I don’t know how I got here, but there’s no place I’d rather be. YouTube, through a series of weird world music recommendations (no doubt inspired by my research for the Eurovision post), brought me to this remarkable group of women known as the Amalgamation Choir. The all-female a cappella choir is based in Cyprus, and it’s directed by the remarkable Greek-Cypriot vocalist and composer Vasiliki Anastasiou.

Anastasiou’s compositions are original, but they also borrow and re-arrange traditional melodies from countries around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the Balkan peninsula. I’m going to go off the deep end here for a minute. Listening to their music, I had such a strong connection to it, it was like my body was responding independent of my ears. It felt familiar and wonderful and thoroughly female.

Boys: “I wonder why girls never go alone to the restroom”
Girls in the restroom:

– Sometimes, YouTube comments are perfection…

You can follow the Amalgamation Choir and their director Vasiliki Anastasiou on their website, and on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and even WordPress!