BAREM SA ERGEN, MAMO, NAHODIH (WHEN I WAS A BACHELOR MAMA, I WANDERED)
Dobrudža region, Bulgaria, traditional, composite arrangement with “Shen khar venakhi” by Tzvetanka Varimezova
“When I was a bachelor, Mama, I wandered everywhere kissing beautiful girls from Sliven and slender, tall girls from Jambol. Bachelorhood, dear Mama, is a carefree life. Girlhood, dear, Mama, is a privileged life. How sweet life is while still living with Mama.”
SHEN KHAR VENAKHI (YOU ARE A VINEYARD)
Georgia, traditional, from the repertoire of the Rustavi Choir and the Telavi Women’s Chorus
A song of praise to the Divine Feminine and the Virgin Mary, dating back at least 1000 years. During the communist era, this song became a hymn to the female vineyard worker. Today, it is often sung at Georgian weddings in honor of the bride.
“You are a vineyard just blossoming, young and good, springing up in Eden. A fragrant poplar growing in Paradise. May God adorn you, no one is more worthy of praise. You are the sun, brilliantly shining.”
Performed by Tzvetanka Varimezova and Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble: Kelly Atkins, Kristine Barrett, Briget Boyle, Shira Cion, Erin Lashnits Herman, Hannah Levy, Janet Kutulas, Maclovia Quintana, Katya Schoenberg, Lily Storm
Joined by Kitka Alumnae: Caitlin Tabancay Austin, Jeanne Benioff, Leslie Bonnett, Lucia Comnes, Catherine Rose Crowther, Juliana Graffagna, Cherrie Mae Golston, Irina Mikhailova, Ann Moorhead, Michele Simon, Corinne Sykes, Natalia Ukrainska
Since 2002, Tzvetanka Varimezova has been Kitka’s primary mentor in Bulgarian vocal technique and choral music. We were honored to have her as our special guest soloist and director of the Kitka Reunion Choir at Harmony & Dissonance: Kitka’s 40th Anniversary Celebration and Reunion Concert at First Congregational Church, Oakland, CA on March 10, 2019.
Video editing by Kelly Atkins
Videography by Rapt Productions
Audio recording by Greg Kuhn and Guy Brenner
"Sotto Voce" from Eric Banks' I will remember everything: a lyric biography of Sophia Parnok
Recorded on Eric Banks and Kitka's album “I will remember everything: a lyric biography of Sophia Parnok” (Diaphonica/Terpischore - 2014)
Video by Kelly Atkins
—
Вполголоса, еле слышно,
Оклкаю душу твою,
Чтобы встала она и вышла
Побродить со мною в раю.
Commissioned, premiered and recorded by Kitka, I will remember everything is Seattle-based composer Eric Banks' 72-minute musical portrait of “Russia's Sappho,” Sophia Parnok (1885-1933). Parnok was the only openly lesbian poet during the Silver Age of Russian letters. Parnok was born in Tagenrog to a Jewish intellectual family. During her short lifetime, she published five volumes of poetry, a substantial body of literary criticism and translation, and authored the libretti of several operas, one of which became a major sensation at the Bolshoi Theater. Nevertheless, due to Soviet censorship, few readers have heard of her.
At the beginning of World War I, Parnok, met Marina Tsvetaeva, one of Russia’s most beloved poets, and the two became involved in a passionate love affair. Parnok also had relationships with a number of other remarkable and trailblazing women, including an actress, a mathematician, and a physicist. Bank’s song cycle weaves together a selection of Sophia Parnok's most intimate poems, sung both in their original Russian and in English translation. Her verses tell her life story through the courageous poems she wrote to the women she loved.
Performed by Kitka Women's Vocal Ensemble:
Kelly Atkins, Caitlin Tabancay Austin, Kristine Barrett Johnson, Natalie Bartlett, Shira Cion, Janet Kutulas, Michele Simon, Corinne Sykes
Conducted by Eric Banks
Engineered and co-produced by Markdavin Obenza (Scribe Music LLC)
Special thanks to Diana Lewis Burgin, author of Sophia Parnok: The Life and Work of Russia's Sappho (New York University Press), the biography that inspired this composition.