Ildikó Kali is an exceptional personality of the Slovak independent music scene.  Her musical career was started by a mythological story about a wolf woman. La Loba gathers the bones of wolf creatures and revives them with her strong singing. The message of Ildikó Kali´s songs draws blocked emotions from the depths of the soul. Her animal voice is stunning and compelling, personalized freedom and life energy. Seeing Ildikó Kali sing with a band or solo is unrestrained and embracing experience.

Ildikó Kali is an unusual singer, composer and guitarist, whose music is classified in the style of ethnic chanson. The music of different ethnicities is crucial for her artistic feeling. In additon to music, she is fascinated by mythological stories, poems, legends and ballads. Ildikó Kali was only 17 years old when she formed her first band Nirvana, inspired by the book of Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. She currently performs with her own projects in the band Romanika or solo.  She makes music to poems of various poets. As she reads, she senses which poems wants to be made into music. Her albums can be considered a musical probe into the depths of the female soul.

My musical feeling was shaped by the culture of my ancestors. My parents come from large families. Many of their members were interested in singing, playing musical instruments, but also in theater and fine Arts. My great-grandfather from father´s side had a music workshop, he was a personal piano tuner of composer Mikuláš Schneider Trnavský. His son Wiliam Schiffer was an important sculptor and medalist, who married niece of Oskar Kokoška.

Mother´s family had musicians, violin and guitar players among them. They perceived music intuitively, often meeting at grandma´s house and making music. In her household, street musicians, singing wiremen and vagrants took turns, and thus a wide range of diverse emotions. It is an inxhaustible source of inspiration for my work. In my twelve years, I heard Ida Kelarová sing, it was a magical, unforgettable experience. Open your  heart, don´t be afraid of anything and sing, was her central motto. In the international choir Apsora, which she founded, I performed under her guidance as an adult. This period was crucial for my work.

In 2018, Romanika recorded the album La Loba. The recording is a great example of the arranging skills of producer Stanislav Palúch, who contributed to it with his distinctive violins and mandolin. The French-sounding accordion of Martin Chovanec and the inconspicuous but important double bass of Roman Kraic are also decisive here. Peter Solárik plays drums and Stanislav Počaji plays guitar. The color result is enriched by the entry of Marcel Comendant´s cimbalom and the hospitable participation of Marta Topferová who plays quatro. The intoxicating and irresistible voice of the singer Ildikó Kali hovers above all. 

The album La Loba contains eleven songs. Four songs were inspired by stories from mytology, six songs touch on current social themes. One song brings fresh neoplasms of the Slovak language.

The mythological songs entitled Baubo, Butterfly Woman, Wild Woman and La Loba after which the album is named, deal with aspects of the female soul, its depths, multi-layeredness, integrity. A strong element of female potential lies in the creativity that is given to us at birth, and that we forget during our lives. La Loba – the wolf woman revives this creativity, which makes our life free and natural. The symbols hidden in the lyrics of the songs touch our uncounscious, the importance of the symbols in our lives lies in the fact that what we cannot express in our own words is expressed by our soul. Such a song affects people in a different layers of their souls and therefore can be said to have a strong spiritual character.

Six songs touch on different social themes. The song Country Usual was created at the time of the second economic crisis, the revelation fo the Gorilla case and the time of Vaclav Havel’s death. The song Brother and Sister talks about family ties, alcoholism, and family dysfunction. The four songs Gem, Moon over the Nile, Night Love, and Frog are about love and its three dimensions– eros, fileo, agape. The last song is tribute to the last Slovak alphabet letter and reminds the beauty of the Slovak language. It brings new neoplasms and original means of expression with which it enriches Slovak language. Together with the music component, it relaxes the atmosphere and colors the diversity of the concert program.

Ildikó Kali – vocal, music

Stanislav Palúch – violin

Martin Chovanec – accordion

Peter Solárik – drums

Marcel Comendant – cimbalom

Pavol Bereza - guitar

Roman Kraic – double bass