UPDATE 4/15/24: Due to extenuating circumstances preventing Balaklava Blues' ability to travel to California in May, Kitka will be performing a full concert on our own on May 10 at the Freight and Salvage. We hope to reschedule this special collaborative project as soon as conditions allow.

The women in Kitka are fearless sonic explorers, and you can hear their intrepid spirit in every haunting song. Over nearly four decades Oakland's beloved, nine-woman ensemble has developed a vast, breathtaking repertoire of traditional songs from Balkan, Baltic, Caucasus, and Slavic lands, as well as new material composed for the group drawing on extended vocal techniques from these regions. Traveling to rural communities in Armenia and Bulgaria, Ukraine and Georgia, Macedonia, Poland, and Turkey, they’ve gathered songs and communed with elders who are often the last links to centuries-old traditions. The ravishing textures of the women’s voices, unearthly cadences, angular rhythms and unfamiliar languages make Kitka’s performances an enthralling experience.

Kitka has forged many deep ties with traditional and contemporary artists from Ukraine, and will be singing a special selection of songs as an expression of solidarity with the people of this beseiged nation.