Kroks, friends, and fellow a cappella connoisseurs:
The 2020-2021 academic year was a strange year for The Harvard Krokodiloes. With the coronavirus pandemic sweeping across the U.S. and the globe, the Kroks braced itself for a fully remote year. And having forced to cancel the fall auditions, we quickly came to the realization that the Kroks of 2021 is not going to be another group of 12 undergraduates harmonizing in real-person from our basecamp at 12 Holyoke Street.
With that in mind, the K21 officers received various feedback and ideas from numerous undergraduate and alumni Kroks on how best to navigate the year. Then on August 2020, we launched the Year To Remember project — the flagship creative product for K21 — and made an open request to the entire Krok community to join the undergraduates in forming this unique Kroks of 2021.
And as a testament to the incredibly resiliency of the Krok community, more than a hundred Kroks responded to our call to action, and a total of ten cohorts were formed to embark on this journey together — Vintage Kroks, Kroks of the 70’s, Kroks of 1980, Par Avion, Dinosaurs, Kroks of the 90’s, Kroks of the 2010’s, Kroks of 2014, West Coast Kroks, and the undergraduates. Thanks to the incredible efforts of our cohort leaders and the amazing talents of our production team, we recorded (mostly remotely) and produced a total of more than two dozen of our favorite tunes, each representing the unique styles and characters of the Kroks’ multifaceted identity. Separated in space but bound by the common thread that connects all Kroks, we set out to complete a feat no other Krok group has ever done before: to produce an album that encapsulates the full-breadth of our rich music and history.
On the one hand, the Year To Remember project represents the diverse set of memories and sounds of the group, while paying homage to the incredible musicians, composers, and arrangers who left a mark on the group’s identity. On the other hand, YTR represents our desire to connect with one another and celebrate our brotherhood, even during a year when doing such a thing seemed impossible. And last but not least, YTR represents the true strength of our brotherhood, a quality that became all the more apparent as we withstood the many trials of this year.
In K21, we took a brief pause to take a look back at who we are and what paths we have walked thus far. And as we continue with our last quarter-century stride towards our hundred years as a group, we will remember K21 as a year of music, friendship, and celebration.
To all those who contributed their voice and efforts to this wonderful project, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. And to all those who are now entering to experience this wonderful evergreen world:
Nunc est cantandum!
Channy Hong
K21 General Manager