Three Voices

This album was recorded live at the wonderful-sounding Folk Holidays Festival in the Czech Republic, a place for sharing music in a relaxed setting. The three voices of the title belong to female singers from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Israel: Jitka Šuranska, Irén Lovász and Michal Elia Kamal. They each begin with a few lines of a characteristic song of their own but then join up to work on songs that each of them brought to the party. Accompanying instruments include violin, mandolin, santur (zither) and accordion, while the arrangements – which were devised in just a couple of days – are good. The Czech song ‘Fuč Větřičku’ (Blow, Little Wind), featuring only simple violin accompaniment is definitely the standout track though.

While Šuranska and Lovász have refreshingly pure voices, Kamal has a heavy vibrato, which I find hard to take. It also means the voices don’t blend as well as they might. One of the Hungarian songs, ‘Hej, Jancsika, Jancsika’, is one of Hungary's most popular folk songs and begins well but outstays its welcome. As does ‘Hava Nagila’, another warhorse, which feels like nine minutes of vibrato torture. It was probably fun if you were there.