Ukrainians Dakha Brakha are coming to Athens on Tuesday 14 May at Fuzz Club to celebrate 20 years of a passionate artistic career. DakhaBrakha is the famous polyphonic world music quartet from Kyiv, known worldwide for its spectacular and unique shows. They came to us two years ago in December 2022 and thrilled the Greek audience with their music full of energy and richness. So they return to Greece, as the war in Ukraine is already in its third year, to give a show, as only they know how!
DakhaBrakha – Monakh
Dakha Brakha grew out of the theater, so their live performances are dynamic performances that combine spectacle and theatrical drama, the uniqueness of folk music and musical diversity, from hip-hop to blues. The program for their 20th anniversary concerts includes hits from all 6 of the band’s albums, along with new songs written during the war.
A war that is omnipresent in the lives and minds of the four band members. Marko Halanevych states: “since the beginning of the war, we feel a special responsibility. We seem to be addressing the world as representatives of our entire country: thanking for support, calling for arms, sharing our pain. But at the same time, we are projecting only a small part of our rich culture and through ourselves we are seeking to disprove Russian propaganda about a ‘one nation’.”
Every DakhaBrakha concert is an inspiring performance and it’s really hard to describe the first impression of DakhaBrakha when they first appear on stage with their tall fur make-up hats, elaborate and impressive jewelry and traditional costumes!
DakhaBrakha – Vesna
With an incredible strong stage presence, broadcast their electrifying repertoire – which includes wide-ranging vocals, accordion, grancasa, harmonica and cello. The quartet mixes everything into relaxed musical cocktails in its own unique way: Ukrainian folk traditional songs are mixed with elements of cabaret, jazz, rock, punk and hip-hop, added harmonies from Balkan music and accompanied by traditional instruments from all over the world. people. Magic!
DakhaBrakha is one of the most famous bands in Ukraine, as well as in the whole of Eastern Europe.
They were created in 2004 by the avant-garde theater director Vladyslav Troitskyi at the Kyiv Center of Contemporary Art “DAKH“- which is also the first compound of their name, Dah (Dakh). The original name of the ensemble, DakhaBrakha is derived from the words даха and браха which mean “to give” and “to take“, in the oldest Ukrainian language.
As one pronounces the name DakhaBrakha, one can hear the sound “RA” – the Sun god in ancient Egypt and also in ancient Ukraine, the sound “brama” – gates “Brahma” – the supreme god of Creation in Hinduism and finally, “ptah” – a bird, a singing soul…
Music as a festive ritual
DakhaBrakha’s music creates a kaleidoscope of feelings, stimuli and reflections. Its source, the rich and colorful folk tradition of Ukraine, urban Kyiv and local Ukrainian culture as well as other cultures.
DakhaBrakha have graced the stages of the biggest festivals around the world from the legendary Glastonbury and Sziget, Pogoda, GlobalFEST, Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and dozens more – from Mexico to South Korea. They have been featured several times on National Public Radio’s (npr) world famous Tiny Desk Concerts. And for 2024 they have prepared an extensive tour in more than 20 European cities.
DakhaBrakha: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
At the same time, they have collaborated with many musicians such as Port Mone (By), Kimmo Pohjonen Cluster (Fi), Karl Frierson (DePhazz) (Ge), Steve Cooney (IRL), Inna Zhelannaya (Ru), Kievbass (UA), Djam ( UA-Iran), David Ingibaryan (Hu).
In 2010 DakhaBrakha won one of the most prestigious awards in the field of contemporary art, the Grand Prix Sergey Kuryokhin (in honor of the genius Russian experimental artist) while in 2011 they became the pleasant revelation of the Australian festival, Womadelaide.
In 2020, DakhaBrakha won the Shevchenko National Prize (Ukraine’s highest state award for works of culture and art awarded since 1961) in the “Musical arts” category.
All music in the mixer
Having experimented with Ukrainian folk music, the band has added rhythms of the world to their music, thus creating the fantastic and unforgettable image of DakhaBrakha. Accompanied by Indian, Arabic, African, Russian and Australian traditional instrumentation, their limitlessly wide vocal range creates a supra-national sound that is rooted in Ukrainian culture yet reaches across the globe.
