October 10th, 2025 — Happy album release day to Sonya Belaya’s (CRF 2024) Dacha (Ropeadope Records)! Last night, Civitella hosted a very special and intimate preview of the record which included a poetry reading by Valzhyna Mort (CRF 2023), accompanied by Dacha bassist Kanoa Mendenhall, and an acoustic performance of some of the album’s source material by Sonya and Kanoa. Attendees were also able to listen to two tracks off the album and hear from Gohar Dashti (CRF 2024), the creator behind the album artwork.
The evening represented the collaborative spirit that is at the heart of Civitella’s mission. Sonya said during the Q&A,
“I’m always trying to think about how a poet thinks about their craft, how a visual artist thinks about their craft; it makes my process way better than anything I [alone] could put forth. I learned so much about that especially from my time at Civitella.”
Similarly, Gohar told the audience of the genesis of the album art over dinner under Civitella’s pergola,
“Every time I passed Sonya’s studio [at Civitella], I would hear the music and, for me, it was blue, and I was working with blue paper. We came for dinner and we talked about themes of the garden and home together. Everything happened naturally. … It was really my honor [to make the work for the cover]. It was the energy of the place that was given to us to collaborate.”
On Valzhyna’s connection, Sonya shared that she used some of her poems in “Yazik,” a piece she had just premiered on September 20th in Brooklyn, New York, after having stumbled upon her work at the Civitella office this past February. She had come for a visit with the staff from Italy. Since then, it had been keeping her afloat.
Dacha is co-produced by Caroline Davis (CRF 2025) and includes liner notes by Amir ElSaffar (CRF 2022). Order the album now at https://www.sonyabelaya.com/.
