Pounding drums. The murmur of a cello. These are some sounds that go into the “ethno-chaos” that Ukraine’s DakhaBrakha creates.
“We just want people to know our culture exists,” Marko Halanevych says during a recent interview. “We want people to know as much as possible about our corner of the world.”
The quartet does far more than introduce Ukrainian music or prove it is alive and well. It crafts stunning new sonic worlds for traditional songs, reinventing their heritage with a keen ear for contemporary resonances.
With one foot in the urban avant-garde theater scene, and one foot in the village life that nurtured and protected Ukraine’s cultural wealth, DakhaBrakha shows the full fury and sensuality of some of Eastern Europe’s most breathtaking folklore.
DakhaBrakha
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 1
WHERE: The Dirty Bourbon Dance Hall & Saloon, 9800 Montgomery NE
HOW MUCH: $15-$20 plus fees atholdmyticket.com or 886-1251
“The beginning was pretty primitive,” Halanevych says. “We tried to find rhythms to match the melodies. We tried to shift the emphasis of these songs. We know our own material, our native music well, yet we wanted to get to know other cultures and music well. We started with the Indian tabla, then started to try other percussion instruments. But we didn’t incorporate them directly; we found our own sounds that helped us craft music.”
DakhaBrakha’s three female vocalists have spent many summers traveling around Ukraine’s villages collecting songs and learning from elder women in remote areas.
Like these village tradition-bearers, they have spent years singing together, a fact that resonates in the beautifully close, effortlessly blended sound of their voices.
Halanevych grew up steeped in village life, and draws on his rural upbringing when contributing to the group.
“At the same time, as we explored ethnic music, we got interested in minimalism, though never in a way that was literal or obvious,” Halanevych explains. “The methods of minimalism seemed to us to be very productive in our approach to folk. The atmospheric and dramatic pieces that started our work together were created by following that method.”