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 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 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 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!”
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.
