Kronos Quartet presents Ukranian Callings featuring Mariana Sadovska and Kitka
2016-02-06
Joe Henderson Lab
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94102
5:00 PM, Saturday, February 6, 2016

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2016 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2016 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[5:02 PM lights down, announcements by Wu Man]

1. [5:05 PM] ? (unidentified Spring Calling song)
2. [5:11 PM] ? (How the small boy was transformed into the bird)
3. [5:18 PM] ? (unidentified song)
4. [5:23 PM] ? (4 AM fertility song)
5. [5:26 PM] Midsummer Night
6. [5:36 PM] Strakh (страх – fear)
7. [5:43 PM] ? (leaving home, heading into exile poem)
8. [5:44 PM] ? (leaving home, heading into exile song)
   [5:52 PM Mariana introduces Kitka]
9. [5:53 PM] ?
10. [5:59 PM] ? Tree of Life
    [set ends 6:07 PM; all off, then thanks and goodnight from Wu Man after a minute or so]

• Mariana Sadovska: harmonium, keyboard, laptop, vox;

Kitka

• Kelly Atkins: vox;
• Caitlin Tabancay Austin: vox;
• Natalie Bartlett: vox;
• Shira Cion: vox, executive director;
• Erin Lashnits Herman: vox;
• Janet Kutulas: vox;
• Michele Simon: vox;
• Corinne Sykes: vox.

Saturday slowness means that we didn't get to the lobby until about 4:40 PM, which means that we are nowhere near the head of the admittance line. Oh well, can't fret about that! Hopefully a pair of aisle seats will still be open to us… and magically, we were able to get aisle seating, midway back in the room. Nice!

After a few words of introduction by Wu Man, Mariana entered from the side, singing as she walked to the front of the room and stood at her harmonium to continue the first song, identified later as a “spring-calling song”. Which leads me to comment that the Ukrainian concept of naming songs appears to be somewhat different than the English approach. Or perhaps Mariana simply felt that there was no point in sharing the Ukrainian titles with us, and so translated them for us? Hard to say! In any event, I'm only sure of the sixth title – the sole title that she shared in Ukrainian, Strakh. Performed on a control surface attached to a MacBook, Mariana's use of loops on this tune was very effective at evoking the hyperventilating panic of hysterical fear. Well done! But not my favorite work – that award goes to the earlier fertility song, which was punctuated by plenty of sexual moaning and grunting. Kind of over the top, but what do you expect for the topic?

Ting thought the following Midsummer Night emphasized that animal-sexual flavor too, but my take on it was that this was Mariana's evocation of the mystical witchy experience of the midsummer bacchanal. Very interesting to listen to – if slightly spooky too! Sometimes you gotta be careful who you meet up with at night!

Mariana also took a bit of time to talk about the ongoing troubles experienced by the Ukrainians – from the pogroms of the Soviet era to the current horror of the separatist-led civil war that is tearing the country apart. It was quite moving to listen to her speak, and hard to resist her call for empathy, understanding and compassion on both sides of the struggle. She closed this section of the show by reading a poem written by an exile about the sad experience of leaving the familiar homeland behind, and followed the reading with a song on the same topic. Very moving. And very sad!

As the hour came to a close, Mariana invited Kitka up, and so they rose from their seats immediately in front of us and joined her onstage for a pair of tunes. Mariana sat out the first one – watching and listening from the side with evident delight – then joined in for the final tune, a lusty run through a “tree of life” song. Bravo!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2016 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2016 event list! ☸ On to the next event!