A taste of Kitka's popular Wintersongs program!

For more info, please visit:
http://www.kitka.org

Kitka is an American women’s vocal arts ensemble inspired by traditional songs and vocal techniques from Eastern Europe and Eurasia.

For 40 years, Kitka’s mission has been devoted to cultivating global community through the practice of cross-cultural song sharing and collective harmony singing. In today’s sociopolitical climate, Kitka’s work is more important than ever. Our performances, community choirs, vocal workshops with master artists from around the globe, multicultural/multidisciplinary collaborations, and song documentation and sharing activities all serve a vision of a world in which cultural diversity is celebrated—and human connection is rediscovered—through shared experiences of creativity and beauty.

For more information, please visit: http://www.kitka.org

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Directed by Kelly Atkins
Edited by Genevieve Hand (Rapt Productions), Janet Kutulas, and Kelly Atkins

Film includes footage from John Nilsen, KQED, Rapt Productions, Kelly Atkins, and many others over the past 40+ years

KITKA: Zvezda Večernica / ЗВЕЗДА ВЕЧЕРНИЦА / Evening Star
Šop region, Bulgaria
Music and lyrics by Stefan Dragostinov

Track 11 on the album Evening Star (Diaphonica 2018)
Order Evening Star at http://www.kitka.org/shop/evening-star

Performed by:
Kitka Women's Vocal Ensemble
Kelly Atkins, Caitlin Tabancay Austin, Natalie Bartlett, Barbara Byers, Shira Cion, Janet Kutulas, Michele Simon, and Corinne Sykes

In Slavic mythology, the Evening Star was a female deity associated with the planets Venus and Mercury. By some accounts, she was a virgin goddess, and according to others she was the wife of the Moon god and mother of all the stars. Christian lore incorporated the Evening Star into the Nativity story as the Star of Bethlehem.

И йогреяла, йогрея-
И йогреяла звезда вечерница,

А, и йогреяла звезда вечерница,

И йогреяла!


Е, и йогреяла, йогреяла,

И йогреяла горе нависо-

И йогреяла горе нависо-

И йогреяла горе нависоко.


И йогреяла, йогрея-

И йогреяла земя на широ-

И йогреяла земя на широ-

И земя на широко,

И на широко още на дале-

И на широко още на дале-

И още на далеко, мори.


И йогреяла, йогрея-

И йогреяла звезда вечерне-

И йогреяла звезда вечерне-

И звезда вечерница,

Йогреяла горе на висо-

И горе нависоко.


ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
The evening star shone,

It shone,

The evening star shone,

It shone!


Hey, it shone

Far up,

It shone far up,

It shone far up on high.


It lit up,

It lit up the whole wide,

It lit up the whole wide,

The whole wide world

And even further afar,

Far and wide,

And even further afar.


The evening star shone,

It shone,

It shone,

The evening star shone

It shone far up,

Far up on high.


Translation by Rachel MacFarlane

Recorded and mixed by David Luke at Opus Studios, Berkeley, CA
Produced by Kelly Atkins, Kit Higginson, and Janet Kutulas
Executive producer: Shira Cion

Videography by Adam Parmalee and Jaime DeWolfe
Video editing by John Nilsen
Produced by Kelly Atkins

Special thanks to Tzvetanka Varimezova and the Philip Koutev Ensemble for their mentorship and inspiration, and to the National Endowment for the Arts/ARTWORKS Program for their support of the Evening Star project.

Music licensed with permission from MusicAutor (BG) www.musicautor.org

Learn more about Kitka at http://www.kitka.org

Track 12 on the album Evening Star (Diaphonica 2018)
Order Evening Star at http://www.kitka.org/shop/evening-star

Performed by:
KITKA Women's Vocal Ensemble
Kelly Atkins, Caitlin Tabancay Austin, Natalie Bartlett, Barbara Byers, Shira Cion, Janet Kutulas, Michele Simon, and Corinne Sykes

Language: Georgian
Provenance: Village of Tsalenjikha, Samegrelo, Georgia
Recorded by Yvette Grimaud, 1967
Recorded on: Georgie: Chants de travail, chants réligieux
Via: Carl Linich

