John Daly-Peoples
Auckland Arts Festival
DakhaBrakha
Auckland Town Hall
March 14
The Ukrainian performance group DakhaBrakha which is having one performance at the Auckland Arts Festival is known for playing Ukrainian songs which display the traditional polyphonic harmonies of their traditional music. However, they give this music a contemporary, transformation referencing hip-hop, punk and contemporary dance sounds. While using traditional Ukrainian instruments their performances also derive from the indigenous instrumentation of Africa, the Middle East, India and Russia.
Their more recent music though has taken on a much more political edges as they try to counter the Russian propaganda which tries to obliterate the culture, history, and language of Ukraine.
A recent New York Times review of the group references Maria Sonevytsky an ethnomusicologist who says,
“I think one of the most powerful things that DakhaBrakha can offer is that they show both that there is a very rich past in Ukraine, and they show this by bringing together a diversity of musical practices from different regions of Ukraine, from different ethnic groups within Ukraine,” Sonevytsky says. “And they fuse them together in a beautiful way that also suggests a future for Ukraine. It gives the lie to Putin’s propaganda that Ukraine has no culture or history of its own.”
“In fact,” Sonevytsky continues, “what we see in DakhaBrakha’s artistry is a deeply heterogeneous and complex history, the inheritance of multiple imperial experiences, the long history of attempts for Ukrainian sovereignty, and they blend together these kind of fractured pasts into a beautiful whole that is not simple, and it can’t be simply reduced down to a story of one nation that is occupied by one people, but instead suggests a vibrant, if imperfect, democracy.”
A US review enthused about the performance – “How to describe the sound? A drum kit, djembe, and darbuka were all used together and individually. A cello, a couple of accordions, and harmonica, along with the varieties of sounds made by the voice – words and sounds.
It was the voices that were so phenomenal – not just used for singing. How do they get those sounds? Often high, keeping sounds. But, and this was my favourite – animal sounds. Some were made with small tools, but what about the cats? The owls? And then, to close out the song, the piercing “CAW”!
Throughout the evening, as an accompaniment, an artistic slide show. Animation, mesmerizing designs (reminiscent of folk embroidery), background photos of the war and its damage.“
New Zealand Arts Review 