Hajda BandaPL

Founded in 2021 by violinist Daria Butskaya, Hajda Banda / Гайда Банда is a Polish-Belarusian band specialising in traditional dances and songs from eastern Poland's Podlasie region, western Belarus, and the Polesye wetlands—a cultural crossroads on the Poland-Ukraine-Belarus border. Performing exclusively on acoustic village instruments including violin, hammered dulcimer, three-row Polish accordion, and frame drum, they blend rural borderland music with their own distinctive style.

Their sound resonates across generations: a 92-year-old from Dubicze Cerkiewne calls it "like in the old days", whilst a four-year-old from Białystok describes it as "beautiful—like a star in the sky".

Their debut Hajda! (2023) won Songlines Readers' Album of the Year 2024 and the third prize in Polish Radio's Folk Phonogram of the Year 2023. Their second album Niepraudzivaya (False) (2025) was crowdfunded by 152 supporters. Nominated for Folk Alliance International's Global Folk Album of the Year, featured in Songlines' "Top of the World" and ranked third in World Music Charts Europe (May '25), it became one of Poland's most acclaimed world music albums of 2025.