"Kaval Sviri" by WorldSong

Were you aware that Coventry has had a choir singing songs from the cultures of the world a cappella? You probably were but to my shame, I only found out about WorldSong relatively recently thanks to Diana Stefanescu whom you will know as a Duck Thief and for her photographic & videographic work with the likes of Shanghai Hostage & Septic and the Tanks & hopefully her non-music related artwork too.

That they have been going for a quarter of a century only makes my ignorance deeper.

The good news is that they have been working with producer Mason Le Long & have a full album which they hope to share next month: it's called (appropriately enough) ‘Together As One: A Celebration of Community Singing'.

If you wish to have a taste of what they do, they have a track out as a single already: it's called  "Kaval Sviri" and is their arrangement of a Bulgarian folk song. I don't speak Bulgarian but my researches have led me to discover that the lyric concerns someone who is delighted to hear a kaval (a type of flute played in the Balkans) playing & resolves to love the player.

Now as someone who respects anyone who can sing this perfectly unaccompanied, in what is presumably an unfamiliar language to most if not all of them, I'm greatly impressed already. Factor in the community aspect & diversity of song sources (Diana advises that the album will contain more than just Bulgarian songs: others will come from places including Australia, South Africa and Romania) and it's hard to come up with a more complete description of what I feel I ought to be writing about for you.

You may not speak Bulgarian either, but I think you'll be moved by  "Kaval Sviri" too.