WOMAD

Vera Bila and Kale

From Czech Republic

"The Ella Fitzgerald of gypsy music"... mmm, these music journos do get carried away sometimes but as a description of a 50+ year old Czech gypsy diva with a voice like bootleg kirsch it's really not that bad. Bila, meaning 'white', and her group Kale, meaning 'black', come from the industrial heartlands of Bohemia in the Czech Republic. They were 'discovered' at a local folk festival by Czech folk legends Nerez and signed to BMG who released their debut album 'Rom Pop'. The release enjoyed a ballistic success winning a Czech Grammy award and propelling Bila and musicians, who are all family, onto the international concert circuit. The follow-up 'Kale Kalore' hit the shops in 1998 and Bila's star has continued to rise ever since. Her music is unmistakably Romany....passionate, romantic, devil-may care with echoes of bossa nova, doo-wop and Latin music adding flavour to the East European stock. Her words are all about crimes of passion, slick black hair and red roses. Her international success has served to illuminate the dire distress of the modern gypsy living in Eastern Europe, where skinheads and neo-Nazis continue to make life very difficult. Vera has 'world diva on the ascendant' so catch her while you can. Next time it'll be standing room only at the Albert Hall.