This CD presents dance music from the late Middle Ages to early baroque, written in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Polacak Adversaria) and Western European countries.
During these works' performance, the instruments which correspond to their times, are used.

On the cover: parts of the Belarusan Dance of Macabre
of the 17th century, which is now kept
in the Bridget Convent Museum in Harodnia.
The photo is taken by photo master Z. Hierasimovic.

The Polacak Adversaria is a collection of baroque music (the scientific names are “Astramiecava rukapis” or “Rukapis № 127/56” of the Jagiello Library, modern archive signature № 10002). After World War II, a Belarusan Uniat service book from German vaults got to Poland; in 1956, it was delivered to the Library of Jagiello University in Krakow. This service book's cover had a note manuscript attached, which was found in 1962 by Belarusan professor Adam Maldzis. However, it was Polish music scientist Jerzy Golos who studied this manuscript. Since then in encyclopedias, it is he who is thought to be its “official discoverer”. The manuscript was written in the village of Astramiecava (Brest Region, Belarus), but it belonged to a bishop from the town of Polacak, and therefore it was called the Polacak Adversaria. Nowadays, the works from the Polacak Adversaria are integral parts of Polish and even German musicians.

Valancin Bakfark (1506-1576) is a lutanist and composer of a Hungarian origin. He lived in Vilnia and became one of the famous Renaissance lute virtuosi; he created a completely new lute playing technique based on vocal polyphony;
he is the author of the Galliard dance (Composition № 7).

Adrian le Roy (1520-1598) is a French lutanist, composer and publisher. He edited several compilations, including three of his own, as well as collections of tablatures for guitar and citole, which contained pavans, galliards, allemandes, branles and tourdious, as well as chansons and fantasia; he is the author of the Pasamezzo dance (Composition № 5).

The dances of Bransle les Lavandieres, La brosse and Trotto (Composition №№ 2, 4 and 9) are of a Western European origin. The dance of Drumul Draculi (Composition № 13) is of a Hungarian origin.

The Songs of Knights and Gentry of Great Lithuania

"The King deceased without heirs. His friends put the King's horse with the King's arms to go so that it could choose the next king. The horse had been roaming around the country for two months before it bowed to an old man in one village. That old man became King Vita?t, and the country ruled by him had been thriving for a long time. When he felt approaching dissolution, he ordered his musicians to play at his funeral, and after his death, when the country would be menaced, he ordered them to play like this again, and then he would succour. After his depart, in order to assay Vita?t's words, the people started to play when there was no need in it, and Vita?t came from the next world, blazed up and cursed the people. Since then there has been no rest in the country..."

A legend from the Viciebsk - Smalensk borderline
P.?pile?ski. Travels In Polesia And Other Belarusan Regions, 1852

Let's play the obliterate tunes on the early instruments, let's sing the forgotten songs in the old language - so that the ancient Heroes would awake and help us clean our Homeland!

All the songs presented here are based on the historical sources, including the written records of the 14th - 17th centuries and printed music of the 16th - 19th centuries. More detailed information can be found in the Songs' Lyrics and Comments addendum. All the arrangements, musical adaptations of the historical texts and interpretations of the early and folk music done by the Stary Olsa.

Medieval discotheque is a sort of a concert of Middle Ages' music that revives all the signs of the ways our ancestors world have a rest, i.e. old music played by old instruments, dances and lots of Belarusan beer. The medieval discotheques are organized in Miensk 2-3 times a year.

The Litvins (Lithuanians) is an old name of the Belarusans. Litva (Lithuania) is an old name of Belarus. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) is the Litvins’ state. Vilnia (Vilnius) is the capital of the old Litva. The Litvins’ treasures are the spiritual values of both local and West European origin.

The Middle Ages is a 1,000-year period of our history from the time when the Slavs came (the 6th century) to the heyday of Renaissance (the 16th century). There are the Early Middle Ages (the 6th – 13th centuries; the Principalities of Polacak, Turau and others) and the Late Middle Ages (the 13th – early 16th centuries, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania).

Song About Grand Duke Vitaut (9) is a martial song of the 15th – 16th centuries. Its lyrics were found by V.Lastouski in 1923; its music - by the Students’ Ethnographic Society during an expedition in Drysna District in 2002. “Hey, Litvins! God advises us!” is a battle-cry of the army of the Dukes Radzivils.

Holy Mother (10) is a hymn of the 14th – 17th centuries, its music was written in the 13th century, the first verses - in the 12th – 14th centuries in the Old Belarusan Liturgical language. The song’s first description dates back to Gruenwald – at the beginning of the battle, the whole army of GDL and Poland started singing Holy Mother and then plunged into the battle (Chronicle of Jan Dlugosz). Since the 15th century, this song was called Homeland Song and already considered very old. Since the 16th century, Holy Mother is the GDL National Anthem, the GDL Army would sing it before every battle, it was played during all state and martial celebrations, in the Catholic and Orthodox churches, and honouring the Belarusan Saints. On the CD, there is a reconstruction of the oldest variant of Holy Mother (the last verses and their melody were written in Poland much later). The fact that the song’s text is in the form of a verse proves that Holy Mother is a hymn, not a prayer. The song is based on the melody of a song composition that is close to folklore. The fullest text and melody were written in 1407.

