About

STARY OLSA is a band of mediaeval Belarusan music. It was founded in 1999 by its present leader Zmicier Sasnouski and now consists of six musicians. It takes its name from a brook in the west part of Mahilou Region (Belarus).

The band's repertoire includes Belarusan folk balladry and martial songs, Belarusan national dances, works of Belarusan Renaissance composers, compositions from Belarusan aulic music collections (e.g. Polacak Adversaria, Vilnia Adversaria), Belarusan canticles of the 16th - early 17th centuries, as well as European popular melodies of the Middle Ages and Renascence.

STARY OLSA cooperates with many knightly clubs from Belarus and Europe, museums and research centres, masters of early instruments, bands of folk, aulic, sacred and city avital music, as well as with solo
performers using old instruments.

The band's music makes it possible to restore sounds of many forgotten instruments. STARY OLSA uses for its performances maximally exact (in appearance, technology and materials) copies of age-old Belarusan instruments such as Belarusan bagpipe, lyre, husli (psaltery), svirel (reed pipe), jew's-harp, ocarina, Belarusan trumpet, birch bark trumpet, hudok (Belarusan rebec) and drums.

The purpose is to reconstruct completely (whenever possible) musical traditions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania where Belarus was the basic cultural and geopolitical part in the 13th - 18th centuries, and where there was a unique synthesis of Belarusan folk and aulic music with European musical achievements of that time. In order to revive this cultural feature the band's members mix early Belarusan instruments' sounding with all-European mediaeval instruments such as lute, rebec and flute.

Besides its own theatricalized concerts, the band performs at mediaeval culture festivals, spear-runnings and folklore festivals.

The STARY OLSA band has recorded eight albums and one musical project. The band's music is included into seven collections of old melodies performers.

Since 2003 the band’s dance collective has been working (the JAVARYNA band - the page Javaryna Theatre). During performances, it acquaints spectators with avital dance traditions.

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About | Musicians | Bio

Musicians

	Zmicer Sasnouski duda (bagpipe), husli (psaltery), vocal.
	Maryja Sharyj flute, pipe, salmiej (shawm).
	Illa Kublicki lute, cystra (citoles), hurdy-gurdy.
	Ales Chumakou vocal, husli (psaltery), cystra (citoles), salmiej (shawm), rebec.
	Andrej Apanovich drums, percussion, pipe, duda (bagpipe).
	Siarhej Tapcheuski drums, percussion.

Thanks to those who played with us:

	Kacia Radzivilava
	Kacia Pinchuk
	Axana Kascian

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About | Musicians | Bio