01/13/2020
Singing Group: Balkan and Beyond
This is a meeting of folks braiding voices together to learn and practice polyphonic (multi-part) songs of various folk traditions: Georgian, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Greek... the territory is vast, and likely even bigger and older than we can know. The focus is songs with two or more simultaneous melodic parts: this exists in many forms across manymany places & traditions, so let's see where we go! Culturally, we'll learn as much as we can about translations, pronunciations, origins, but not get too academic. We'll tread lightly, with respect to the old and current keepers of these songs, and try to re-sprout with our own voices whatever seeds of the sacred might still be stored therein.
Prior experience singing is preferred, but the determination to learn and practice is the only key. If you have some old songs to share, all the better! Isaac Fosl-van Wyke will teach the first few songs. He started a similar choir to this in NY's Hudson Valley. The hope here back home is roughly the same: to share the current repertoire, then build upon it collectively with anyone who wants to keep on, traveling (in terms of which folk traditions) wherever the group wants to go.
We'll meet at the Chapel of St. Philip Neri: corner of Floyd & Woodbine (enter through door on the right). 3pm saturday.
