Wintersongs

Library Bookwatch, Jan, 2005

Wintersongs

Kitka

Diaphonica Recordings

Rock Paper Scissors (publicity)

1201 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland, CA 94612

CD-2004 $16.98 www.kitka.org

Kitka is a remarkable women's vocal ensemble of eight sophisticated singers who blend contemporary sensibility with specialized vocal techniques that have been distilled in Eastern Europe for centuries. Wintersongs features an impressive repertoire whose individual selections range from Bulgaria to Belarus and from Georgia to Greece. The twenty numbers comprising this enthusiastically recommended CD album that includes "Aliolo" from Georgia's Racha region is a traditional Christmas Eve song performed by masked carolers who are rewarded with drink and treats, and such superlative numbers as "Av Jerusalime" from Southern Russia and the Ukraine. Songs from Lativa, Moravia, Romania, Hungary, Belarus, Macedonia, and Israel are superbly recorded performances that will introduce American audiences to traditional music, some of which has their origins in antiquity. If you only have time for one new CD, then make it Wintersongs as sung by Kitka and recorded by Diaphonica.