It has become a tradition over recent years that, for Wye Valley Music’s July concert, they cut loose a little in anticipation of the fast approaching holidays, let down their collective hair and set their sights on dancing in the aisles.

This summer is no exception: on Sunday 16th July, 7:30pm, at The Drill Hall, Lower Church Street Chepstow, they are delighted to present an evening of music from the Balkan tradition in the dynamic company of Opa Rosa.

The term ‘Balkan’ has become something of a pejorative byword for fragmentation. Historically, the region straddled the fault line between Rome’s Western and Eastern Empires and, like a tug-of-love child, it has been pulled between competing cultures ever since. The geopolitical dangers of that position were brutally – and tragically – exposed in the aftermath of Yugoslavia’s fall, but Balkan music reminds us how art transcends borders. In its complex rhythms and harmonies, fusing rather than fragmenting: it’s an extraordinary and inspiring coming-together of ethnicities, religions and folk traditions and its DNA snakes far back into the distant worlds of Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire.

Bristol-based ensemble Opa Rosa featuring violin, clarinet, accordion, double bass and percussion, is fast gaining a national and international reputation and their dazzling playing captures all the joy and sorrow for which these musical styles are renowned. Their performance is rooted in a deep knowledge of Central European heritage and this attention to detail really shows in intricate melodies sent soaring over rich and nuanced harmonic structures. They promise to marry it with music from the Klezmer and Roma traditions as well: the former taking in the dance tunes and melodies of Central Europe’s Ashkenazi Jews; the latter drawing on a melting-pot of influences and probably best known to many of us in the dazzling playing of the Romani-Belgian guitarist and composer Django Reinhardt.

Advance booking is strongly recommended.

Tickets are £18 (£15 for WVM members and £5 for students 25 and under). A printed programme is included in the ticket price. To buy tickets, visit their website https://www.wyevalleymusic.org.uk and follow the links. If you have any difficulty booking, ring help line 01291 330020.