***Mar 2006 Focus pg 1-32 - Focus Magazine

In perfect unisonJOE WIEBEThe Balkan Babes have travelled a long way.vibeIn performance, the Balkan Babes exhibit a calm serenity that underscoresthe eerily beautiful eastern European melodies and harmoniesthey sing. At their CD release concert in Duncan in early February,the music is mesmerizing, punctuated occasionally by trills or whoops.Some songs are soft and elegiac, while others are belted out withfervent ferocity. For an all-female choir, the range of voices is impressive.Some songs begin with one or two singers and then slowly growin complexity until all nine women are singing. Even though theysing unaccompanied without a conductor, no one ever seems to missa mark or wander off key.Between songs, members take turns introducing each tune, which areall sung in the original language: Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian,Georgian or Ukrainian. Each quirky, folksy synopsis earns a warm chucklefrom the audience: “Marry me off, old mother, while I’m young andthe girls are still interested in me,” or “The grass has grown high in mybeautiful green field. The proud girl will cut it and feed it to her horse.”The Balkan Babes clearly love singing these songs: their eyes shinebrightly as they sing, smiling at each other in obvious friendship. It’snot surprising, considering the long journey they have travelled togethergoing back 13 years, a story they shared with me at a rehearsal abouta month before the concert.What a different scene. Seated in a circle in one of the member’sliving rooms, with tea available for all, the Babes (as they refer to themselves)make it clear that they are a group of individuals. They haveno leader by choice, making all decisions collectively, even if thatprocess sometimes drives them all crazy. That dynamic becomes immediatelyapparent as they answer my questions—often interrupting eachother with corrections, anecdotes or inside jokes that send them allinto raucous fits of laughter. My head is on a swivel, bouncing fromvoice to voice. It is very entertaining, if a little confusing.Faro Sullivan starts off describing how it all began with a Thursdaymorning musical get-together for women in Fernwood. A lot of theoriginal members were stay-at-home moms with young children, soit was something to do socially.“It’s definitely still a group of women that need to meet and vent,”Chantal Leblond adds, earning a big laugh. “It’s a sisterhood, for sure.”“Almost everybody had a baby on the floor at some point,” Faro says.“A lot of our babies ended up at shows, too,” Chantal says. “Holdingthem. Nursing them.” Karen Visser recounts how she had her infantson asleep in a sling at an early concert. One song, “Dobro Do?le,” hassome loud keening in it—which woke him up—so she nursed himonstage. “He wasn’t hungry, but it kept him quiet.”The original group began performing publicly and recorded a coupleof CDs, but their sheer size made it difficult to grow in ability. “It wascrazy,” Faro says. “At one time we were in a basement recording studiowith 17 of us.”Not everyone could attend practices regularly, so it was difficult tolearn new songs and expand their repertoire. As a result, in 2004they decided to form a performance group made up of those who couldcommit to a regular weekly practice schedule. That pared the groupdown to 13 members; a couple more left over the next few years. Andnow they are nine.PHOTO: TONY BOUNSALLThe Balkan BabesTop row (l-r): Karen Visser, Faro Annie Sullivan, Kristin Scott, Chantal LeblondMiddle: Laura Wilder, Rebekkah Dickson, Kelly SherwinFront: Genevieve Charbonneau, Pam CampbellThey grew in ability and repertoire, and began performing at festivalssuch as Luminara, Victoria Folkfest, and the Islands Folk Festival.Then, in 2008, they sent a four-song CD to CBC Radio’s Choral 2008choir competition.“We were not even thinking about it, and then we found out we hadalready been through three or four tiers of the competition,” explainsGenevieve Charbonneau.They found themselves singing in the live-to-radio final of the Pan-Traditional category against a Georgian men’s choir. The Balkan Babesperformed at Ryerson Church in Vancouver while the male choir sangin Toronto.“We heard the other choir singing while we were standing there,”and then it was their turn. “It was terrifying,” recounts Genevieve.But to their surprise, they won. The prize was a trip to Montreal toperform in a choral festival that featured all of the various categorywinners. That success has given them more confidence.36 April 2013 • FOCUS