Book Of Transfigurations

Dlava is a unique world music project that reflects and a body of Moravian folk songs of the 19th and early 20th century through the fun-house mirror of 21st century creative jazz and post-rock. The principal artists are American vocalist Julia Ulehla and guitarist Aram Bajakian (Lou Reed, John Zorn), joined by their elite band of Vancouver improvisers: Peggy Lee (cello), Tyson Naylor (piano, organ, accordion), Colin Cowan (bass) and Dylan van der Schyff (drums). The song texts are akin to fairy tales or compact, elliptical parables. Dlava gives each song its own sound world. Ulehla, inspired by her years as actress and singer at the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards, animates these affecting melodies and archetypal storylines of love, death and the natural world through an improvisational yet ritual approach to performance. It's a kind of musical sance; indeed, there is a generations-long personal bond at work here, as these songs were collected in his home village by Ulehla's great grandfather, a botanist and ethnomusicologist who viewed folk songs as living organisms. So they prove to be in Dlava's bold, powerful and tender interpretations. The CD package comes with a 36-page booklet including the Czech texts, English translations, and Ulehla's insightful commentary, as well as beautiful period photography of the Moravian countryside. Ulehla and Bajakian have already created a minor sensation in the Czech Republic with their unconventional recreations of this well-loved repertoire, and are poised with this release to make a bigger splash on world music and creative jazz stages.