ალილო და, ო, ა, ა, ი, ალილო და
ქრისტემ შობა, ქრისტემ შობა გაგვიტენოს
ო, ა, ი, ალილო და
ო, ალილო და ვო ი ალილო და
ო, იო-ჰო-ჰო, იო-ჰო-ჰო, ი ალილო და
შობის მახა- შობის მახარებელი ვარ
ოცდახუცა, ოცდახუცა ამ თვესაო
ქრისთე იშვა, ქრისთე იშვა ბეთლემსა
მენძელიში, მენძელიში აშინება
ანწი ქორე, ანწი ქორე ხან სიცობა
აქა მშვიდობა

Alilo da, o, a, a, i, alilo da
Krist’em shoba, krist’em shoba gagvitenos
O, a, i alilo da
O, alilo da, wo i alilo da
O, yo-ho-ho, yo-ho-ho i alilo da
Shobis makha-, shobis maskharebeli var
Otsdakhutsa, otsdakhutsa am tvesao
Krist’e ishva, krist’e ishva bethlemsa
Mendzelishi, mendzelishi ashineba
Ants’i kore, ants’i kore khan sitsoba
Aka mshvidoba

English Translation:
Alleluia!
May Christ bring us Christmas
Alleluia!
I am the herald of Christmas.
On the twenty-fifth of the month
Christ was born in Bethlehem.
May our host prosper!
It’s time for a sweet dinner.
May peace be here!

Recorded and mixed by David Luke at Opus Studios, Berkeley, CA
Produced by Kelly Atkins, Kit Higginson, and Janet Kutulas
Executive producer: Shira Cion

Videography by Adam Parmalee and Jaime DeWolfe
Video editing by John Nilsen
Produced by Kelly Atkins

Special thanks to Carl Linich and Trio Kavkasia for their mentorship and inspiration, and to the National Endowment for the Arts/ARTWORKS Program for their support of the Evening Star project.

Learn more about Kitka at http://www.kitka.org

Preserve and celebrate the rich vocal traditions of Eastern Europe with the women of Kitka. Original air date: May 2009.

Kitka women's vocal ensemble
From the DVD 'Kitka and Davka In Concert: Old and New World Jewish Music'. Visit www.kitka.org to purchase the DVD.

Produced by Leonard Kurz and Forest Creatures Productions
Directed by Ashlee James
Edited by Kathryn Golden

Introduction by Shira Cion, Executive Director

Translations:
YERUSHOLAYIM SLAVNYI GOROD (Jewish) - Jerusalem is a glorious city, so the people say...

HUBAVA MILKA (Bulgarian) - Milka's mother boasted about her: She is so industrious, and very stylish too! Milka's fame spread all the way to Istanbul, to the marketplace. When Marko the merchant heard about her, he loaded his boat with silk, silver thread and gold. When Milka stepped aboard to buy some silk, Marko battened down the hatches and carried off beautiful Milka.

From KITKA's tour or Georgia in 2010

Shop region, Bulgaria, arrangement by Stefan Dragostinov

A video made from footage of the 2008 production of Rusalka Cycle: Songs between the Worlds. The performances took place the JCCSF in Kanbar Hall at the Eugene & Elinor Friend Center for the Arts. Filmed by Listen For Life (www.listenforlife.org) and edited by Peter Simcich.

A video made from footage of the 2008 production of Rusalka Cycle: Songs between the Worlds. The performances took place the JCCSF in Kanbar Hall at the Eugene & Elinor Friend Center for the Arts. Filmed by Listen For Life (www.listenforlife.org) and edited by Peter Simcich.

Music from the CD release of the Rusalka Cycle.
Singers - Briget Boyle, Shira Cion, Catherine Rose Crowther, Juliana Graffagna, Lily Huang, Janet Kutulas, Eva Salina Primack, and Moira Smiley with Elaine Kreston (cello), Moses Sedler (cello) and Kevin Mummy (percussion).

Kitka visited Ukraine in 2005 to research and gather material for the Rusalka Cycle: Songs Between the Worlds.

Song From the CD, Nectar.
Ukraine, comp. Victor Morozov
Ljuljay, ljuljay, my son. Daddy will make you a toy, a maple saber and a hobby horse. Mama embroiders you a shirt. Ah, two little cats, both of them whirlwinds. Ljuljay, my little Ivan. Tomorrow you will put on the embroidered shirt, fasten the saber to your side, and venture out into the wide world. But the horse rears at the gates a bad omen, this son will not return home. On Sunday, early in the morning, the horse returned with an empty saddle. The old mother watered the horse, and cried: Ljuljay, my little Cossack!