The Litvins (Lithuanians) is an old name of the Belarusans. Litva (Lithuania) is an old name of Belarus. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) is the Litvins’ state. Vilnia (Vilnius) is the capital of the old Litva. The Litvins’ treasures are the spiritual values of both local and West European origin.

Renaissance is the Golden Age of the Old Belarusan (Lithuanian) art that started in the 16th century from a wide interaction of the Old Belarusan and West European cultures and ended with the "deluge", i.e. the catastrophic war in the middle of the 17th century.

Polacak Adversaria (1, 4, 9, 10) is a miscellany of the aulic chamber music of the late 16th – early 17th centuries, collected in Belarus from then popular songs and dances of Belarusan and West European (adapted for the local traditions) origin.

Battle At Vorsa (3) is a martial song of the 16th century, written to honour the battle at Vorsa (1514). According to another version, the song was written to order of King in 1614 to the battle’s 100th anniversary. The words are found by V.Lastouski in 1916, the music is folk, from M.Fiedarouski’s collections (the 19th century).

In King’s Army (6) is an instrumental performance of a Belarusan martial song of the 16th century, written to honour King Stephan Batory’s campaign to liberate Polacak. Its another title is Stephan The Waywode.

Vilnia Adversaria (11) is a miscellany of the aulic chamber music written by an unknown composer, collected in 1600 in Vilnia. Dyjamied Kata, Belarusan composer of the late 16th century, who lived and worked in Vilnia, is one of the probable authors.

Oakery (13) is an instrumental performance of a Belarusan ballad of the 16th – 17th centuries about a soldier’s heroic death.

Armed Knight (16) is a chivalresque song of the 17th century from M.Fiedarouski’s collections (the 19th century) with a typical folk melody.

?LACH is the concert album of STARY OLSA medieval band. ?LACH was recorded while some concerts of 2002 and 2003 year were held.

Old tunes revealed by long-forgotten instruments, and far-back words of languages reduced to silence long ago, are taking you into Bielarusan mediaeval burghs and castles, where the Town Hall Square's vociferance, the court ball's hubbub, pensive balladry, and elevate odes can be heard.

Excerpts from avital chefs-d'oeuvre of Bielarusan written records, such as the Lay of Igor's Warfare (in Old Slavonic; psaltery; 12th c.; anonymous author), the Song of the Wisent (in Latin; lute; 1522; Mikalaj Husouski), the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (in Old Bielarusan; bagpipe; 1588; Astafij Valovic, Leu Sapieha), and Pan Tadeusz (in Polish; hurdy-gurdy; 1834; Adam Mickiewicz), are recorded here together with the 16th century Bielarusan music - works by Vojciech Dluharaj and the Krakow Royal Library Holography. A part of the album consists of mediaeval dances' concert versions with the grandeval instruments' unwonted combinations, lute and bagpipe, psaltery and monochord, jew's-harp and mandolin, bagpipe and psaltery, psaltery and lute, and many others.

Infrequent instruments, mediaeval reels, numinous impromptus, instrumental ancientry, club recordings, and a disco-version.

In this music, there is a devout obeisance to history and unfirmamented troth to avital instruments, among which the most unearthly Belarusan instrument bagpipe is set on the highest pedestal.

Mysticism of heathen sacramentals, voices of chateaux, and the vibrant power of mediaeval melismata, interlaced with the energy, terrene malice, and great heartedness of the Belarusans" bellicose primogenitors. Pure sonal music, performed by precise copies of ancient Belarusan instruments (except for guitar and flute), is mirroring virtuosities of the gentle folks and knighthood in Belarus which had keen in war with the Russian princelings-whipcrackers far back in the Middle Ages. Songs' texts are eidetic words, taken from the Belarusan folklore and slightly changed. The music "roughness" and old instruments" timbre hues have been preserved. The First part of the CD is a pilgrimage to the early Middle Ages where one could hear evocative tunes or bagpipe, board zither, hornpipe, birchbark pipe, reed pipe, jew's-harp, drum, timbrel, etc. Such a grandeval instrument as monochord has been replaced here by hurdy-gurdy which sounds are almost the same. The other part of the album dedicated to the late Middle Ages where guitar and flute are added.

The audio play based on the novel Boat of Despair by Uladzimir Karatkievic, classic of Belarusan historical prose. The CD contains an art reading of the novel accompanied by mediaeval music. The music base consists of the band’s works taken from all the albums. The story takes place in the 16th century and is greatly filled with mystery. The main character doesn’t agree to live according with the rules and “comme il faut”, he rebels against predestination in this world, as well as in the realm of Death.