KITKA & MAHSA VAHDAT (Iran) in CONCERT: SONGS TO THE BELOVED

Friday, February 17 at 8pm
First Unitarian Church of Oakland
685 14th Street, Oakland CA
Tix here
or 800.838.3006

Saturday, February 18 at 8pm
SF Live Arts at Cyprian's
2097 Turk Street, San Francisco
Tix here
or 800.838.3006

This special collaboration will explore the many faces of love as expressed by powerful, resilient artists rooted in some of the world’s most passionate women's vocal traditions.

Specializing in the exquisite and unusual harmony singing traditions of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, KITKA Women's Vocal Ensemble has earned international recognition for its distinctive sound, exploring a vast palette of ancient yet contemporary-sounding vocal effects. The ensemble's earthy to ethereal timbres evoke an astonishing range of subtle to extreme inner states, instincts and emotions. Kitka's commitment to presenting traditional song as a living and evolving expressive art form has led to adventurous collaborations with some of the worlds most exciting indigenous musicians and contemporary composers ranging from Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares to Meredith Monk. Kitka began as a grassroots group of amateur singers from diverse ethnic and musical backgrounds who shared a passion for the stunning dissonances, asymmetric rhythms, intricate ornamentation, and resonant strength of traditional Eastern European women's vocal music. The ensemble's wide-ranging performance, teaching, and recording activities have exposed millions to the haunting beauty of their unique repertoire. 

MAHSA VAHDAT was trained in classical Persian singing and regional folk music by master musicians in Iran. After the Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, public female singing was banned. To this day, female singers can only perform for authorized women-only audiences or alongside a male voice, and can never perform solo in public. Mahsa Vahdat's repertoire is inspired by regional and traditional music from Iran infused with her unique and resilient artistic sensibility. Her song lyrics are mostly mystical and love poems by great Persian poets like Hafez, Rumi, Saadi, who lived centuries ago, as well as works by contemporary Iranian poets.

An active campaigner for human rights, Mahsa is an award-winning ambassador of Freemuse, an independent international organization advocating freedom of expression for musicians and composers worldwide. She has attracted considerable attention with her work on the record "Lullabies from the Axis of Evil", and her new solo album "The Sun Also Rises".