Fire, water, earth, and air; the four elements that have been the focus point for spiritual connections between humanity and the world since we first figured out what our bare minimum requirements were for survival. As we have moved further away from those early days when life was only about survival, our visible dependence on the essential elements has receded.
We don't have to worry about lighting a fire for food and protection from the night, water is readily available either from a tap, a well, or a bottle even, few of us grow our own food anymore so we don't have to toil in the earth, and the air, although somewhat degraded is still everywhere. Of course, this lack of connection also means that the majority of us now take the elements for granted until for some reason we are forcibly reminded of their existence.
Wild fire sweeps through Southern California and threaten housing; drought conditions threaten populated areas in temperate zones; the earth is used up in places and unable to produce food, and there are days in some cities where you have to wear an oxygen mask to breath. While headlines along those lines might catch our attention, the information exists only in the moment and is banished by the next sound bite.
This makes it even more surprising that some of the old folk tales concerning creatures associated with the elements have managed to hang around at all let alone with their original intentions intact.
One of those that have held on for ages are the Slavic stories featuring the water creature the Rusalka. Like the Sirens that lure sailors to their deaths in oceans, these spirits of young women who have died through misadventure before their time (broken hearted from being jilted at the alter, died in childbirth, or taking their own life to escape abuse) live in forest pools and will lure unwary male travelers to a watery grave.
According to legend, there is one week every year where the Rusalka can leave their watery homes to wander the earth in hopes of finding release from their watery prisons and to spread moisture among the crops to assist the spring growth.
The Rusalka Cycle: Songs Between The Worlds is the latest CD of song and music from the extraordinary women's choir Kitka from San Francisco. In the years since their formation, Kitka has made a name for itself for their poignant and impassioned performances of Eastern European vocal music and performance. Starting as an amateur group, they have established themselves as one of the most innovative small choral ensembles around. Through their own Diaphonica label they have produced five previous CDs while maintaining an active performance schedule, and running specialty workshops on the technique involved in Eastern European vocalization.
The Rusalka Cycle is actually a recording of a performance piece that the group did in collaboration with stage director Ellen Sebastian Chang and composer, vocalist, and director Mariana Sadovska. Mariana composed the score as a collage of folk melodies of Eastern Europe and texts combined with original music. Looking through the scene breakdown for the performance as it's written out in the CD's accompanying pamphlet you can see just how wide a net was cast for sources; from Russia in the East to Corsica in the West.
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