A cappella band Resound from Guangzhou 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 instrumentless 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 to move forward as a musician, he forced himself to go backward as a student, returning to the conservatory to recruit undergraduate 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 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.

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.

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