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24
Summer
2014
There’s a new group in town. They sing.
They act. They harmonize. They do flash
mobs. They serenade. All acapella.
Presenting the Beirut Vocal Point.
In ‘real’ life, they are young profes-
sionals with the usual humdrum 9 to 5
jobs. On Sunday evenings, however, in
the midst of the hustle and bustle of the
Hamra district, the singers make their
way to the 10
th
floor of a high rise apart-
ment. Here, their music conductor awaits
them: Janmarie Haggar.
The music veteran quickly gathers them
around her piano as they begin acapella
renditions of classics, jazz, contemporary
and broadway music. They are good. Very
good.
“It’s fun,” says Haggar smiling broadly,
“isn’t it?”
It certainly looks like a lot of fun.
Between the melodies and the accompa-
nying sounds, whether it be trumpets or
jungle noises, the group is mesmerizing.
The brainchild of Haggar, the group
was formed three years ago when she
and the young singers met at the AUB
Choir.
The daughter of musicians, Haggar’s
past includes years spent training a
women’s choir, children’s choruses and
musical theatre in Cyprus and Beirut.
“When I met these amazing and talented
and energetic young people, I just felt
that we had to form an acapella group,”
she says. “It was the right match.”
Among them is
Yasmina Sabbah ‘06
.
At only 25, she can already boast a rich
musical repertoire. In 2008, she founded
and conducted the Lycée Abdel Kader
choir. A year later, she went off to Cam-
bridge and obtained a master’s degree
in choir conducting. Upon her return to
Lebanon, she formed a high school choir
and an adult chamber choir. Somehow
between the directing and the Beirut
Vocal Point, she finds time to sing with
the AUB choir and gives private lessons in
piano and voice.
“I’m really organized,” she laughs.
“Even during my IC days, I managed my
studies and music.”
In fact, she discovered her love for
choir at IC. During her school days, she
joined every music club possible. She
travelled with IC to every international
performance possible. At home, she was
surrounded by music (her mother is the
choir director at IC and her father “is a
good listener”).
At university, she majored in graphic
design “just because I was too scared to
pursue a career in music,” she said. “But
I knew that it wasn’t me.”
So she redirected herself to music.
And now, with Vocal Point Beirut, it’s an
experience for her like no other.
At Christmas, the group walked down
Hamra street caroling; in the AUB medical
library they did a flash mob; at a con-
vent they held singing workshops for its
underprivileged young boarders.
Basically, you will find them where
Beirut
Vocal Point