also heard differences between the two. So for me I could tell that they were two individual people. I also am currently deaf in one ear so it might be hard to hear the similairites as you guys might.

Case in point is "Far Away". Multiple different versions by three
different soloists. The same score, the same lyrics. By my count, Michael has four deliveries on YT, Tom has two, Ben has one.

The three sound nothing like each other but have delivered the song differently. Also, we are not talking lightweights here. We are hearing three generations of principal soloists over four albums. The overall tone of the song has not changed but the texture of Michael's the range of Toms and the clarity of Ben's all add different dimensions to the song.

And there are comparisons nevertheless because the song is etched in the minds of the fans as "Michael's Song". That honor given Michael does not mean that Tom's or Ben's were not good (They are).

I would not mind finding out that indeed Ben has four solos
in this album or that Liam or Ed will get a last shot in the spotlight. I would be just as happy to learn that we are all wrong in our guesses and all of the four most recent releases are singers never before
granted a solo. Tom, Liam and Ed were great soloists I will never forget. Some equally great soloist (Michael, Callum, Connor and Joe
gave way once before for aim and Co to step up. So shall those three and eventually Ben and Josh, give way to Daniel, Jakob, Stefan, Ralph, Flynn, Kavana and the Jameses. For all we know these four songs are it. That the voices sound so much like Ed or Ben would mean that the older ones taught the incoming ones well and the quality and integrity of the Libera sound is intact.

Case in point is "Far Away". Multiple different versions by three
different soloists. The same score, the same lyrics. By my count, Michael has four deliveries on YT, Tom has two, Ben has one.

The three sound nothing like each other but have delivered the song differently. Also, we are not talking lightweights here. We are hearing three generations of principal soloists over four albums. The overall tone of the song has not changed but the texture of Michael's the range of Toms and the clarity of Ben's all add different dimensions to the song.

And there are comparisons nevertheless because the song is etched in the minds of the fans as "Michael's Song". That honor given Michael does not mean that Tom's or Ben's were not good (They are).

I would not mind finding out that indeed Ben has four solos
in this album or that Liam or Ed will get a last shot in the spotlight. I would be just as happy to learn that we are all wrong in our guesses and all of the four most recent releases are singers never before
granted a solo. Tom, Liam and Ed were great soloists I will never forget. Some equally great soloist (Michael, Callum, Connor and Joe
gave way once before for aim and Co to step up. So shall those three and eventually Ben and Josh, give way to Daniel, Jakob, Stefan, Ralph, Flynn, Kavana and the Jameses. For all we know these four songs are it. That the voices sound so much like Ed or Ben would mean that the older ones taught the incoming ones well and the quality and integrity of the Libera sound is intact.

I personally don't think they are TRYING to sound like or imitate each other. It's just a matter of influence and is the same with composers and performers, no matter what your instrument is. The younger Libera boys are exposed to and taught by the older Libera boys such as Tom, Josh, Ben etc. Techniques are passed down so there may be times where the sound produced may sound similar. That is like difference of different people playing the same instrument or the same person playing on different instruments. Many people's voices sound similar so when similar technique is used, the sound may also sound similar. It's natural so please don't criticise the younger boys and accuse them of "imitating" or "trying to sound like the older boys". They are trying their very best and are still learning.

I now regret posting this as this was NOT a criticism of the younger boys, at least that was not my intention.


Is there a way to delete this thread on my own, or do I have to ask a moderator or Kevin to do it?