Polish group Stela perform in Portesham (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)

Polish group Stela perform in Portesham

11:00am Tuesday 26th January 2010

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CULTURAL heritage in the form of folk music is more greatly explored by the younger generations in parts of Europe than in Britain.

But that could be set to change thanks to a ground-breaking new partnership involving Dorchester-based rural arts charity Artsreach.

With funding from the Arts Council, they have teamed up with schemes from neighbouring South West counties to produce Baltic Roots, a regional tour featuring three outstanding music groups from the Baltic states.

The ensembles are Stela from Poland, Ro:Toro from Estonia and the Harald Haugaard Quartet from Denmark.

The first concerts take place in February when Stela perform two shows plus hold a singing workshop in Dorset.

Artsreach spokeswoman Delphine Jones said: “Stela is a quartet of singers and musicians fascinated with rediscovering the cultural heritage of their region of Poland.

“They play old instruments like the fiddle and pedal accordion but tilt their performances in a modern direction. These four young multi-instrumentalists interweave beautiful vocal harmonies with arrangements ranging from jazz-inflected rhythms to the drone harmonies of the Slavic tradition.”

A participatory singing workshop led by members of Stela will take place on Saturday, February 6, at Portesham village hall, from 3pm to 5pm, ahead of their evening show there at 8pm. For workshop enquiries please call 01305 269512.

For details and tickets of the Portesham events call 01305 871780. Or catch Stela at Morden Village Hall on Sunday, February 7. Call 01929 459431 for full details.

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