Come and enjoy an inspiring performance of original music with Songa. Singer/Songwriters and lifelong musicians Mario and Sherry Friedel will take you on a journey with their unique instrumental sound and soothing vocal blend. Their newest EP, released in 2022, Sunshine in the Rain, includes songs of hope and resilience with a message of love. Their 2020 Nashville produced album, Dreams Are in the Making, shows Songa’s true Americana artistry, with authentic songs in the folk, blues and country genres.

Multi-instrumentalists playing guitar, banjo, ukulele, harmonica, melodica and percussion, these artists will take you from folk to country, bluegrass to blues to Latin jazz and back again. Rooted in the Nashville songwriting tradition, you won’t want to miss their honest lyrics and pure vocal harmonies. Songa was a finalist in the 2020 and 2022 Great River Folk Festival Songwriting Contests and voted the “fan favorite” in 2020. A 2021 compilation of 7 of Mario’s songs arranged by Tom Washatka (Steel Moon Records) for Big Band Jazz in Janet Planet’s “Under the Venus Moon” was recognized on the Grammy Ballot 2021 under the category Best Vocal Jazz Album.

Mario, originally from Fond du Lac, was produced and published by Buzz Cason, Creative Workshop Studio, Nashville, TN and signed to Universal Records in 1971 as a member of White Duck, Jimmy Buffet’s first Coral Reefer Band, along with legendary Americana artist John Hiatt. Sherry is a lifelong music educator and church music director. Mario and Sherry fill out their sound as a trio with a fiddle/mandolin player at most performances.