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Bittova, Iva - Superchameleon DVD

SKU INDIES 3209
Iva is a wonderful musician, singer and composer and her early experiences as an actress make her a superlative performer. I have been lucky enough to see her live 3 times, but many folks can't, so in it's place is this incredible DVD. Highly recommended.

"So much has already been written about Iva Bittova, about her multi-genre music and talent, her success in the Czech Republic and abroad. Once again Iva Bittova is here to surprise us with something new. Superchameleon is Iva Bittova’s debut music DVD. As the title suggests, it reveals many sides of her ever-changing musical character. The DVD is divided into three parts. The first is an exceptional, ninety-minute concert with the New York-based contemporary music ensemble Bang On A Can All-Stars . The concert was recorded in the Palace Akropolis in Prague on 26 March 2006. The concert repertoire is from the BOAC All-Stars and Iva Bittova’s Elida studio album recorded in New York, which won general appreciation and critical approval. The reception to touring Elida in late 2005 prompted the decision to film the performance. However, the programme opened with Iva Bittová – just voice, violin and solo magic – performing material from her past and present. This DVD is preserved proof positive, as never before, of the mesmeric atmosphere she can create and conjure, no matter whether alone on stage or in the good company of New York’s Finest, the BOAC All-Stars, when they become, as it were, her orchestra. Extended piano lines mingle with strings, while clarinet improvisation partners the rabid noise of electric guitar. The outcome is music that is at the same time both sophisticated and direct, no-nonsense sharp and nostalgic. It combines Eastern European classical music and folk customs while the non-traditional connection of Iva Bittová’s vocal parts and piano create inspiring melodies. The concert recording was directed by one of the Czech Republic’s rising stars, Jakub Kohák. Once again, he has succeeded in ennobling the result, lifting the production out of the all-too-frequently sterile concert recording genre, rising to the occasion to capture an unrepeatable symbiosis of visual and audio action and the atmosphere that concert-goers in the Palace Akropolis’ hall witnessed. The DVD’s second, no less important or impressive part is its selections from the Czech Television archives. The result is a treasure trove of 18 carefully selected songs. Totalling some sixty minutes, this material captures Iva Bittova in varying incarnations and in a variety of projects – rock, folk, folkloric and classical. The oldest footage is with the band Manana from 1984. Other performances include collaborations with the Czech string quartet, the Skampovo kvarteto (Skampa Quartet), the Czech band Dunaj, the Dutch group N.B.E. and Pavel Fajt. Naturally, Superchameleon has to include performances from the magisterial White Inferno, which Iva Bittová recorded with Vladimir Vaclavek, and the nigh-legendary popular ballad Zabili, zabili from the ‘mutant musical’ Balada pro banditu (Ballad for a Brigand) and Divadlo na provazku, which she recorded with Miroslav Donutil. The last and shortest part of Superchameleon is an exclusive, 12-minute video-collage created specially for this project. The five-part collage includes footage from her first major film appearance in the film Rosy Dreams also known as Rose-tinted Dreams and an assembly of rare scenes. The whole is a flicker-book of impressions of an indefinable artist."



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  • Format TypeNTSC
  • Region CodingAll Region
  • LabelIndies
Your Price $30.00
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