Black Sea Hotel
Performance Details
Date: Friday, February 21, 2014 @ 7:30pm
Location: Ewell Recital Hall
Admission: Free
About the Performers
Black Sea Hotel is a Brooklyn-based a cappella group that recreates traditional Balkan music, generating their own unique, gusty sound. Sometimes lyrical and ethereal, sometimes dissonant and driving, their voices create a harmonic blend that has been called haunting, otherworldly, even spellbinding. Drawing upon the rich traditions of the Balkans, the Black Sea Hotel finds new ways to use harmony, dissonance, tonality, and rhythm to tell ancient stories which still resonate today. Gathering inspiration from master singers, archival field recordings, and large mid-century choral arrangements, the group creates a unique repertoire, arranging and composing complex, three and four voiced interplays based on traditional material.
Black Sea Hotel's appeal draws a remarkably broad audience. They perform at venues ranging from concert halls and downtown clubs to folk festivals and universities to the Bulgarian Embassy. They have been broadcast live internationally on Public Radio International's "The World, Global Hit" segment, as well as on WFMU, WNYC, WAMU, and Sirius XM Radio Live on Fine Tuning. They also regularly lead classes, workshops, and lecture-demos in Balkan singing. They have collaborated with such musical luminaries as Kremena Stancheva of Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares, Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamon and The Decemberists, beatboxer Adam Matta of Carolina Chocolate Drops, songwriter Jonny Rodgers, and Brooklyn Balkan bands Ansambl Mastika and Raya Brass Band.
Black Sea Hotel's live performances and recordings have been praised by The Washington Post, Paul Schomer of National Public Radio, Alex Gallafent of PRI's "The World," David Byrne, esteemed music producer Martin Bisi, Lucid Culture and New York Music Daily, Timeout NY, East Village Radio, and more. The group was #2 on iTunes World Music Top Albums, and the Editor's Pick and Featured Artist on CD Baby. Black Sea Hotel has just released a new album, The Forest is Shaking and Swaying.
For more information about Black Sea Hotel, visit their website at blackseahotelusa.com.
Program Selection
To be announced during performance.
