Nature’s Live Streaming

Listening Post 292. Air, time, energy, life, blood, words, water: They all flow and they all play roles in the trances, mysteries, ancient rituals, sharp insights, drama and delight of Siostry Rzeki (River Sisters), the third album by the Polish women’s trio Sutari. In eight songs, Basia Songin, Kasia Kapela and Zosia Zembrzuska explore nature, freedom and femininity while expressing themselves in endlessly creative combinations—weaving traditional and experimental threads, mixing rolling polyphony, melodic recitation, whispers, shouts, lamentations, strings, drums and household percussion into a folk-modern aesthetic. Their constant movement demonstrates that, for these explorers, going with the flow means not relaxing but navigating waters tranquil and turbulent; it also illuminates why Nature is always Mother rather than Father. Offerings of varied value adorn Nurt (Flow, video 1), an adaptation of a traditional wedding song coupling stereotypes about a woman’s age (with stages defined as “maidens, wives, widows and old crones”) and time-dishonored superstitions about menstruation. Strength and determination are at the heart of Kośniczki (Women of the Harvest, video 2), holding up the hardy mowers of Poland’s meadows as models for women in every generation who conquer fear and break free of limitations. Sutari’s website refers to rivers as “Mother Earth’s veins” and in A woda (But Water, video 3) the women meditate on the world’s life source and most elementary streaming service. Łado presents an exquisite paradox: The artists describe the song’s core message—alternately translated as “and who will unbraid my hair?” or “and who will unravel my scythes of dew?”—as open to interpretation (video 4). Sutari can be soothing, dizzying, enchanting and foreboding and River Sisters has so many floating parts it’s easy to imagine how it might have foundered. Yet steadily it sails, proving that the best art, product of human invention, can feel deeply, even eerily, natural. (AAUU Records)

Sutari: Siostry Rzeki / River Sisters
Basia Songin: Vocals, wolf bass guitar, drums, everyday objects
Kasia Kapela: Vocals, violin, kanklės, everyday objects
Zosia Zembrzuska: Vocals, violin, drum, everyday objects

Notes. 1) Though the women of Sutari sing in Polish, they take their name from a Lithuanian word meaning “harmony” or “consonance” and from the traditional, polyphonic Lithuanian songs called sutartinės. 2) Zosia Zembrzuska left Sutari after the recording of Siostry Rzeki and was replaced by Asia Kurzyńska.

Nurt / Flow
Lyrics: Sutari, Traditional/Music: Sutari

(From the Polish lyrics)
maidens get dresses
a bathrobe for the wives
simple furs for the widows
sheepskin coats for the old crones 

maidens get carriages
britzkas for the wives
simple carts for the widows
and broken buggies for the old crones 

maidens get palaces
manor houses for the wives
simple huts for the widows
pigsties for the old crones 

maidens get white bread
sifted sourdough bread for the wives
wholegrain bread for the widows
bran bread for the old crones 

maidens get sturgeon
herring for the wives
small fish for the widows
and little frogs for the old crones 

maidens get roses
lilies for the wives
the more lousy flowers for the widows
nettles for the old crones  

these days fruits dry grass wilts
and when iron touches them it rusts
these days air becomes dark
and even the dog gets rabies and rages

Kośniczki / Women of the Harvest
Lyrics & music: Sutari

the harvest women stand afraid of the meadow
harvest women don’t stand don’t be afraid of the meadow 

the harvest women stand afraid of the water
harvest women don’t stand don’t be afraid of the water  

the harvest women stand afraid of the fire
harvest women don’t stand don’t be afraid of the fire  

the harvest women stand afraid of the darkness
harvest women don’t stand don’t be afraid of the darkness
you will lighten it  

the harvest women stand afraid of the frost
harvest women don’t stand don’t be afraid of the frost
you will keep it away 

the harvest women stand afraid of the storm
harvest women don’t stand don’t be afraid of the storm
you will go past it  

the harvest women stand afraid of the blade
harvest women don’t stand don’t be afraid of the blade
you will dull it  

the harvest women stand afraid of their lot
harvest women don’t stand don’t be afraid of your lot
you will escape it

A woda / But Water
Lyrics & music: Sutari

air air wind
blows braids unbraids
I braid 

I weave
and hair and hair
and words and words and words
my breath my breath your breath
on the air are carried, is carried
darkens 

and the earth
heaves lifts up
uplifts offers up offers up
no need no need no
need so much so
much not much
needed 

but water 

and river and trees and grasses and leaves
all that all that
flows here
flows here flows
from way back when
I reach the forest
the forest the forest
I breathe 

and the sea and the sea
maybe
I can’t and I flow don’t flow
and it flows 

but water
your voice my voice
I’m here I am
I’m scared I’m not scared 

but water

Łado
Lyrics: Traditional/ Music: Sutari

and who will unbraid my hair?
Oh lado lado

a któż moje kosy rosy rozpleci
oj łado łado