CD Release
If I Had a Key to the Dawn
Love Songs and Laments
from Eastern Europe
This spare and atmospheric album is a journey through the musical landscapes of Eastern Europe. The haunting voice of singer Lily Storm interprets ancient folk songs with fragile honesty and practiced skill. The pieces flow together like a series of dreams, opening with a fragmentary Ukrainian lullaby, continuing with wistful Hungarian melodies, angular Greek dance rhythms, passionate Russian and Bulgarian laments, and a fiery Romanian mountain tune, and closing with a tender Czech ode to the rising sun. The result transcends cultural boundaries and offers fresh awareness of centuries-old musical traditions. Includes 20-page booklet with notes and complete lyrics, with English translations.
Available June 23rd
If I Had a Key to the Dawn is released. It is available as a CD here, or from Amazon or CDBaby, and in digital form via iTunes, Lala, and other sites. I recommend getting the old-fashioned CD, as it includes a booklet with extensive notes and photos.
I am quite happy with the CD. As many of you know, it has been a long journey. It wasn't what I set out to make; it is sadder, darker and ultimately, I think, more interesting. The songs are all traditional Eastern European folk songs. Many are laments of one kind or another; a few are tender love songs. There are beautiful solos by Dan Cantrell (accordion) and Shea Comfort (duduk), and lovely accompaniments by Ryan Francesconi, Beth Bahia Cohen, Diana Rowan, Joshua Levy, Eric Perney, Peter Maund and Faisal Zedan.
[To order, use the Google Checkout button. If you have any kind of Google account already (GMail, for instance), you can use the same username and password. If not, you'll have to create an account (and since Google is taking over the world, you might as well... they don't seem evil... yet).]