Czech Gypsy Singer Ida Kelarová Releases Aven Bachtale

Ida Kelarová and Dužda (Dežo) Desiderius with Jazz Famelija have released Aven Bachtale on Indies Scope Records. "One of my impulses was the need for a change," said Ida Kelarová. "I wanted to introduce a new theme to basic principles of jazz with my own enjoyment and passion, simply in “gypsy style”."

Ida Kelarová is one of the most respectful Gypsy singers and each of her new recordings is an important event for everybody who loves not just Gypsy music but jazz as well. Lately, Ida Kelarová is, together with her partner Desiderius Dužda, dedicated to connecting vivid Gypsy music and classical jazz. Aven Bachtale features Ida Kelarová and Desiderius Dužda with the support of their outstanding Jazz Famelija band, which finds harmony between Gypsy music and jazz.

"When I’m singing I feel happy," says Kelarová. "I take joy as a great gift. I believe that human creativity can modify, develop and evaluate joy during lifetime and our soul is capable to elevate it to art." Aven Bachtale, which has connected many excellent musicians, is fully under Ida Kelarová supervision. Using her intuition and sensitivity she is leading the band from slow, sad songs all the way to final czardas.

Her ability to open up her heart and put all her emotions into her voice is proverbial. The emotions and their legacies are able to touch even those who don’t understand the gipsy lyrics and share the feelings which are so familiar to all of us. “I’ve tried a lot in music – from classical music, folk, different ethno projects and rock to Gypsy songs which have spoken to me deeply. I’ve always wanted to sing these beautiful melodic and harmonic songs with multiple voices in some jazzy way, even though I’ve never put my mind to jazz. Regarding to way of singing and energy, the song will become so strong; it’s something that I’m quite missing in ‘machine like’ strict jazz.”

Desiderius Dužda is a big support for Ida Kelarová while accomplishing the “jazz mission”, he has also written and composed more than six songs of the album. The songs are written very fittingly for Ida and highlight her rich voice and her art of emotional experience of songs.

Aven Bachtale was recorded in Viennese studio Dukatton. The reason for recording abroad was rather practical. “For our musicians, who are mostly from Slovakia, it’s quite close; it was also cheaper then in our country and on the top of that we needed an acoustic piano which is not usually accessible in our studios in such quality.”

The last purely studio album by Ida Kelarová was the album Staré Slzy / Old Tears from 2002. She didn’t rest for a moment though. On the contrary, she has been busy with lot of other activities (e.g. her famous music lessons). She recorded the charitable CD called Apsora, which featured approximately 60 singers from 12 countries. The collected amount went to art workshops for young talented Gypsy youth. The DVD Jazz followed, recorded at a concert she shared with her sister Iva Bittová in Lucerne in Prague.

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