KALX Co-Announce: Kitka at the Freight & Salvage — May 10th @ 8pm
2020 Addison St., Berkeley
Kitka is the Oakland-based women’s vocal arts ensemble inspired by traditional songs and vocal techniques from Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Founded in 1979, they began as a grassroots group of amateur singers hailing from diverse ethnic and musical backgrounds with a shared passion for the stunning dissonances, asymmetric rhythms, intricate ornamentation, and resonant strength of traditional Eastern European women’s vocal music.
Since the group’s informal beginnings, it has evolved into an award-winning professional touring ensemble known for its artistry, versatility, and mastery of the demanding techniques of regional vocal styling, as well as for its innovative explorations in new music for female voices.
The ensemble has produced 14 critically acclaimed releases and 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 traditional vocal practices. Traveling to rural communities in Armenia and Bulgaria, Ukraine and Georgia, Serbia and Turkey, they’ve gathered songs and communed with elders who are often the last links to centuries-old traditions. Their most recent release is called “Evening Star”.
Kitka has forged many deep ties with traditional and contemporary artists from Ukraine, and for this event they will sing a special selection of songs as an expression of solidarity with the people of this beseiged nation.