Finnish-American folk duo Aallotar have been chosen to play this weekend’s Folk Alliance International showcase festival. With more than 3000 members worldwide, the annual conference is the world's largest gathering of the folk music industry and community, and one of the five largest music conferences in North America. 

Folk Alliance International takes place in Kansas City, Missouri. Established in 1989, the conference draws over 2500 artists, presenters, agents, managers, music support services reps, manufacturers, record companies, publishers, radio DJs, funders and others that work in the folk music field.

Aallotar is a transatlantic collaboration between Finnish-American violinist Sara Pajunen (Minneapolis, MN) and Finnish accordionist Teija Niku (Helsinki, Finland), whose families once lived within hours of each other in the western regions of Finland. The duo use instruments traditional to Finnish and Finnish-American folk music and sing in both English and Finnish. The duo released their debut album In Transit in March 2014. 

Aallotar will play at Roanoke on Friday February 20 at 7:00pm.