Dunava

Dunava is a 12-member Balkan women’s ensemble, of which I am a part.  In 2012-13, we recorded the CD Bulgaria, which you can purchase from CD Baby, or from me in person.  Although I am not a featured soloist on the album, I was part of the core Editing team which selected the best takes for rhythm, pitch, and general cohesiveness from hundreds of takes to mix the best selection.  I’m proud of our results!

In 2019-20, we recorded the album, “Behind the Veil”, and I’m happy to report that I -am- a featured soloist on this album! You can get “Behind the Veil” on Bandcamp, https://dunava.bandcamp.com, or on the Dunava website : http://www.dunava.org or from me in person!

You can hear my voice on Track 7. Severinke, Belo Grlo, 9. Smidarevchitse, 17. Rose Medley, 19. Serbian Medley, 21. Artanuli Alilo, and 22. Zazheni Sa Vulchi Sin, and on all of the full choir tracks.

Here we are singing the famous Bulgarian song, Pilentze Pee , (for the first time on stage) at Folklife in 2017.

And then an older video, of us singing Ergen Dedo at Town Hall, in Nov. 2014. 

onefourfive

onefourfive is an 8-member Georgian ensemble, which sings (mostly) a cappella songs from Caucasus Georgia. I am the founder and director, striving to present Georgian folk songs from remote regions with authenticity and integrity!   Here’s our contribution to the NW Folklife Festival in 2021, for their virtual festival.  It’s a compilation of some of our performances over the years, including recent performances in Princeton, BC, Canada, at the Princeton Traditional Music Festival.    You can watch it here:

 https://nwfolklife.org/festival/music/onefourfive.html or here: https://vimeo.com/548991270

I have collected songs on trips to Georgia with songmasters in 2010, 2011, and 2012, and worked with visiting ethnomusicologists in 2013 and 2014.  Other members of the group have visited Georgia and have studied with teachers there as well. You can visit our YouTube or Facebook pages or send email to seattle georgian song (at) gmail (dot) com for more information. Here we are with one of our Georgian teachers, Malkhaz Erkvanidze who came to work with us for the weekend in June 2013.

Our collaboration with our teachers from Zedashe Ensemble in April 2013:

The Spectacles 

The Spectacles is a trio, which sings in… wait for it… English! Despite this being a shocking revelation that this could be an enjoyable area of interest for me, I’ve managed to be a contributing member of this rockin’ lady trio.  You can visit our website website or our Facebook page to find out more! 

In September 2021, we started doing “Specs on Deck”, a way to perform for our audience locally (and safely), but also a way to perform for our worldwide audience!   You can find the playlist of those livestreams on our Youtube page! 

 

Northern Harmony

In 2014, I went on a 10-week singing tour with Northern Harmony, where we studied and performed Georgian, Corsican, Bulgarian, and South African folk songs in the UK, France, Switzerland, and Germany.

While on the road, we performed almost every night for 70 days, as well as taught workshops to folk singing adults across Europe.  The album was released in 2015.  Of special note are the Georgian & Bulgarian songs which I contributed to the group:  Tamar Kalo, Murza i Bekzil, Sidjankata, Vesela Pripjavka, and Katerino Mome.

You can download Adorn the Darksome Skies from Bandcamp, or you can purchase it from me in person if you are in or near Seattle.

Figassa 

Figassa sings folk songs from places an Italian could reach by boat… Croatia, Corsica, Sardinia, Quattro Provence, etc.  Really, it’s a bunch of people from other groups (Dave and the Dalmatians, onefourfive, Kessler & Perasso, and Village Harmony) coming together to sing at the Princeton Folk Festival in Princeton, B.C.