Paris to Kyiv Launch Fragmenti

TORONTO–Paris to Kyiv is celebrating the recent release of their new CD, Fragmenti, at a series of concerts this month in Eastern Canada.

For the past 10 years, Winnipeg-based singer Alexis Kochan and her Paris to Kyiv collaborators have blended ancient Ukrainian music with contemporary sounds.
“I would describe Fragmenti more as a body of work than a collection of songs,” says Kochan. “It’s conceptual. Of all my projects, this one feels most like a film score.”

“Like the previous Paris to Kyiv recordings, Fragmenti is a tapestry made up of Ukrainian folk poetry and musical elements, bits and pieces –fragments–of the leftovers from times past, woven together with new threads,” says Kochan.

Gathering the material for the CD is an involved process. Says Kochan: “As always, I begin by searching for unique pieces of “folk jewelry” – digging deeply like an archaeologist would do – looking for ‘fragments,’ pieces that have perhaps been lost or possibly ignored, pieces from the deepest layers of Ukrainian musical tradition, pieces that define Ukrainians.”

Though the new CD explores Ukrainian themes, Kochan says it’s the most universal of her releases. “For the first time in my work, I feel that I’ve moved beyond the Ukrainian psyche to a universal one,” she says.

“For example, the first song entitled "Golden Years" is a commentary on the loss of one’s youth, while the ninth track, "Call," speaks to deep sexual desires. "Oj U Poli Mohyla" is about the fear we have of being forgotten once we are gone, while "Dark Bird" is simply the cry of the soul that is heavily burdened. All are comments on the human experience.”

Bandurist and sopilka player Julian Kytasty and violist and singer/songwriter Richard Moody, who is also the producer of Fragmenti, once again join Kochan in this latest Paris to Kyiv project.  New collaborators are bassist Paul Yee, percussionists Christian Dugas and Rodrigo Munoz, and vocalist Alan Schroeder.

Together, they weave a sonic tapestry, working in strands of jazz and new music, medieval Slavonic chant, dance tunes inspired by Carpathian Mountain fiddlers and bandura players, original compositions and ancient ritual songs with roots in the Neolithic era.

Recorded in New York and Winnipeg, Fragmenti is Paris to Kyiv’s fourth album.

This month, they present concerts featuring material from Fragmenti in Toronto on October 21 at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts’ Jane Mallett Theatre. Other stops on their Eastern Canadian tour are: Stratford, Ont. (October 14; Elizagoth), North Bay, Ont. (October 24; Nipissing Theatre and October 25;W.K.P Kennedy Gallery), Montreal (October 26; Chapelle Historique Du Bon-Pasteur), Gatineau, Que. (October 29; Theatre of the Canadian Museum of Civilization), and Iqaluit.

Visit olesia.com for more information about the concert tour.