Guangzhou a cappella band Resound will present a night of pop songs at Nanshan Cultural and Sports Center. Resound features a funky Cantonese style with a strong rhythm section and faultless harmonization.

    A graduate of the Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou, the band’s leader Lai Wensheng first delved into the instrument-less world of a cappella when he was recruited as a sophomore by a small campus band. It was then that Lai learned how to “play with the human voice” to simulate sounds and instruments. Lai’s first band dissolved after their graduation, but in order for him to move forward as a musician, he forced himself to go backward as a student, returning to the conservatory to recruit undergrad students for a new band he was forming.

    Chen Haoran and Chen Shaoyang thought a cappella was “choir music” when Lai first approached them about joining his group. Initially the music had little appeal to them. But after practicing a few numbers with Lai, the two juniors’ interest in this unusual genre was piqued. “After practicing, we found that we got along well with each other. No instrument could compare with the harmony of our voices,” Lai said.

    Inspired by urban a cappella groups such as Shenzhen’s Naturally 7, Lai wanted a “beat-boxer” to give their sound some hip-hop-style percussion. Human beat-boxing — imitating the sound of a drum with one’s mouth, lips and throat — originated from 1980s inner-city African-American rap groups who could not afford a drum machine, but it eventually took on a life of its own in the hip-hop genre. For Lai’s group, their beat-boxing appeared in the most unlikely person — an international trade student named Zhang Licong.

    “I had never met any a cappella singers before watching them (Lai and the others) perform. They were amazing, so I joined the group,” said Zhang, who also works full time for Samsung, which limits his band-practice time to after work.

    But it wasn’t until the nascent group heard the melodic notes of female vocalist Wang Chenrui echo through the halls of their conservatory that they felt their band was complete. “When people see us, they will not think of us as some other regular singers from the pop music department of the conservatory, but as a cappella singers,” said Wang, who won the Best Lead Singer prize at the Fifth National A Cappella Competition in Shanghai.

    Time: 8 p.m., Dec. 17

    Tickets: 120-280 yuan

    Booking: 400-185-8666

    Venue: Nanshan Cultural and Sports Center, 2106 Nanshan Boulevard, Nanshan District (南山区南山大道2106号南山文体中心)

    Metro: Line 1, Taoyuan Station (桃园站), Exit B(SD News)