Kitka & Hasmik Harutyunyan – Armenian Lullabies and Songs of Longing

kitka-hasmik-email-900-1, originally uploaded by Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble.

One of Armenia’s leading folk singers, Hasmik Harutyunyan is world-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. Her quietly passionate interpretations of lullabies from historical villages across the Armenian plateau offer a mesmerizing glimpse at a lost world. She draws strength and inspiration from her ancestors in the province of Mush in Historic Armenia, especially her grandmother, Mafo (pictured on reverse), who sang to her as a child. In addition to songs sung by her family, Hasmik learned many of the lullabies in her repertoire from old women who had emigrated from Anatolia to eastern Armenia before or during the Armenian massacres of 1915, as well as from their descendants and old song collections. Hasmik Harutyunyan’s CD, Armenian Lullabies (Traditional Crossroads), was praised in a New York Times review as “The best Armenian recording worldwide.”

Joining Hasmik Harutyunyan will be the women’s vocal ensemble Kitka. Kitka, meaning “bouquet” in Bulgarian and Macedonian, is now celebrating its 30th Anniversary Season. Kitka began as a grassroots group of singers from diverse ethnic and musical backgrounds who shared a passion for the stunning dissonances, asymmetric rhythms, intricate ornamentation, lush harmonies, and resonant strength of Balkan, Slavic, and Caucasian women’s vocal traditions. The group has since evolved into a professional touring ensemble, earning international recognition for its artistry, versatility, and fresh approach to folk music.

SAN FRANCISCO
Friday, November 6
St. Gregory of Nyssa Church
500 De Haro St.
8 PM

OAKLAND
Saturday, November 7
St. Vartan Armenian Apostolic Church
650 Spruce St.
4 PM: Armenian Folk Songs and Dances Workshop
8 PM: Concert

FRESNO
Sunday, November 8
CSUF Concert Hall
Co-Sponsored by the CSUF Armenian Studies and Music Departments

The Rusalka Cycle
Hasmik Harutyunyan
from Yerevan’s Shoghaken Ensemble

The Rusalka Cycle
Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble
Photo: Sarah Small

Armenian Lullabies and Songs of Longing

“Bliss in a minor key…” — The Oregonian

This project is supported, in part, by grants from the James Irvine Foundation, the Walter and Elise Haas Fund,
The Clorox Community Foundation, and the City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program.

Kupala, Kedry style

Back in June, Kedry invited us to their annual Kupala celebration in honor of the summer solstice. Kedry led countless games and dances. I think Janet learned them all. Some of us joined in the weaving of the head wreaths, and some actually turned out quite functional.

Everyone lined up with their fire buddies to jump through the smoke.

After jumping over the fire, many of us completed the purification ritual in the river. The whole afternoon was accompanied by song after song, each relating to the ritual at hand.

Over the last few months we have enjoyed several workshops with the women of Kostroma, the female singing group of Russian House Kedry. We look forward to a prolonged collaboration with these wonderful women. On September 11, 13, and 27, Kitka and Kostroma will team up to perform three concerts of Russian and Ukrainian folk music. For more info and tickets please visit: http://www.kitka.org/

What were those little Polish ginger cookies?

We’ve been back for awhile now, but I just remembered (in my head, vividly) the taste of the potato things that it seems as if I ate every day in Poland and Ukraine and loved so much in the beginning and then grew tired of and then became so crazy fond of them again, and now I lament their absence in my life.

I will say that our trip last May is still a very fresh memory that comes back often when I’m least expecting it, to my taste buds especially, and this is a good thing considering that I must be the only person left on the entire planet who does not bring a camera with them.

To be traveling with the Kitkettes is a wonderful and amazing fun thing. In one single trip there’s the amazement of a self-cleaning toilet seat in a German “7-11″ restroom and the pleasure of tending the fire in the old haunted farm house in Poland to stay warm while rehearsing. To combine the aspects of vacationess and adventure with hard work and the magical contact with new friends that happens when traveling as musicians is the best and luckiest of lives.

There, I figured out how to add blog text! More soon (I sincerely hope).

Janet