Listen: Roomful of Teeth’s Quizassa
The self-titled 2012 debut by groundbreaking vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth—which helped member Caroline Shaw win a Pulitzer—contains two pieces by Big Ears alum and Tune-Yards leader Merrill Garbus. Our favorite is “Quizassa.” So much happens in these three minutes, which breathlessly pivot from the operatic to the choral to the percussive. The throat-singing drone that emerges and vanishes just before the halfway point, the chanted antiphony of the midsection, the clear physical exertion of every voice in the room—what a wonder. Perhaps they’ll perform it at Big Ears 2019.
