Belarus Band Covers Beatles and Other Classic Rock Bands as Traditional Eastern European Folk Music, September 25, 2016

I had quite a day on September 25. A few hours after going to the Silver Spring Maker Faire I rested for a few hours and ate dinner. Then I headed over to the New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt, Maryland where I caught a live performance by a band from Belarus known as Stary Olsa. This band dresses in medieval folk dress and perform songs in the style of traditional Eastern European folk music. What’s really cool is that they perform songs by bands like The Beatles in this style and their classic rock covers are so interesting to listen to. Stary Olsa has gained such a following that they even have their own Wikipedia page.

This band was incredible to listen to in person. I stuck around for a bit despite the fact that I learned that The Backstabbing Couple From Hell (a.k.a. my ex-husband and my onetime friend whom he screwed around with while I was recovering from hip surgery and he married despite her severe mental illness) were also at the show. If it weren’t for the fact that I’m currently broke, I definitely would’ve purchased one of their CD’s that they had for sale at the show.

Here are couple of photos from that show, one of which you can see the band in their medieval outfits and the traditional Belarusian instruments they played at the show.

I shot a few videos of the band doing those classic rock covers. They are amazing to listen to. Here is their cover of The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night.”

They did a traditional Belarus tune that literally had people dancing in the audience.

Here is Stary Olsa’s amazing cover of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall.”

Last, but not least, here is Stary Olsa doing a blistering cover of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell”, which proves that folk musical instruments can kick ass just as much as electric guitars.