| Female Quartet Sings 'Against the Current' |
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| Thursday, 31 August 2006 07:57 | |||
 'Against the Current' members, from left, Julianna and Marri Marcarelli and Lia and Regina Liquori NORTHFORD – They’ve sung throughout New England, in California and most recently in Rome this past June during the Vatican’s Pentecost events. Now the singing group of four girls under 16, called “Against the Current” is about to release the first album of music they’ve written themselves. “It was exciting,” said Regina Liquori, 12, of North Haven, the youngest of the group, about the trip to Rome that included people from 100 international lay ecclesial movements and communities. “We sang in front of girls from all over the world. They couldn’t understand the words, but you could tell they liked the music,” she said. Regina is the youngest of the group that includes her sister Lisa, 14, and another pair of sisters, Marri and Julianna Marcarelli, of Northford. What the group hopes to do is appeal to the young teen market with pop music songs that have a Christian message – but without what they call “preachy” lyrics. “We want our music to be something we would listen to,” said Marri, 14. “But we also want it to carry a spiritual message,” added Julianna, 15. The name of their group, they maintained, says it all. “We’re going against what everyone else is doing,” says Lisa. For example, the song, “Finally Forgotten,” is about a female with a crush “who thinks she needs a guy to make her happy,” ex-plained Julianna, “but then discovers she doesn’t.” Another song, “Stronger Than You Believe,” is about a girl who finds she is more confident and powerful than she thought she was. “Here I Go” tells the girls’ story, their journey in life. And “Hide Away” carries the message that even in hard times, God is still there, looking at each person and guiding him or her. “‘Against the Current’ has an amazing songwriting ability for their age,” said Charlotte Soja, choir director at St. Therese Parish, who also serves as a vocal coach for the girls. “Their words and musical style is beyond their years.” The girls, each of whom comes from a family of seven children, are home-schooled – a plus, they said, when it comes to finding the flexibility it takes to produce and work on their music. Since December, they’ve been traveling regularly to a studio in Rhode Island, where they are recording the album due out this fall. It is titled “Another Leap of Blind Faith.” “At first, it was all like a dream, but then it became real,” laughed Julianna, indicating that all the behind-the-scenes practicing, trips to Rhode Island, rehearsals and sitting through hours of recording sessions can be painstaking. The girls met six years ago and soon began making up their own dances, plays and songs together. Simultaneously, the two sisters from each family also began singing together. About two years ago in September, singing coach Danny Lions, who is also station manager and disc jockey at WEBE 108, invited the girls to record a song they wrote, and suggested that they start singing together. The rest, as they say, is history. Last summer, they were invited to a “Youth and Family Encounter” sponsored by Regnum Christi, the lay movement of the Legionaries of Christ, in San Jose, Calif., to sing before members of a girls club called “Challenge.” Bob Marcarelli, who works for the Legionaries of Christ, sent a sample to colleagues in Rome, and the girls were invited to sing in June before two groups of young people at the Legionaries college there. “They’re learning a lot,” said Mr. Marcarelli “They’re trying to bridge the gap and reach a young audience with a Christian message that is not overt so that kids will listen and not get turned off,” he added. Both families are very supportive of the girls, who were quick to point out that the future of the group is in God’s hands. “We hope to go as far as we can, as far as God leads us,” said Marri. “We’re just trying to do God’s will,” added Julianna. A Web site is being constructed for the group. It will be at www.againstthecurrentmusic.com.
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