Slavic Chorus Comes to UNC

Its singers practice by pretending to call to one another from opposite mountain tops -- and no, it's not a Ricola ad.

The Yale Women's Slavic Chorus will deliver the dissonant harmonies and distinctive vocals of Eastern European music to students and the community Thursday as part of the Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence's Thursdays on the Terrace series.

This a cappella group will perform in the John Lindsay Morehead II Lounge from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

"It will be a great kickoff to this semester's series focusing on world music," said Johnston Center Associate Director Randi Davenport.

The Johnston Center and the Department of Slavic Languages and Literature, chaired by Beth Holmgren, are co-sponsoring the concert.

"We have many students (in the department) interested in all kinds of performances," said Holmgren. "Lots of students become interested in the Balkans precisely because of music and dance."

Propelled by female students integrating into the formerly all-male university, the Women's Slavic Chorus formed in response to the established Yale Men's Russian Chorus in 1969, said Holmgren.

According to Holmgren, Slavic areas like the Balkans and Macedonia traditionally fought many wars that kept the men away from home and led to the creation of folk songs expressly harmonized by women to communicate their experiences.

Today these haunting harmonies have become "internationalized music, sort of like Enya," said Holmgren.

"You can hear the music in Audi commercials," she said. She compared the sound to the clear-toned mountain hollering of the Appalachian tradition.

Tour organizer and former Chapel Hill resident Hannah Farber said the Women's Slavic Chorus is different from general a cappella groups.

"Their repertoires are homogenous," Farber said. "We emphasize and celebrate the individuality of voices, the strength of women's voices alone and together."

The chorus will carry to Morehead Lounge a repertoire that sets love, work, war, country life and sorrow to melody. Songs have been gathered from Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Russia and Ukraine.

The group combined fresh pieces learned during a tour of Bulgaria with long-performed melodies from its 2002 album Kolo Sertrya, which translates as "close to the heart."

"It's fun music," Farber said. "Some songs are very sexy, some songs are very silly, and some are very sad."

More information on the Yale Women's Slavic Chorus can be found at http://www.yale.edu/ysc. For more information about the performance, contact the Johnston Center at (919) 966-5110.

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.