Over the next few weeks, we’re featuring the artists of Odd Measures Even-ing (taking place November 14th, 2019) in a series of interviews on our blog. Featuring seven exquisite acts, Odd Measures Even-ing showcases the myriad possibilities that open up when we tune in to that missed beat, or the not 'odd' at all. It’s an evening celebrating unusual time signatures from artistic traditions around the world, curated by Ritika Ganguly of The Cedar’s Artist Collective.
“You internalize the rhythm and it… stretches your understanding of rhythm.... I feel my brain and my kinesthetic intelligence stretching. ”
Next up is Mila Vocal Ensemble, a professional women's vocal ensemble grounded in the harmonic traditions of Eastern Europe and Russia. The group formed in 2005 in St. Paul, Minnesota, and has toured nationally and internationally. Two of the group’s members, Anna Johnson and Rada Kolarova, spoke with Ritika Ganguly about Mila Vocal Ensemble’s approach to “odd.”
Anna Johnson and Rada Kolarova: Hi! We are Anna and Rada, and we are part of Mila Vocal Ensemble.
Rada: We are feeling so uplifted to be participating in the Odd Measures Evening at The Cedar!
Ritika Ganguly. How do you interpret odd and what is odd to you?
Anna: Mila Vocal Ensemble sings traditional music from Eastern Europe and the Balkans. The regions of Bulgaria, Macedonia, Croatia have songs that are particularly rooted in odd rhythms and odd measures. So we are planning to present folk songs from these regions that showcase a variety of odd measures.
And what is it that you'll be sharing with us on the showcase?
Rada: We’ll be sharing songs from the Balkans along with wonderful stories that are presented in the songs that we're singing.
I know at the auditions for Odd Measures Even-ing you mentioned footwork and the importance of the body moving along with these rhythms, the vocals being a manifestation of that odd body rhythm, and how the two borrow from and lend to each other.
Rada: Yeah, so many of these songs are actually intended to be sung while people are dancing, and often there will be instrumentalists, although in the folk tradition it is also very common to have it be acapella as well, which is what we will be singing. We're a voices only, all women’s choir, with multi-part harmonies. Often there are dancers who will dance to that music. We will not be dancing….
An example of Balkan Folk Dancing, courtesy of Australian Dance Festival’s YouTube channel.
Anna: But the audience might be dancing! The traditional dances from these regions that accompany the songs we'll be singing are typically line dances, where people hold hands and dance in a circle. There's a foot pattern that correlates to the meter of the song and in the dance you learn that pattern in your feet and then repeat it in a line of people. It's a really fun way to embody the music because sometimes the foot pattern is in a different... How do I say this?
Rada: You internalize the rhythm and it… stretches your understanding of rhythm. I've definitely felt that before when dancing songs that have rhythms that I'm unfamiliar with. Like, I feel my brain and my kinesthetic intelligence stretching, especially with rhythms that are unfamiliar in you. And I think the communal aspect of doing it in a line dance, in a big group, that’s very special. It's a very special moment.
Anna: There's a wonderful community of folk dancers in the Twin Cities that will come to some of our events, especially the more celebratory ‘party’ performances and dance these folk dances while we're singing which is really, really special.
Rada: And that's how many of the songs were intended to be. As I was mentioning earlier, they were intended to be sung for dancers and for parties. So some of the songs are about parties. [chuckle]
Actually, on the topic of dances, Mila Vocal Ensemble actually started out of a group that was dancing and some of the Mila members found that they enjoyed singing more than they enjoyed the dancing. So little by little, the Ethnic Dance Theatre formed a group that was only singing for the dancers while they were dancing.
And over time that group actually split away and rebranded as Mila Vocal Ensemble. So this group has been around for a while and it started in dancing. We rarely dance now because we primarily focus on the vocals but it's still there, and there are certainly Mila Vocal Ensemble members that dance as a major part of how they interact with the rhythms and the music and the folk tradition.
Anna: And we have a great friendship with the Ethnic Dance Theatre which is still thriving. And we'll collaborate as the vocalists that perform alongside the dancers presenting these traditional dances. We did a show recently in May this year that was really spectacular where we were the choir singing while the traditional dances were being performed.
That helps me segue into the next question. What do you hope the audience will take away from the work you share?
“We experience a lot of fire and joy when we’re singing together and we hope that the audience will share in that and feel that inspiration and that excitement from the music”
Rada: We want them to feel closer to some of these cultures and experience them in a new way. We believe that this will likely be the first time many members of the audience see and hear this style of music so that's really exciting to us to get to share it with newcomers, and we hope that they will be interested to learn more about these traditions.
And in the moment when the audience is participating by listening to your work, what do you hope the audience is experiencing? What will they be witnessing?
Anna: We experience a lot of fire and joy when we're singing together and we hope that the audience will share in that and feel that inspiration and that excitement from the music that we feel when we sing it. I think that fiery passion that lives in this music, especially some of these songs that we will be performing, we really hope that that spreads out into the crowd.
If you had a magic wand and if you could change anything you wanted to about the local Twin Cities arts or music scene, what would that be?
Anna: I would love to see more venues like The Cedar that are primarily focused on the art. There's something magical happening there every night. It's about the community coming together and experiencing something spectacular and maybe completely new to them. It's more about the art than it's about the substances. It's a place where you can go and you won't know what's happening, but you know that you are going to be transformed and meet amazing people and see something that you've never seen before. I wish there were more places like that in the Twin Cities.
Rada: I really love when multiple groups get together for a collaborative performance. Those have been some of my favorite performances I've done. So that's one of the reasons that I personally am so excited about this event, the Odd Measures Even-Ing. I love when there are performances where there is a dance element, a visual element, a vocal element, an instrumental, and they all get to come together, that's been my favorite. And just getting more opportunities to work with diverse performers, where diverse is not defined simply like a US Census Bureau, just like diverse interest, diverse backgrounds and experiences and knowledge.
Are you hoping to collaborate with other artists on the showcase? Do you think you'll take it to a future place of forging more connections and collaborations?
Anna: Hopefully. You mean with the artists we're meeting here?
Mm-hmm.
Anna: Oh, yeah we were just joking about forming a band. All of us. We were just saying, "Look at this amazing band of artists. We should all do an improv as a finale for the festival."
That's actually really exciting you say that because everyone I've spoken to today has been talking about that one little part of the evening be reserved for an improv collaboration.
Anna: I think that would be so spectacular. That would be so exciting. This is just such a thrilling opportunity to connect and share and present what we love and hold near and dear to our hearts and sprinkle it out into this space.
Rada: All of Mila is this excited. To be clear, we're happy to be here representing our choir. But we are all stoked.
“We want [audiences] to feel closer to some of these cultures and experience them in a new way. We believe that this will likely be the first time many members of the audience see and hear this style of music so that’s really exciting to us to get to share it with newcomers”
THE ARTIST COLLECTIVE IS SUPPORTED BY:
