From “Loves in Need of Love,” to “Just the two of us,” Princeton’s a cappella group Old NasSoul performed a wide range of songs celebrating Black music for a Chorale Room audience during a special daytime performance at the Upper School (US) on Thursday, Oct. 17. Alum Daniel Wang ’22, a member of the group, coordinated the CAB performance with US Chorale and Music Teacher Joel Sindelar.
Daniel became interested in music at the US, as a member of the school’s jazz ensemble. The jazz scene at Princeton was competitive, however, so Daniel looked for other ways to pursue his musical interests, he said.
“I saw a lot of a cappella groups perform, and I decided, ‘Wow, this is really cool. I want to be a part of that.’”
Daniel said he enjoyed returning to his alma mater and seeing familiar faces.
“These are teachers who really inspire me a lot. And you know, seeing them come see me sing, there’s a side of Daniel they haven’t seen before. That was super exciting.”
According to the Princeton University website, Old NasSoul was founded in 2006 and is the only a cappella group on campus to sing specifically R&B and Soul. During the set, Old NasSoul members stated that it was founded by Black men who wanted to create a place at Princeton to sing Black music. Although Old NasSoul has changed since, the group is still led by a love of music and a desire to celebrate Black voices, Daniel said.
“The founders thought that there should be a space where Black artists are celebrated, specifically artists who sing R&B and soul, so it started off as that,” he said. “We have a lot of different gender identities and are obviously a very diverse group. Our group right now is just whoever wants to join us and sing R&B and soul music.”
Some members of the audience, including Princess Adeoye ’27, specifically noticed the group’s makeup.
“I would say the diversity was something I liked, but at the same time that was kind of something I disliked,” Princess said. “They stated it was a club by Black men to celebrate Black music, and I feel like a lot of the soul part of Black music wasn’t there.”
While Princess enjoyed the music and said “R&B soul stuff is basically my favorite genre,” she still thought their performance felt incomplete.
“I feel like something was missing in certain stuff that they did. It almost felt like a mockery even if they didn’t intend it to be.”
Old NasSoul’s performance began with “If I Ain’t Got You” soloed by Chloe Hartwell, a student from Las Vegas. Background voices varied in pitch but harmonized together to supplement her part. After the first song, the group, featuring students from all over the world, introduced themselves to the audience. US Math Teacher Sarina Simon enjoyed how interactive the performance was, she said.
“I think the movement piece is something I haven’t seen a lot of a cappella groups do,” she said. “It wasn’t a lot of choreography, but their choreography of moving back and forth, and when to snap and clap, and for how long really enhanced the songs, and I liked that piece of it.”
Ms. Simon thought seeing an alum return to perform at the school was meaningful for current students, she said.
“It shows you it’s cool to do something that’s out of your comfort zone, and it shows current students a glimpse of what they could do outside of high school.”
US Math and Computer Science Teacher Amelia Mattern appreciated the group’s unique take on well-known songs, she said.
“I liked that the students seemed really into the music they were singing and that the songs were celebrating Black musicians and Black music. I liked that the soloists took their own takes on the songs. It didn’t sound exactly like the originals, which is fun.”
Parker Willett ’25 said she thought their performance was
entertaining. However, she also found it interesting how the group’s demographic has shifted since its founding, she said.
“I found it really interesting that it was originally formed to give Black men the space and opportunity to sing in a group at Princeton, and yet there was only one Black man in the group and only one other Black woman,” she said. “It’s great to see other people expressing a love for this genre of music, but a little weird to see how few Black people are in the group today.”