DakhaBrakha – Karpatsky Rap
Their music could be described as world music. But they themselves call their absolutely unique style, “ethno chaos“(“nation-chaos“) and this because it combines influences from traditional Ukrainian folk songs with experimental improvisations, the roots of which extend “chaotically”, without any inclination to classify, from Africa to Australia. The word chaos only describes the composition and production processas he per se o final sound them, it is composed, compact and thrifty.
Their singer Marko Halanevych explains the original characterization “ethno chaos”: “Our music is not just an ethnic music, it is more “ethno chaos”, that is, a mixture of different styles, genres, cultures. However, the background remains Ukrainian while the way the songs are performed has its roots in Ukrainian polyphonic songs. The girls have been studying traditional Ukrainian music since childhood. They studied ethnomusicology”.*
DakhaBrakha – Little Hare / Mermaids
As part of their studies, they visited every corner of Ukraine searching for and saving traditional songs. Returning to Kyiv, with countless hours of recordings in their luggage, they met Vlad Troyitsky, the city’s director, producer and all-around artistic persona, who introduced them to Marko Halanevych, a philology graduate and amateur actor. Somewhere around here, the idea of forming a band came together. Troyitsky himself took over the artistic direction of the newly formed project. Having these old, mostly a cappella, polyphonic songs in their possession, but also – fortunately! – excellent voices to sing them, the band members’ first decision was to dress them up with percussion from around the world, giving them thus an almost primordial ritual pulse.
As none of them were professional musicians, they had to learn to play each instrument more or less from scratch. Then, by the same process, they added other instruments like cello, accordion, flutes and others. The only instrument absent from DakhaBrakha is the guitar. With this set-up they did their first live performances in 2004.
DakhaBrakha – Sho z-pod duba (Live on KEXP)
Since then, the group continues to harness the potential of Ukrainian melodies and in this way manages to reach the hearts and touch the consciousness of the younger Ukrainian generation. A generation that now, due to the exhausting war, has a great need on the one hand to connect with its tradition and on the other hand to feel part of the rest of the world.
DakhaBrakha create a world of unexpected new music, weaving ancient Ukrainian folk melodies into a disruptive musical tapestry that embraces indie rock, pop, hip hop, avant-garde and traditional instruments from around the world.
At the crossroads of Ukrainian folklore and theater, from the eastern edges of Europe DakhaBrakha expand the scope and meaning of music and send a message of inclusion and tolerance.
A frenetic sonic feast in response to monochrome!
DAKHABRAKHA
Tuesday, May 14 2024 | FUZZ CLUB
The DakhaBrakha is:
Marko Halanevych: vocals, darbuka, tabla, didjeridoo, accordion, trombone
Iryna Kovalenko: vocals, djembe, bass drums, accordion, percussion, bugay, zgaleyka, piano
Olena Tsibulska: vocals, bass drums, percussion, garmoshka
Nina Garenetska: vocals, cello, bass drum
Art director: Vladyslav Troitskyi
You can download the promos photos of Oleksandr Kosmach’s newsletter in great detail from HERE
Also used were photos by: Andiy Petryna, Matthew B. Thompson, Olga Zakrevska, Tanya Vilchynska
Follow along the DakhaBrakha:
https://www.dakhabrakha.com.ua/
facebook | instagram | youtube
*Elements for the text on “ethno – chaos” were taken from the two articles: https://norient.com/blog/dakhabrakha
and http://www.mic.gr/thema/dakhabrakha-mystic-ukraine
Ticket Information
Tickets go on sale immediately
Prices Tickets
Presale price: 27 euro
Price at the concert box office: 30 euro
Points of Sale
Electronics: more.com
by phone 211 7700 000
more spots
Nova | Public | Euripides | Viva Spot Technopolis
Public network
Public online: http://tickets.public.gr/
Public shops
https://www.public.gr/templates/publicStorelocator.jsp
Fuzz Live Music Club
Patriarch Joachim 1
Moschato – Taurus (17778)
+30 210 3450817
[email protected]
Tags: DakhaBrakha voice Ukraine Greece
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