Marta Topferova
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Marta Topferova

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"Marta Topferova: Flor Nocturna"

Follow-up album proves Marta's no shrinking violet

Play it blind and the haunting voice of Marta Topferova suggests she is some heiress of South American and Spanish nueva cancion (new song). Yet she is a classically trained New York girl of Czech birth, steeped in the music of the Latin discs that Cuban family friends brought as gifts. Here is a laid back fusion of key new song elements, the brooding music underpinned by the compelling sound of the tiny Venezuelan four-string cuatro guitar, with occasional marimba xylophone, fruity bass and flute, violin and string arrangements that vividly recall Chile's Inti-Illimani. Indeed, the track 'Ansia' resembles a re-working of their pieces (one can imagine Horacio Salinas as her musical director).
As Topferova seductively carves her path through this rich inheritance, the treats us to two songs by seminal Argentinian folksinger Atahualpa Yupanqui. And there's a sense of divine grace on 'Dia Lluvioso'. Its opening words, "la calle mojada" (the wet street), are a direct quotation from the late Victor Jara's award winning song "Te recuerdo Amanda". With influences from Mallorca's Maria del Mar Bonet on the gorgeous 'Mar Amargo', Topferova is a fresh new voice offering delicious songs inspired by that pivotal 60's genaration.

Jan Fairley - Songlines


"Marta Topferova: La Marea"

Originally appearing in The London Times (27 November 2005)

By Clive Davis

If you were captivated by Marta Topferova's low-key date at the London Jazz Festival, you'll be pleased to hear that her record is even more stylish. The Czech-born singer has the benefit of intricate arrangements for french horn, harp and violin. As for her choice of material, she never puts a foot wrong. In normal circumstances, the idea of an eastern European vocalist devoting herself to the folk music of South America takes some getting used to, but any doubts about Topferova's sultry voice - carried aloft by the strumming of the four-string "cuatro" guitar - evaporate within seconds. In short, the most subtle and understated release to come along in quite some time. - London Times


"Canto Latino"

Originally appearing in EL PAÍS - Cultura - 09-04-2006

By CARLOS GALILEA

Marta Topferova (voz y guitarra cuatro), Yulia Musayelyan (flauta travesera) y Pedro Giraudo (contrabajo). Sala II del Centro Cultural de la Villa. Madrid, 7 de abril.

Inaudito: una mujer checa cantando en un español de acento suave canciones con ritmos latinoamericanos. En realidad, no resulta tan sorprendente si uno echa un vistazo hacia atrás. Durante los años setenta y ochenta, miles de huidos del Cono Sur encontraron asilo en países de la Europa comunista. Y en casa de sus padres en Praga, y en un disco regalo de unos amigos chilenos, la pequeña Marta escuchó a Inti-Illimani y se aprendió todas las canciones.

Marta Topferova, mujer de voz sugerente, que toca con destreza y energía el cuatro -pequeña guitarra americana de cuatro cuerdas-, estuvo acompañada con acierto por un contrabajista de la Córdoba argentina y una flautista moscovita.

Lo mejor es que no repite el cancionero más trillado de América Latina sino que interpreta sus propias composiciones: Ensueño, Corazón manchado, Semana azul... de su disco La marea. Algo tan improbable como que el folclor latinoamericano se encarnara en una joven de Ostrava ha sucedido. Marta Top-ferova hace suyo, y lo trasciende con su personalidad, el espíritu de todas esas músicas melancólicas y alegres que atraviesan América desde la Tierra del Fuego hasta el Río Grande. Porque no se trata en su caso de turismo cultural y sí de algo muy sentido, a partir de un conocimiento profundo del material con el que trabaja.

Nacida en la antigua Checoslovaquia, y residente en Nueva York desde 1996 -se cuenta en su biografía que pasó una temporada viviendo en España-, Marta Topferova se enamoró de Lorca, Borges y Neruda, y cita a Camarón, Mercedes Sosa, Paco de Lucía, Guillermo Portabales, Simón Díaz y João Gilberto, además de su aprendizaje de años junto a la colombiana Lucía Pulido.

