Description
Martenitsa and Mara! – Za Vas Ot Nas
CD review by Tony Smith
TN2608-1 – $25
TN180 Sep 26
ARIA award winners Mara and Llew Kiek are household names in Australian music circles.
They have been recognised for their work in education and numerous collaborations.
The title of the 2025 album, ‘Za Vas Ot Nas’, translates as ‘For You From Us’, and includes the Martenitsa Choir with soloist Silvia Entcheva.
The album continues the pattern established by Mara and Llew of combining folk tunes from Eastern Europe with fine jazz compositions.
The jazz players are Sandy Evans (saxophones), Paul Cutlan (clainert and Saxophone), Lloyd Swanton (double bass), Llew Kiek (plucked strings) and Mara (voice and percussion).
The Martenitsa Choir has 24 members as well as soloist Entcheva and conductor Mara.
The album includes several new compositions.
Sandy Evans’ contributions include lyrics by Bulgarian-Australian poet Marcia Malinova-Anthony.
Two poems by Silvia Entcheva are also set to music by Evans and by Paul Cutlan.
Then there are two compositions by Laura Bishop (of Chaika) featuring the poetry of Stefan Kozuharov.
Other innovations include settings of Bulgarian folk songs by Mara.
Sandy Evans’ interpretation of Marcia Malinova-Anthony’s verse ‘Evkalyptov Sъon’ (Eucalyptus Dream) * is a very impressive piece featuring Kiek’s bouzouki and Cutlan’s alto sax.
The sad ‘Maika I Sin’ (Mother and Son) has a chant close to a yodelling style, though much more moving than either Swiss or Cowboy types could ever be.
This arrangement by Laura Bishop of the lyrics of Stefan Kozuharov is beautiful indeed.
‘Peperuda I Gъsenitsa’ (Butterfly and Caterpillar) is a more upbeat song.
The arrogant butterfly is put in its place.
‘Sъlzata Na Klouna’ (Teardrop of a Clown) has an extremely evocative plucked string opening.
The soloist takes up the story and the clarinet completes the balance with the choir and the bass powerful throughout.
If I had to choose a favourite track – no simple task – this one has everything you could want.
‘Sbъdna Se’ (I Had a Dream – It Came True) has a ‘big’ swelling choir sound, augmented by some subtle percussion and ends as every piece should, with perfect harmony.
‘Razdyala’ (Parting or Separation) features more plucked strings, dampened.
This song by a quartet featuring Mara, Silvia, Laura and Jenny Dornan, is carried along by some slapping percussion.
Saxophones and bass have gentle, almost understated breaks, nicely echoing the quietly sung choruses.
This piece has perhaps the most interesting rhythm on the album.
Finally, it builds to an instrumental crescendo while the voices continue quietly questing.
‘Zaliubih Mamo Tri Momi’ expresses a ‘trilemma’ as a boy loves three girls.
Imagine a swirling folk dance.
‘Dimitro Sino Dimitro’ and ‘Sitno Hodi Nedo’ both contain advice from a mother to her son.
The song ‘Lelinko Kuzum Pilentse’ (Little Bird) was commissioned from late Bulgarian composer Ivan Spasov and is a tribute to his memory.
‘Devoiko Mari Hubava’ features the voices of Jenny Lin and Vicky Loomans.
Unmistakeably a Bulgarian ballad of tragedy, the clarinet weaves around the tune in a particularly evocative arrangement.
The performers acknowledge the role of Guy Dickerson with his expertise and knowledge.
The booklet slipped into the sleeve features both photographs and also attractive artworks by Richard Birmingham.
Many others contributed to this album which is sumptuous both aurally and visually.
* ъ My very basic research online suggests that ъ is a Bulgarian letter which approximately represents the short ‘u’ sound (uh).
It seems that there is no perfect transliteration.
Ed. Mara! Has three albums for sale on the Trad&Now website, all of which may be heard from time on Trad&Now Live!
The new Mara! and Martenitsa album Za Vas, Ot Nas (For You from Us) was released in November 2025 and launched at three special NSW – the Bundanoon Folk Festival, the iconic Camelot Lounge in Sydney and the Hamilton Uniting Church in Newcastle.
Recorded at Megaphon Studios, Universal Forbes St, and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, this album showcases a wealth of previously unrecorded works composed and commissioned especially for Martenitsa Choir and the Mara! band.
Composers include Llew and Mara Kiek, Paul Cutlan, Laura Bishop and Sandy Evans in addition to Bulgaria’s premier choral composer, the late Ivan Spasov.
Librettists include Stephan Kozuharov, Marcia Malinova-Anthony and Silvia Entcheva.
The Mara! Big Band exploded onto the Australian music scene in March 2022 with the premiere of their stunning new work Zashto?, which was hailed as “…a triumph and a treat…” by Sydney Morning Herald reviewer Jessie Cunniffe.
This new collaborative suite, featuring poetry by migrant and refugee writers and compositions by Sandy Evans, Paul Cutlan, Mara Kiek, Andrew Robson, Tony Gorman and Llew Kiek, was commissioned by Mara Kiek in 2019, with the support of Create NSW. Originally scheduled to tour in 2020 with the support of the Australia Council for the Arts, the project faced cancellations two years in a row because of the pandemic.
The Mara! Big Band, a 13-piece ensemble, features some of Australia’s greatest world/jazz musicians, straddling the Eastern European Gypsy Brass Band and Jazz Big Band traditions, to produce a kaleidoscope of musical colours.
Zashto? was recorded in 2022 and released as a CD in 2023. The band took to the road again in November 2024, touring Zashto? to regional NSW
