Kochan releases new recording (10/01/00)

Kochan releases new recording

WINNIPEG - The new recording by Winnipeg-based singer Alexis Kochan and her ensemble Paris to Kyiv is titled "Prairie Nights and Peacock Feathers." It will be officially released on October 5, with a concert at Winnipeg's Pantages Playhouse Theater.

This CD draws its material from the deepest layers of Ukrainian musical tradition and filters it through the sensibility of Kochan's musical collaborators: premier bandura player Julian Kytasty, jazz improviser and singer-songwriter Richard Moody, British Iles traditional player Martin Colledge and Yugoslavian contrabassist Nenad Zdjelar.

Soundscapes range from spare two-part vocal harmonies to lush ensemble arrangements developed during a two-week residency last summer at the St. Norbert Arts Center. Engineered by Danny Schur, with design and original artwork by Ron Sawchuk, the CD includes a booklet of English translations of the lyrics by the award-winning team of Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps.

Ms. Kochan has been exploring the creative possibilities that are found at the interfaces where traditional music meets the modern world and where the global meets the culturally specific. This exploration has led to three previous critically acclaimed recordings, "Czarivna," "Paris to Kiev" and "Variances." Combining pre-Christian ritual songs, fragments of medieval chant and modern influences, it is timeless music, spanning the centuries and evoking distant places.

The concert to launch "Prairie Nights and Peacock Fathers" will begin at 8 p.m. at the Pantages Theater, with proceeds going to the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Center in Winnipeg.

Tickets may be purchased at the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Center, 184 Alexander Ave., which is open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; telephone, (204) 942-0218. Tickets may also be purchased via phone from Ticketmaster, (204) 780-3333.

For further information contact Ms. Kochan by phone or fax at (204) 338-3385; e-mail, infor@olesia.com; website, www.paristokyiv.com.

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