The Rumelia Collective is Sitara Schauer, Nicolle Jensen and Alysha Shaw, as well as Willa Roberts and Hayriye Büsra Solak (not pictured).
The music of the Balkans and Middle East will swirl and drone throughout San Miguel Chapel when the Rumelia Collective takes the stage Saturday in Santa Fe.
Rife with drones and set in odd time signatures and tonalities, this Balkan gypsy folk music sounds exotic to western ears. The group sets its five-part vocal harmonies against guitar, violin, accordion, mandolin, lute and percussion.
“It brings back this quality of song from a different time and place,” group member Alysha Shaw said. “It’s different from country to country and region to region.”
The performance will span music from Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Russia, Serbia and Turkey.