For those not in the know, ‘Folk music’ is an interesting piece of terminology because of how slippery it can be. The debut full-length of greater Vancouver-based composer and vocalist Anna Pidgorna, Invented Folksongs, probes this contradiction through the lens of her Ukrainian heritage.

Pidgorna has long incorporated musical elements that reflect her ancestry in her concert works but since visiting and studying traditional music in Ukraine, her work has aimed for a more embodied understanding of these traditions.

Especially since these trips ignited her interest in singing her own work. Pidgorna has ultimately found a deeply personal approach to vocalization, drawing on Ukrainian folk, but pushing these gestures past their traditional origins, while blending them with classical and contemporary singing techniques.

Her idiosyncratic singing matches her compositional outlook. Invented Folksongs (composed from 2015-18) consists of four songs ranging from nine to eleven minutes based on texts by Pidgorna herself plus two shorter intervening instrumental “meditations.”

Pidgorna’s bold, sonorous voice is accompanied by members of the Ludovico Ensemble, whose present incarnation employs percussion, cimbalom, prepared piano, violin, cello, bass, each of which has an analogous instrument in Ukrainian traditions.

1. What Else Can I Give Him? | Що ще йому дати? [09:46]
2. First Meditation | Перша медитація [03:40]
3. Teach Your Daughters | Навучайте дочок [10:29]
4. Drown in the Depth | Та й в глибині втону [10:46]
5. Second Meditation | Друга Медитація [03:32]
6. Walk Under the Moon | Погуляй під місяцем [09:48]

The Ukrainian-Canadian composer, vocalist and multi-media artist who combines sound, visual arts, and writing to create works that are dramatic and picturesque, opens up her new album on the emboldened What Else Can I Give Him? and an aching yearn that threads throughout First Meditation, and then we get the wrenchingly stirring Teach Your Daughters, the impassioned Drown in the Depth, the set rounding out on the asperous Second Meditation, closing on the inertly symphonious Walk Under the Moon.

Musicians:
Voice: Anna Pidgorna (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6)
Instruments: Ludovico Ensemble
Violin: Gabriela Diaz (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6)
Cello: Leo Eguchi (tracks 2, 4, 5, 6)
Double Bass: Evan Runyon (tracks 1, 4, 6)
Cimbalom: Nicholas Tolle (tracks 1, 2, 5, 6)
Piano: Yoko Hagino (tracks 2, 3, 5, 6)
Percussion: Mike Williams (tracks 1, 4, 6)
Body percussion: Nicholas Tolle (track 3)

www.annapidgorna.com

Official Purchase Link