Ofreció una briosa gaita y un alegre joropo, mano a mano con el contrabajista, demostrando cierta predilección por los ritmos de los llanos de Colombia y Venezuela. No anda muy lejos Lhasa: aquellos que la admiran harían bien en prestarle atención a esta checa, que se despidió con un tema del folclor de su país natal y con la que dijo ser una de sus canciones favoritas, Los hermanos, de Atahualpa, que interpreta sin desmerecer las mejores versiones que se hayan grabado.

Podía quedarse en una anécdota, pero Marta Topferova tiene cosas que decir. Hay promesas de buena poesía y mejor música. - El Pais (Spain)


"Marta Topferova"

"Marta Topferova is a Czech singer whose heart is in Latin American music. She dips into styles from across the Caribbean and South America - Cuban son, Venezuelan joropo, Puerto Rican bomba - plays the cuatro and sings with an elegant longing in her voice.''

- New York Times 3/19/05 - New York Times


Discography

Flor Nocturna (2006 World Village)
La Marea (2005 World Village)
Sueno Verde (2003 Circular Moves)
Homage to Homeland (2002 self-produced)
+
Women of the World Acoustic (Putumayo 2007)

Photos

Bio

Marta started singing at age eight in her native Prague, Czech Republic with the Mládí choir. Upon moving to the US in 1987, she continued her vocal and music studies with The Seattle Girls' Choir. At an early age, she sang in many languages including Latin, German, Spanish, French, Russian, Finnish and Czech, as well as a wide range of works by Brahms, Hayden, Poulanc and Pergolesi to name a few.
She toured Germany and Finland participating in choral festivals in 1985, 1986 and 1990. Her first two recordings were a collection of songs inspired by children's poetry from the Terezín concentration camp, and A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Brittain, both with The Seattle Girls' Choir.
But Marta's first encounter with Latin American music goes back to when she was six years old, she remembers her favorite album being Inti-Illimani's songs from the Andes. Her parents, both actors, had gotten the record from a Chilean friend that had come to live in Czechoslovakia in the 1970's.
So around age fifteen, when she started developing as a soloist, exploring her own style and direction as a singer, she was again completely drawn to music from Spain, Cuba and South America. She was particularly inspired by Camaron De La Isla, Paco De Lucia, Mercedes Sosa, Atahualpa Yupanqui, Joao Gilberto, A.C. Jobim, Vinicius Da Moraes, Ornella Vanoni, Guillermo Portabales, Eliades Ochoa, Benny More, Los Compadres and Simon Diaz.
Continuing in her musical calling, she first majored in music and dance at Bard College from 1992 to 1993. Afterwards, she moved to Moron de la Frontera, Spain, to study privately and further develop as a musician. She took up playing the guitar, hand percussion and now most recently, her favorite accompanying instrument, the four-string cuatro.
Her love and dedication to Latin American music as well as the folklore of Czechoslovakia, makes her a unique artist who sings in and is fluent in both Czech and Spanish.
After spending two years in Spain and the Czech Republic, she settled in New York City in 1996 and since then has been actively composing, arranging and performing her original songs as well as collaborating with other groups including Lucia Pulido and Fiesta De Tambores, Los Acustilocos, Flamenco Latino among others.
Marta has performed in many venues in New York City including Joe's Pub, The Blue Note, SOB's, The United Nations and across the United States in venues such as Scullers in Boston, The Philadelphia Museum Of Art, Jazz Alley in Seattle and The Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. She's participated in festivals such as The World Music Festival in Chicago, Tanglewood Jazz Festival and internationally at the London Jazz Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Vienna Jazz Festival, The New Morning in Paris, Bim Huis in Amsterdam, Birdland in Vienna, Notorious Jazz Club in Buenos Aires, Jazz Royale Festival in Thailand, Centro Cultural De La Villa in Madrid and many other venues in Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. She has also been featured on many television and radio programs in the US including BBC's "The World" and NPR's "Around Noon", in Spain (TV/Radio 3), Colombia (Radio W), Mexico (Fiestas Patrias), Argentina ( Radio Palermo), France (ARTE TV) and the Czech Republic (Radio Proglas, Nova & Prima TV).
Her four releases to date are: Flor Nocturna (2006 World Village), La Marea (2005 World Village), Sueno Verde (2003 Circular Moves), Homage to Homeland (2002 self-produced).