“Their power and energy is exotic and exhilarating… showcasing the beauty and vitality of female voices.”

— NPR

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The women in Kitka are fearless sonic explorers, and you can hear their intrepid spirit in every haunting song. For over four decades, the nine-women Oakland ensemble has developed a vast, breathtaking repertoire of traditional songs from the Balkans, Caucasus and Slavic lands, as well as new material composed for the group drawing on those ancient vocal practices. Traveling to rural communities throughout Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, 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 and recordings an enthralling experience.

““Even God stops to listen when Kitka — unamplified, without sets, props, instruments, or even lyrics most people can understand—opens its collective mouth. The sound is so chillingly beautiful, by anyone’s standards, that the entire audience sits enraptured, most of them with eyes shut. My own eyes flooded with tears.””

— Summer Burke, THE GUARDIAN

Recent video

Selections from recent live Kitka performances

A taste of Kitka's popular “Wintersongs” live program

Two Winter Carols from Bulgaria (performed live)

“Evening Star” Studio Session

Recent tracks

Hear more tracks

““Ostensibly a women’s choir based in Oakland, this is more a world of collapsing borders and seasons built on crystalline voices and a perfectly innate understanding of tradition, rite and season. A cross-cultural yet intricately detailed performance of harmony singing. Archetypes are thoroughly explored but lightly worn. The old is rearranged into the new, vocal techniques from all points focused into relevant ritual and belief.””

— John Phelby, fROOTS

Recent press

Kitka on KQED’s Forum
NPR Interview
San Francisco Classical Voice
The Chicago Reader
fROOTS Album Review
Weekend Australian Album Review
SF Chronicle
Washington Post
SF Weekly Live Review
SF Chronicle Live Review
Mercury News
Berkeleyside
The Hype Album Review
PopMatters Premiere
Audiophile Review

Program examples

Sample Wintersongs Program Booklet

Sample Repertory Touring Program Booklet

Notable appearances

Media
PBS Television Special Kitka & Davka in Concert
A Prairie Home Companion
NPR Live in Studio 4A
KQED Forum Live Radio Concert
NPR Weekend Edition
WDR Radio, Cologne
RadioTV Serbia, Belgrade
West Coast Live
KQED Spark

Festivals
Caramoor Festival, Katonah, NY
Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, IL
Koprivshtica Festival Koprivshtica, Bulgaria
EthnoFest, Subotica, Serbia
Etno Fusion Festival, Belgrade, Serbia
Green Yayla Festival, Arhavi/Artvin, Turkey
Chveneburebi Festival, Borjomi and Tbilisi, Georgia
International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony, Tbilisi, Georgia
Giving Voice Festival, Wroclaw, Poland
Stimmen Festival, Lorrach, Germany
Globalize Festival, Cologne, Germany
Omaha Summer Arts Festival, Omaha, NE
Juan de Fuca Festival, Port Angeles, WA
Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, San Francisco, CA
Chicago Children's Chorus' World Music Festival
International Body Music Festival
The Festival of International Sacred Music, Quebec City

Concert Venues
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA
Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, IL
WNYC New Sounds Live at the World Financial Center, NY
Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Washington, DC
Komitas Conservatory, Yerevan, Armenia
National Palace of Culture, Sofia, Bulgaria
Pazardzhik Concert Hall, Pazardzhik, Bulgaria
Kimo Theater, Albuquerque, NM
Popejoy Hall, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
SF Jazz, San Francisco, CA
Freight & Salvage, Berkeley
Shotgun Players for Iron Shoes in 2018
SF War Memorial & Performing Arts Center, San Francisco, CA
Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC
Dell Auditorium, National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia, PA
Arts & Ideas Series at Kanbar Hall at the JCCSF with Meredith Monk
Herbst Theater, San Francisco, CA
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Raven Theater, Healdsburg, CA
Green Music Center, Rohnert Park, CA