San Antonio was the first stop on a short tour through Texas and Louisiana for the vocal arts ensemble Kitka. The ten-woman choir brought their haunting arrangements of Eastern European and Ukrainian folk songs to the resonant space of the Incarnate Word Motherhouse Chapel on Feb. 15. The performance was part of Unity Fest, a celebration of global sounds by Musical Bridges Around the World.
Emerging from the narthex, the women processed through the antiphonal-style pews to their space on the altar to the sound of traditional koleda from Bulgaria, and then kept an audience of hundreds rapt for a full hour with a series of alternately plaintive and nostalgic melodies.
One song, “A Vže Tomu Sim Lit Bude,” had me in tears with its mournful story of a soldier seemingly condemned to wander lost, endlessly, through a forest.
Listen to their performance using the audio player at the top of this page, and learn more about their latest album “Kolo,” on their website, kitka.org.
PROGRAM:
- Collage of Koleda Carols
- Loomine
- Mtats’mindis Mtvare
- Došč, Došč
- Lale Li Si, Zjumbjul Li So, Gjul Li Si
- A Vže Tomu Sim Lit Bude
- O Onda / Vedu Rusalku
- Ruotā, Ruotā
- Matica, Bitutė
- Oj, Jak Že Bulo Izpreždy Vika
- Dzveli Orira
- Nazdrave Ti, Čorbadžijo
