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CHORAL MUSIC REVIEW
Vocal Ambassadors for Eastern Europe
April 28, 2001
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By Rajna Klaser
That members of the Kitka ensemble are obsessed with music from Bulgaria and beyond was apparent during their concert at the Lake Merritt Church, Oakland, on Saturday, for only the obsessed could conjure up such entrancingly powerful sonorities of love and longing, hope and sorrow. Much of this power is inherent in the lyrics and peculiar harmonies of the haunting pieces chosen for the concert. However, the traditional and arranged songs became intoxicating through the vocal mastery and uncanny interpretative abilities of the eight Kitka women.
A lot of the material in the first half consisted of new Kitka repertoire that is going to appear on their CD scheduled for release in the fall. In a program divided into several medleys, Kitka took us on a journey across Eastern Europe, beginning with their staple repertoire (their original love), the traditional folk songs of Bulgaria.
It is hard to say which was more haunting — the two duets "Lepa Jano" ("Beautiful Jana") and "I mori majka Jano" ("Mother braided Jana's hair") or "Muri ovdovyala lisichkata" ("The widowed fox"), by the entire ensemble. Both as soloists and as a group the singers demonstrated remarkable vocal technique, their unwavering chest registers perfectly matching the bell-like radiant color characteristic of the traditional female vocal ensembles across the Balkans.
Their diction was immaculate, every consonant executed with razor-sharp precision, every vowel pure, reverberating with a stunning blend of overtones. And their intonation was faultless. In the intimate ambiance of Lake Merritt Church, the "perfect dissonances" of parallel seconds that abounded in every song recreated the images of echoing mountain ridges. The dynamic shading in the Bulgarian song "Subrali sa se subrali" ("Three maidens gathered") and the rhythmic precision in the Georgian traditional dance song "Rim-ti-tairi" were exquisite. The consistency in the quality of the performance was astounding, particularly given the diversity of the traditions presented. Whether folk songs or arrangements from Russian, Bosnian, Georgian, Hungarian, Macedonian-Albanian, or various Bulgarian regional traditions, Kitka captured the differences in both the esthetics of the sound and the intricate ornamentation. And they performed every piece from memory, a formidable task given the differences between languages and regional dialects. Kitka singers are not just performers — they are also true ambassadors for the Eastern European cultures. Whether through the program notes that included thorough song translations or their casual spoken introductions that reinforced the meaning of these songs and their knowledgeable comments on the context in which they are performed, Kitka revealed their unusual ability to communicate these musical traditions to an American audience. Kitka is also an avid supporter of Eastern European musicians. On this occasion, Kitka shared the stage with the Bebelekov family from Bulgaria, who performed a suite from the Rhodope region in the second half of the program. To see three generations of Bebelekovs performing traditional songs and dance tunes was truly rewarding. At the conclusion of the program, Kitka and the Bebelekovs performed Philip Koutev's arrangement of the choral suite "Rhodopska devojka" ("A maiden from the Rhodope Mountains"), which turned into a dance party that fully involved the enthralled audience. (Rajna Klaser is a Ph.D. candidate in the UC Berkeley Department of Music, with an emphasis on ethnomusicology.) ©2001 Rajna Klaser, all rights reserved |