DakhaBrakha @ WOMADelaide, Botanic Park, Adelaide 8 & 9/3/2024

A DakhaBrakha performance is more than just the rhythms – they have the ability to combine theatrics with ornately designed costumes and very high fur hats, challenging and unsettling projections, and tight musical arrangements and harmonies.

There was a time when their musical genre was comfortably defined as ethno-chaos. That was in their formative days, twenty years ago when these performers from the Dakh Theatre were brought together for the mystical Ukraine projects by the visionary theatre director Vlad Troitsky. They entertained the heady crowds during the 2004 Orange Revolution when Ukraine was full of optimism with the Ukrainian pro-democracy and pro-European movement having overturned corruption and vote-rigging by a pro-Moscow presidential candidate. DakhaBrakha were also heavily involved in the 2014 Maidan Revolution that overthrew the pro-Moscow Ukrainian President Yanukovych after he reneged on Ukraine’s desire to forge closer ties to the European Union. Their previous Australian performances coincided with these tumultuous political events in Ukraine and their music reflected the chaotic frenzy that accompanied the optimism and hope in the wake of the popular victories over corruption and despotism

Ethno-chaos aptly described DakhaBrakha’s music then – it was wildly exciting, mesmerising and mystical, melding soulful Ukrainian folk with the jazz and trance sounds that typify World Music. Their music was deeply grounded in the ancient village with poly-rhythms and exquisite harmonies. It was playful and optimistic.

Come 2024 and their music still has an element of playful optimism and innocence. But their concerts now bear the heavy burden of a shattered innocence destroyed by the experience of a brutal war of aggression waged by the invading Russian army. The lives of every single member of DakhaBrakha have been shattered by this unconscionably brutal war. Bombs have fallen in their respective neighborhoods and they have lost nearest and dearest friends in this unjustified war. They were cultural ambassadors in their previous visits; now they are unashamedly cultural warriors fighting for justice and fairness. They are a voice for the oppressed and the displaced, for those whose lives have been shattered.

And their message is powerfully effective. I stood in the swirling crowd among a group of young Ukrainians who have been displaced by the war and have sought refuge in Australia. Tears were rolling down their fragile young cheeks, emotion swelling up inside as DakhaBrakha’s music spoke to them personally and powerfully.

Vorotaryk (The Gate Keeper) is a playful children’s folk song that in 2024 embodies the lives of the children whose innocence has been shattered by this war. The messaging is clear as the projections on the WOMADelaide stage send a powerful statement during and after the song – “19,000 Ukrainian Children Kidnapped and Deported to Russia. Russia is a Terrorist State.”

Their set starts with the pounding percussion of Tataryn Bratyk (my Tatar Brother) – an homage to the Crimean Tatars whose lives have been destroyed by the russian annexation of Crimea.

This is followed by the song that has given the band international stardom and exposure – Shoz z Pod Dubom (Under the Oak Tree), a song used by David Beckham to promote his merchandise, as well as by the television series, Fargo.

Then comes the very cheeky Karpatsky Rap (Carpathian Rap), a song that has elements of hip-hop, trance and rap with a hypnotic piano, cello and accordion hook. Vesna (Spring) has the band members making a variety of bird calls in this very playful song that draws deep into the optimism of rebirth that accompanies spring.

It is important to note that these songs do come with a message of rebirth, hope and optimism as DakhaBrakha’s set of innocent playfulness finishes with the projected message – “Ukraine Will Win.”

The songs of experience start with Rozhdestvo and projected images of Ukrainian motanka dolls that are uniquely bound together without using a needle or scissors and which serve as a talisman of human destiny that cannot be pierced or cut. These dolls don’t have a face – this way they have an every man universal quality. At first the projected dolls reflect a peaceful and mystical destiny but their quality becomes agitated as they are called to arms to protect peaceful innocence.

This powerful message is taken to the next level as a projection loop of peace doves morphs into war planes during the song 9 – Nedilechok.

Subliminal messaging becomes overt during Plyve Choven, a song of the World War 1 Ukrainian Freedom Fighters, the Sichovi Striltsi. Plyve Choven was made famous by the Detroit Ukrainian Bandura Chorus, and known for its sweet lilt. In the hands of DakhaBrakha it becomes a thumping, pounding call to arms with projected images of Ukrainian crowds halting Russian tanks in the first days of the invasion. The song is also interspersed with visceral images of Ukrainian cities being bombed, and of the young and the old, women and men donning military uniforms to protect the peaceful destiny of Ukrainians and to stand up to bullying military aggression.

After twenty years of performing in some of the biggest concerts in the world including Glastonbury, Coachella, Bonnaroo, Sziget and a score of WOMAD international performances, DakhaBrakha know how to work a crowd. They finish their set with the beautifully evocative, indie-folk inspired, Baby that has sumptuously rich overlaying harmonies; and they invite the massive crowd to “stand with Ukraine” and light up their mobile phones in a swaying sea of support for Ukraine’s struggle against this unjustified war of aggression.

And the final projection says it all: “stop putin. Stop War.”

For DakhaBrakha, their art is both a mirror held up to reality and a hammer with which to shape awareness.

They entertain. Enormously. And they prick the conscience of every single audience member.

WOMAD Review By Bob Becker