Editor’s Note: The following piece is one in a series of short stories profiling many of the performers in the 65th National Folk Festival Aug. 22-24 in Bangor.

While a traditional Russian instrument, the balalaika is not often heard on an American stage.

But that’s about to change when the The Volskaya Russian Trio of Brooklyn, N.Y. bring their Russian folk music to this year’s National Folk Festival.

The balalaika is a triangular-shaped, stringed instrument that is played with a pick. It is just one of the three main instruments used by the group, which is made up of Tamara Volskaya, her husband, Anatoliy Trofimov, and Leonid Bruk. Volskaya plays the domra, a four-stringed instrument from the mandolin family, Trofimov plays the bayan, which is similar to an accordion, and the contrabass balalaika belongs to Bruk. The size of a bass violin, the contrabass balalaika has three strings and is played with a pick.

“I think that we are unique in America because we carry Russian folk traditional tunes with professional level arrangements,” Volskaya said. “It is not just melody and accompaniment.”

The group performs wearing traditional Russian costumes, embroidered with Russian-style designs such as roosters and flowers.

The trio, which formed three years ago as a sort of subgroup of the five-member Russian Carnival Ensemble, has never performed in Maine. But its members are looking forward to playing at another folk festival.

“Last time, I remember I was very excited to meet the different kind of groups all around America,” Volskaya said. “It gave me lots of ideas about forms of playing – different groups that consist of mandolin, banjo, fiddle and some Irish instruments – music that has great deep folk traditions around the world.”

By Aimee Dolloff of the NEWS Staff

The Volskaya Russian Trio performs at 1:45 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, and at noon Sunday, Aug. 24, on the Heritage Stage.