Iva Bittova traverses genres as easily as her supple voice jumps
across octaves. Her performance format (voice and violin) suggests folk
music, and she does have a fiddler's knack for expressive slurs and rustic
timbres, but she's equally adept at executing graceful (and quite modern)
classical maneuvers. And she's no technophobe; on "Ne Nehledej" ("Stop
Searching") Bittova overdubs herself into an extravagant babel of
contrapuntal voices. She's as likely to whinny or growl in wordless
syllables as to coo or belt out her poetic imagery.
Bittova sings like an
actress, always in character, and even though every song is in Czech her
dramatic delivery collars the listener and won't let go. Each song freezes
an instant or narrates a story; "Dedecek" ("Grandfather") ponders how her
ancestor might react to the soul death that the Czech people suffered under
communism, "Divna Slecinka" ("Strange Young Lady") celebrates sex, and
"Ples Upiru" ("The Vampires' Ball") offers us the night from the vampire's
perspective.
It's ironic that Bittova's chosen a time when Eastern Europe
is binging on the worst that American junk culture can offer to bring us
her rich blend of tradition and innovation, but we should consider
ourselves lucky that we're getting the better end of the bargain.
If you like Iva Bittova check out:
Muzsikas Morning Star
Dave Holland Life Cycle
The Ex + Tom Cora Scrabbling At The Lock
