Classical Avant-Folk

Iva Bittova
Album: Bittova & Fajt
Morning Song

I find avant-jazz guitarist Fred Frith very interesting.  As a composer there are times when I get curious about extended performance techniques, the sounding potential inherent in each instrument, and Frith is my standby for guitar.  So I was browsing his youtube clips, taking notes as I went, trying to figure out how best to steal his ideas, when I stumbled across a movie that he made in 1990, Step Across the Border.  The clip above is from it.  I was unfamiliar with Iva Bittova but I found "Morning Song" compelling so I decided to do a little research and a lot of listening.  What I heard blew my mind to bits.

Part classical musician, part folk singer, part performance artist, part avant-garde freak queen, Bittova explores the limits of vocal technique and makes music that runs the gamut from easily accessible to extremely challenging.  She reminds me of Bjork at her weirdest, only way weirder.  At times I hear Kabuki and scat singing (Sto Let) as strong influences, at other times folk-inspired contemporary classical music (Divna Slecinka).  And she is never never never boring.

Upon first hearing Bittova it becomes immediately apparent that she is Eastern European; Moravian in her case.  Very often she sings in the characteristically nasal style of the region (Bulgarian National Women's Choir), but she has such remarkable vocal control that she can sound like Nellie Andreeva at the beginning of a phrase, Tom Waits in the middle, and Billie Holiday at the end.  She trained as a classical violinist and continues to perform and record with more conventional ensembles around the world, and she is an accomplished actor, appearing in such films as the Oscar nominated Zelary.  An amazing talent.

Classical avant-folk, perhaps?