Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 30, 2020

A New Year’s Eve Carol from Ukraine

ŠČO V PANA KHAZJAINA (At the Home of the Master of the House) Pekariv, Černivs’ka region, Ukraine, from the repertoire of Božyči Ensemble

A carol sung on the feast of Malanka, Ukrainian New Year’s Eve.

KITKA presents: Ketevan Mindorashvili and Zedashe’s Wintersongs Offering

A Christmas Carol from Georgia’s Wine Country

KITKA: Nakūko, Dzacuzīte & Dva Šopski Dueta (Live)

NAKŪKO, DZAGUZĪTE (Cuckoo, don’t sing…)
Vilna region, Latvia, from the repertoire of Saucējas

This rotāšana (spring calling song) utilizes a style of vocalization called vilkshun (forward-pulling), a crescendo typical of traditional Baltic pagan singing styles.

DVA ŠOPSKI DUETA

Šop region, Bulgaria, arranged by Stefan Mutafčiev, from Tzvetanka Varimezova

This piece is a compilation and embellished arrangement of fragments of several traditional diaphonic folk songs from western Bulgaria.

Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 27, 2020

MEGRULI ALILO (Alleluia from Samegrelo)
Samegrelo, Georgia, traditional,
from the Basiani Ensemble, via Zurab Tskrialashvili

Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 26, 2020
A Serbian Christmas Carol: Two Nightingales Started to Sing

Svetlana Spajić is a Belgrade-based singer, scholar, teacher, and performance artist internationally renowned for her work in the field of microtonal a cappella Balkan and Serbian traditional singing and its role in cultural transmission.

Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 25, 2020
A New Joy Appeared

Kitka learned this uplifting Christmas carol from a 1997 recording by the Belarusian student folk ensemble Gramnitsy, directed by Prof. Vladimir Zenevitch. Variants of this song are sung not only in Belarus, but also in Russia and Ukraine. In addition to Gramnitsy, our original inspiring source of this song, Kitka invited our alumnae, and a group of Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian friends to contribute their voices to this international virtual choir. We envisioned this project as a gesture of solidarity with, and hope for, the people of Belarus, who have been engaged in a long struggle against authoritarianism, a struggle that becameespecially intense this past year.

Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 24, 2020
A Playful Bulgarian Countdown Song for Christmas Eve

EDNA VEČER VEČERJAHME (One Evening, We Dined)

Dobrudža region, Bulgaria, arranged by Philip Koutev, from the repertoire of the Philip Koutev Ensemble and Village Harmony

Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 23, 2020

The Lord’s Prayer

OTČE NAŠ (Our Father)
Russia, composed by N. N. Kedrov.
Kitka learned this beautiful version of the Lord’s Prayer from the singing of the Eva Quartet of Sofia, Bulgaria.

Kitka presents: Nataliya Bondar’s Wintersongs Offering
A Russian Wintertime Fairytale

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Nataliya Bondar is a singer, actor, storyteller, puppeteer and educator, now living in California’s Silicon Valley.

Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 21, 2020
For the Winter Solstice: A Runic Folk Hymn from Estonia

KITKA presents: Mahsa Vahdat’s Wintersongs Offering

Yalda, the Persian Winter Solstice Celebration usually occurs on December 21. But every 4 years, it takes place on December 20. The traditional Persian calendar predicts that this rare December 20, 2020 Yalda evening will be the darkest night of the century. Therefore, the morning sun of hope shall rise with an exceptional brightness, a sign of the gradual return of light to our troubled world.

Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 19, 2020
Songs of hope and sadness from Ukraine and Armenia

Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 18, 2020

Russian composer Vladimir Martynov’s sublime setting of The Beatitudes

Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 17, 2020

A Transylvanian Winter Carol

Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 16, 2020

Two Slavic Holiday Carols (live performance from 2000)

Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 15, 2020

A Medley of Armenian Christmas Carols

Hasmik Harutyunyan has dedicated her life to preserving endangered Armenian folk songs. She is renowned for her work with Yerevan’s Shoghaken Ensemble and for her mellifluous renditions of Armenian lullabies, one of the most ancient and evocative genres in Armenian music.

Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 14, 2020

ZAMTARI (WINTER)

Kartli-Kakheti, Georgia, from the repertoire of the Tsinandali Choir, and Ensemble Mariani, via Carl Linich

“Winter is withering the rose—its petals have fallen.
From the eyes of a beautiful woman tears will fall.
Let peace reign there!”

Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 13, 2020

Kitka sings Elizabeth Setzer’s original arrangement of one of the greatest songs by one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

KITKA: Lekoved Yontef, Lekoved Shabes (Live)

A song about Jewish comfort food for Chanukah...

LEKOVED YONTEF, LEKOVED SHABES (IN HONOR OF THE HOLIDAY, IN HONOR OF THE SABBATH)

Since 2002, Tzvetanka Varimezova has been Kitka’s primary mentor in Bulgarian vocal technique and choral music. We always cherish the moments when TzeTze sits down at the piano to introduce new tunes from her vast repertoire.

The lyrics to three out of these four carol fragments incorporate Slavic antithesis, a quizzical form of Balkan storytelling in which the singer poses a question, then offers incorrect answers that lead, in the end, to the truth of the matter.

Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 10, 2020
A GUTE VOKH (A GOOD WEEK)
Yiddish, melody by R. Kalmanovsky, from Breslau, Poland, via Adrienne Cooper, Gerry Tenney and Lorin Sklamberg, arranged by Shira Cion

In the Jewish tradition, the Sabbath ends on Saturday evening after the first three stars appear in the sky. The Sabbath greeting and blessing, “A gute vokh” is spoken after Havdalah, a ritual marking the separation of sacred Sabbath or holiday time, and the workweek to come. The Havdalah ceremony involves burning a multi-wicked candle, blessing a cup of wine, and smelling sweet spices.

Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 9, 2020
From our performance archives…

BEL VETER DUE (A FRESH WIND BLEW)
Rhodope Region, Bulgaria, arr. Nikolaj Kaufman

This folk song was originally sung in unison to accompany a pravo horo, a spiraling line dance in 2/4 rhythm.

“A fresh wind blew, making the forest trees sway. Three snows melted, three rivers flowed down, carrying with them three herbs. The first herb was my first love. The second herb was my second love. The third herb was the one who has forsaken me.”

Performed by Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble (1988)

Kitka’s Daily Wintersongs Offering for December 8, 2020

Siberia-born Russian folklore specialist Tanya Teodorovich leads Kostroma, the vocal ensemble of Silicon Valley’s Russian House Kedry. Kitka has enjoyed many collaborations with Kedry’s families, especially seasonal celebrations at Metini/Fort Ross State Historic Park on the breathtakingly beautiful Sonoma Coastline of Northern California. Fort Ross was established in 1812 by the Russian American company with the assistance of Alaskan Alutiiq natives on Kashaya Pomo land.