The members of the Warsaw Village Band may resemble punk rockers, but they're actually outlaw neo-preservationists of the most vital kind. Dedicated to giving ancient music from the lowland Mazovia region of Poland a welcome shot in the arm, this young Polish group presents mostly traditional music with a distinctly modern edge. Its mesmerizing sound simultaneously startles and satiates. Formed in 1997, the band began to receive international recognition a year later after winning the "New Traditions" Polish radio competition. To an authentic mix of 16th-century Polish szuka (knee-violin), cello, dulcimer, hurdy-gurdy, baraban drum, frame drum, and vocals, the band adds some techno, a little trance (which existed millennia before synthesizers and strobe lights were conceived), some topsy-turvy turntablism, and an untamable love of life. Two drums create hypnotic rhythms, while vocals are performed in a special 21st-century version of "white voice" technique (similar to open-voice throat singing) that drives the power and passion of Polish music straight to the gut. The result is a unique music that the band sometimes calls "bio-techno" or "hip-hopsasa" (a traditional invitation to jump, i.e., "Let's dance!").

The band brings its mix of folk-dance melodies, ballads, and rural songs to Oakland for the first time on Tuesday at 8 p.m. in the Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, 1330 Lakeshore Ave. The show is presented by Kitka, our own outstanding Eastern European vocal ensemble (see Kitka.org or call 510-444-0323).

Both live and on its two CDs, the band produces one raw, thrilling sound after another. Its recent World Village CD, Uprooting, features guest appearances by Janina and Kazimierz Zdrzalik, teachers of metaphysical songs' trance melodies and traditional dances; the Lipsk Women's Choir, whose sound and repertoire reflect a melding of eastern and western Slavic cultures; and the Marian Pelka Band, whose senior members create ecstatic, trance-inducing music. With luck, the evening will include "When Johnny Went to Fight in the War," the band's original lament against war, aka "humanity's stupidest invention." Certainly the ancients would stomp their feet in approval.

-- Jason Victor Serinus