Enjoy a unique double-offering of female voices from Sweden and Ukraine/Balkans. Sweden’s Kongero will take the listener on a fabulous journey, an all-embracing Scandinavian folk music experience. Amazing vocal polyphony, groovy, intimate, and powerful. And BC’s Vostok will treat you to a dissonant Bulgarian chant, a Ukrainian spring song first heard on a Kyiv subway, and other musical voyages.
ABOUT KONGERO
Kongero is a Swedish vocal group, consisting of the four female folk music singers Lotta Andersson, Emma Björling, Sofia Hultqvist Kott, and Anna Wikénius. Kongero was formed in 2005 when the original members all met at a Nordic folk music conference. There they started singing together and found that their voices and harmonies blended perfectly, complimenting each other’s voices. Since 2005, they have performed their polyphonic a capella folk music (which they coin Folk’apella) all over Europe, Asia and the Americas, singing in concerts and leading workshops in traditional Swedish vocal music and vocal harmonies.
Kongero’s repertoire consists of traditional and original songs and tunes arranged by the band members. Kongero’s music tells tales of life, with moving love songs, dramatic medieval ballads, witty ditties, and spirited dances, in their native Swedish tongue. Traditionally, Swedish songs were sung solo by a woman, with Swedish mouth music most often performed solo by a man. Kongero’s polyphonic music is characterized by tight harmonies, inciting rhythms, and the clarity of their beautiful voices that bring traditional Swedish folk song into modern times.
ABOUT VOSTOK
Vostok is a Vancouver-based vocal trio singing music from Eastern Europe and the Balkans. “Vostok” means The East – Eastern European music, from East Vancouver. Vostok is also the house band for local theatre company The Troika Collective. Singers Aliya Griffin, Emily Villavicencio and Jessica Hood to deliver a rich and varied set. A Polish lament, a Croatian harvest song, a dissonant Bulgarian chant, a Ukrainian spring song first heard on a Kyiv subway – Vostok’s songs take the listener from bliss to despair and back again.