The Spanish Association of Barbershop Singers was inaugurated in October 2008 and was the brainchild of Nico de las Peñas and his brother Jorge, after a visit to their first-ever Harmony College in Coesfeld, Germany. SABS has become a reality because of their tenacity, enthusiasm and determination and Nico was a natural choice as our first President. He handed over the mantle to Gail Grainger, who has done an excellent job in promoting SABS.
In April 2015, founder and Board member, Lyn Baines, took over as President and is ably assisted by the incoming Vice President, Barbara Burks.
As a young association, we are still spreading the barbershop word and building our membership, which currently stands at over 200, comprising men’s, women’s and mixed groups from all around Spain and Portugal. We celebrated our first-ever festival of barbershop in Spain with ‘En Armonía’™ in June 2009 and we were delighted to welcome UK’s Finesse ladies’ quartet and two of the 2012 BHS champions Ringmasters “ Martin and Rasmus“ from Stockholm, Sweden. Our first true get-together was attended by almost all our members and was a resounding success.
How things have moved on, with successful conventions in Madrid in 2010, Murcia in 2011, Malága in 2012 and 2013, Calpe in 2014 and again in Málaga in 2015. We were pleased to welcome many European guests who took part in our third international contest in Málaga 2015 and details of En Armonía 2016 are already available on the SABS website.
We truly appreciate the support and encouragement of the World Harmony Council and of barbershoppers from all over the world. We continue to inspire more people to embrace this unique artform of ours with our second Harmony College planned for October 2015 in Los Alcázares, Murcia and singing workshops throughout Spain and Portugal.
According to delegate feedback, En Armonía 2015 was our best convention yet and we’re looking forward to En Armonía 2016 in Calpe, Alicante.
May, 2015 |
