Ukrainian folk music band fights back against Russia in their own special way
Ukraine’s DakhaBrakha ensemble takes their country’s traditional folk music across the world to combat Russian cultural ‘assimilation’
A Ukrainian band is treating international audiences to their country’s traditional folk music, spiced up with world music and some rap, with the stated aim of aiding the struggle against cultural “assimilation” of their country by its neighbour Russia.
Ukraine’s DakhaBrakha ensemble starts the performance at Paris’ Cabaret Sauvage venue with the greeting “Good evening from free Ukraine”, before singer Marko Halanevych, cellist Nina Garenetska, keyboard player Iryna Kovalenko and percussionist Olena Tsybulska launch into the evening’s programme.
With identical traditional peasant blouses and layers of necklaces, the group’s three women could pass for sisters. Their tall black hats resembling stove pipes, however, are just fun props, with no actual roots in Ukrainian folklore.
“We’ve been suffering from Russia’s assimilation policy for 300 years,” Halanevych said.
After “so many tragic episodes”, added the trained philologist – someone who studies the history of languages – “it’s a miracle that Ukrainian identity, culture and language still exist”.
Much of modern Ukraine’s territory was part of the Russian empire under the tsars and then the Soviet Union following the Bolshevik revolution.
