With the popularity of Pitch Perfect (and the upcoming, inventively named Pitch Perfect 2), I’m guessing most people default to the Barden Bellas when mention of a female a cappella group comes up. I’m willing to bet about ten seconds after you start listening to the Balkan folk singing trio known as Black Sea Hotel, you’ll say, “Becca who?”
I first discovered these talented ladies in June of 2013. I was doing my usual click-the-car-radio-search-button-every-three-seconds while driving to the local laundromat, and I happened upon a song that immediately gave me chills. It wasn’t your typical top 40 music, and I was surprisingly compelled (I think hubby used the word, “obsessed”) to search out who these other-worldly sounding creatures were. Thanks to the kind help of the gentleman who is the DJ for that program (Worlds of Music on 91.3 WUNH), a flurry of emails, and some time searching playlists, I found out this was the song I’d heard –
Spava Mi Se by Black Sea Hotel
After sampling their songs on Amazon, I promptly bought their self-titled album, and liked their Facebook page. I mean, look at some of the people singing their praises!
“Black Sea Hotel captures an other-worldly sonic experience, wonderfully concordant and discordant (to my post-punk ear), a totally unique sound on this planet.” – Martin Bisi (Engineer/Producer of The Pixies, Sonic Youth, Swans, Herbie Hancock, Dresden Dolls)
“[Black Sea Hotel’s] painstakingly researched and innovative arrangements of traditional Balkan folks songs are performed with a refined emotion that hits with the magnetic pull of rock-bound sirens. Just tie me to the mast now…” Paul Schomer (Producer, National Public Radio)
“Beautiful.” – David Byrne
I’m not sure what it is about this music, but it reaches through my ears and straight into my soul. They’ve become my go-to music anytime I need to write or mediate (or both). In fact, I mentioned them in my previous post as the music I planned to use for my new moon meditation (which I did, and it was awesome). And they make it look so easy!
Do your ears a favor and check them out – if they were students, they could win the ICCA championships with their eyes closed. But don’t tell Aubrey I said that…
Feel free to shout out!