Celebrating their 20th anniversary, the duo Tara Fuki released Motyle (Butterflies) on the Czech Republic-based Indies Scope label. After years of studying classical music at conservatory, along with various music projects, the two singing cellists, Andrey Konstankiewicz and Dorota Barová, met in 2000. On Motyle, Tara Fuki’s sonic landscape exploration follows their 2014 release of Winna (Guilty). While Motyle fell slightly behind schedule due to the pandemic, it’s a symbolic culmination of their 20-year collaboration of searching, expressing, sharing, traveling and discovering. The duo has toured extensively throughout Europe, as well as to Central America.  In 2001 and 2007, Tara Fuki was recognized with awards from the Czech Academy of Music for their world music. In 2007, they were the first Czech band to perform at the International Womex Festival in Seville. In 2016, the duo performed at the Cairo Jazz Festival in Egypt.

While Polish is the main language of their songs, Motyle also features three tracks sung in Czech, “Kdyby,” “Dlouhý pád” and “Samoty” (meaning Airplanes).  Andrea explains, “Czech lyrics are always more of an exception in our work, because Polish with its sonic softness gives us bigger wings. However, somehow it came together, and there are three Czech songs on this record.”

Another unique item about this Tara Fuki album is its inclusion of special guest percussionist (and kalimba player) Miloš Dvořáček on six tracks. His colorings are perceptive, and they gel very nicely with the more contemplative, meditative tracks like “Motyle,” (Butterflies), “Rano” (A.M.), “Z wiatrem” (With the Wind), “Rozmowy” (Conversations) and “Dlouhý pád.” The high-voltage drumming sequence, albeit only a minute, in “Samoty” created a bit too much of a sonic surprise for my taste.

Tara Fuki’s gentle, poetic, soothing songs are often inspired by the night and dreams extracted from the subconscious. “Because,” Andrea states, “what we live through at night is completely different and often truer than what we perceive during the day.”  

The title cut is a standout track with its beautiful Polish poetic lyrics meaning: “Open the door for a moment, butterflies sleep in the windows, the sun knows you don't want to hide…”  It’s a hopeful, optimistic theme that reoccurs throughout the whole album. With its own personality and peculiarity, Tara Fuki’s impressionistic music creates curiosity as the duo presents a fascinating organic, world extension of the jazz idiom. (Joe Ross, Roots Music Report)