This 1999 collection of 18 haunting and emotive songs from Bulgaria, Georgia, Hungary, Macedonia, Russia, and Ukraine, is performed mostly acappella by the ensemble's 8 vocalists (with some accompaniment on tambura/Bulgarian lute, folk harp and hand percussion). With their mastery of the demanding techniques of Balkan and Slavic vocal stylings, they bring Eastern European women's vocal traditions to a US audience and beyond. These songs were gathered from a variety of sources, including including ethnographic field recordings collected by Kitka in Eastern Europe, and reflect women's experiences as expressed through centuries-old traditions of women singing together through life's passages: love, loss, work, play and resistance.

Kitka