During the opening of SPRING 2022, while the world was still in shock by the attack on Ukraine, artistic director Grzegorz Reske promised the audience that SPRING would do everything to bring Ukrainian artists to that same stage as fast as possible, to give them the opportunity to report the realities of war themselves. A year later, the Russian invasion still carries on.  Some theaters have been destroyed, while others are trying to function to bring some normality to a fundamentally abnormal time. Some artists are trying to create, whereas others are serving the army. Among those trying to share their time between Ukraine and the outside world is music quartet DakhaBrakha. DakhaBrakha is playing around the world to support Ukraine: they bring a report from the front lines, as well as a message of resistance and hope, love for freedom, longing for love and sorrow of death - all topics which traditional Ukrainian culture is full of.

A concert by DakhaBrakha is the opening performance of SPRING 2023. DakhaBrakha creates unexpected, contemporary music: their specialty is “ethnic chaos”. In the old Ukrainian language, “DakhaBrakha” means “give/take”, but it is also a play on words for their place of birth: DakhaBrakha was created at the Kyiv Centre of Contemporary Art: DAKH, the most experimental theatre of Ukraine.

DakhaBrakha creates so-called world music. Having experimented with Ukrainian folk music, the band has added modern electronic rhythms to their music.  They utilize these elements to create a bright, unique and unforgettable image of the band. They hope that this image will help to open up the potential of Ukrainian melodies and to bring it to the consciousness and hearts of the younger generation, both in Ukraine and in the rest of the world. Accompanied by traditional instrumentation from different countries, the quartet’s powerful and uncompromising vocal range creates a trans-national sound rooted in Ukrainian culture.

Biography

DakhaBrakha (UKR) was created in 2004 by the avant-garde theatre director Vladyslav Troitsky. The band consists of Marko Halanevych, Olena Tsybulska, Iryna Kovalenko and Nina Garenetska, who each sing and play multiple instruments. They have previously performed in big classical venues, such as the Lincoln Centre in New York City, and at outdoor musical festivals such as Glastonbury.

In 2020, DakhaBrakha won the Shevchenko National Prize in the musical arts category. In 2009 they won the Sergey Kuryokhin Prize.