One can unearth Heroes in the most unlikely places, producing and creating the most unlikely sonic landscapes, for the love of the game.  My four-year old daughter is past the need for lullabies, but is coming into her own enjoyment of an extremely wide range of genres and sounds.  You see, the musical marketing geniuses have not infected her with their demographic paradigm.  She knows what she likes and tells me so.  This music rocks her world.  These are mostly polyphonic songs and choruses from days past and current. While always soothing and often entrancing, they are no musical light weights.  This is a banquet of languages (including English) from mostly Eastern Europe.  Please take some time to discover Kitka.

WWW.KITKA.ORG 

The mother, the cradle, the voice, and the universe. Melodies born on dry slopes and in deep boreal forests to the joys and sorrows of families from villages in the Russian Far North to Armenia and Greece. This is the lullaby as revealed by America’s preeminent Eastern European vocal ensemble and creative collective, Kitka. Kitka’s latest album, Cradle Songs (Diaphonica Recordings; Nov. 3, 2009), is an unexpected, gentle journey through the traditions that shaped young dreams along the eastern edges of Europe, and a song-cycle that embraces the ensemble’s personal sonic memories of childhood.

The nature of lullabies dictated that even with innovative arrangements, the sequence of songs would spell the difference between an evocative soundscape and an overly soporific CD. “We came up with a balance between the soothing and the edgy that we hope will encourage kids to sleep and adults to relax,” smiles Kutulas. “We put a lot of consideration into which songs would follow which, so people could easily move in and out of the different moods.”