University students will be exposed to a culture quite unlike their own when the folk music duo of Bob Bovee and Gail Heil visit campus today.

The couple will be performing and holding question and answer sessions in Dr. Lucy Long’s Introduction to Folklore and Appalacian Folklore classes today. Tonight, they will perform and hold an open reception in the Chapman Learning Community at Kohl Hall.

Long is hoping the folk musicians will pique the interest of students and faculty all over campus, not just her pupils.

“It is relevant to people who want to understand music and culture today, if they want to understand the roots of where contemporary music is coming from,” Long said.

Bovee and Heil are not newcomers to the folk music scene. They have been performing together for 25 years, and share their enthusiasm for music.

In addition to their visit to campus, the couple will also play at Grounds for Thought, St. Thomas More University Parish Gym and at Mary Jane Thurstin Park later this week.

The couple will also visit classes at East Toledo Junior High School and Bowling Green Junior High School on tomorrow and Friday.

Mary Wrighton, director of the Ethnic Cultural Arts Program, sees particular significance in the couple’s visit to East Toledo Junior High School.

“Many of those students [at East Toledo] are descendants of people from the Appalacian area where this type of music is part of the history,” Wrighton said. “It’s a part of American history and American folk music.”

The Ethnic Cultural Arts Program is cosponsoring the folk music event.

Long hopes the duo’s performances will be enlightening for all who participate, proving that the art of folk music is not a thing of the past.