WÖR, October 28 and 30

Monday, October 28, 7 p.m.

Butterworth Center, 1105 Eighth Street, Moline IL

Wednesday, October 30, 6 p.m.

Clinton Community College, 1000 Lincoln Boulevard, Clinton IA

Hailed by WOMEX as "astonishing musicians" known for "coaxing fantastic sounds out of their chosen instruments," the musicians of WÖR serve as the latest guests in Quad City Arts' Visiting Artist Series, their October 28 and 3 area performances showcasing a band whose curiosity, passion, and talent has led to a niche goldmine of 18th-century melodies from the Flanders region of Belgium melodies, recreated in stunning contemporary arrangements.

WÖR (pronounced “were') is composed of Fabio Di Meo on baritone saxophone, Jeroen Goegebuer on fiddle, Bert Ruymbeek on accordion, and Jonas Scheys on guitar, and Pieterjan Van Kerckhoven on bagpipes, soprano sax, and musette. Together, they have released three albums in 2015's Back to the 1780s, 2017's Sssht, and 2021's About Towers, and toured in Europe, Australia, Canada, and the United States, with tour stops including at the National Folk Festival, Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, Concertgebouw Brugge, Sunfest, Shetland folk festival. In August of 2018, WÖR won the German award Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik with their album Sssht, while in 2021 the musicians were nominated for Best Live Band honors at the Flemish Folk Awards, with their album About Towers making it onto the World Music Charts Europe.

In the 1780s, the role of the radio was a carillon. Religious music inspired by popular melodies was what we now call the pop music. Minstrels gathered the melodies and wrote them down in books, often with some variations to mark their own interpretation or because of an error. The minstrels and books traveled and that’s why we sometimes find the same melodies in different countries. We could call it the DJs of the past. Just like the carillonneurs, WÖR collects banging original tunes from the 18th century and ‘remixes’ them in their own arrangements. They may not be as inescapably loud as the carillon, but you might find that these catchy tunes stay with you, no matter how far you travel. Their concerts/workshops focus on getting to know unusual instruments like lute and Flemish bagpipes: how they work, how they sound, and their backstory as well as stories and traditions of the Low Countries, the region where they come from. As WOMEX raved, "There's great life in these tunes, and the band knows how to bring that out."

During their tenure as Quad City Arts Visiting Artists, WÖR will perform two open-the-the-public concerts: at Moline's Butterworth Center on October 28 at 7 p.m., and at Clinton Community College on October 30 at 6 p.m., Both events will feature a relaxed, 45-minute performance and artist talk, and while the programs are free, donations are encouraged. For more information, call (309)793-1213 and visit QuadCityArts.com.