Stary Olsa: Music from the Heart of Europe

The band “Stary Olsa” from Belarus performs the music that is linked to the traditional culture, history and music of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (where Belarus was a significant region of cultural and geopolitical life in the 13th – 18th centuries).

It is a diverse group of musicians. They play bagpipes, flutes, shaums, lute, rebec, tromba marina, and percussion (including wooden shoes).

The band has recorded twelve albums of traditional Belarusian ballads, martial songs, and canticles in addition to popular European songs from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Their most current album “Medieval Classic Rock,” was something crazy and new: they "covered" some modern rock songs on their primitive instruments.