Show Me Your Love

What is happening in Ukraine is heartbreaking and terrifying. I’m not going to go all political on you because, honestly, I don’t know enough to speak on everything happening over in that part of the world, but I will just say that my heart breaks for Ukraine, and I stand with that country. Why am I bringing up such a political hot topic in such a non-political blog? Because I spent my Wednesday night with DakhaBrakha, who are a Ukrainian folk music group straight from Kyiv, Ukraine, with both a beautiful message and beautiful songs to share with the entire world.

This was one of those highly anticipated shows for me. I didn’t cheat or listen to anything from this group before stepping foot in the always lovely Dakota on Wednesday night, but I knew I was in for a treat. On the venue’s website, DakhaBrakha was listed as “Ukrainian Punk Folk Circus Rock.” Each one of those words stirred a sense of intrigue inside of me. My mind instantly went to Gogol Bordello (a gypsy-punk band with some roots in Ukrainian music), but I had a feeling that this was going to be just a bit more artsy, given the setting of The Dakota. I buckled up as the house lights went down, but there was no buckling up that would get me ready for what was about to happen. Within just seconds, I was completely captivated, spellbound by not only the talent and beauty of this four-piece group but also by the love that they shared with the entire audience.

Bear with me while I try to describe the sound of this band. The group calls their sound “ethno chaos,” and, honestly, that’s the best way to put it. You definitely got what I feel like is a standard Ukrainian folk kind of sound throughout the performance, but you also got everything from modern techno, metal, and folk thrown in there. The lines of everything were blurred. There were moments when I felt like I was getting an almost Asian kind of flavor to some of the patterns of notes, and other moments where I felt like this epic metal-styled breakdown was afoot. Although I never got a full breakdown, I could feel my heart breaking down in a way as I watched and felt the beauty of this group, knowing that their home is under attack. It was a somber thought to have during such a beautiful and energizing performance, but one I just could not shake, and one that added this deep personal connection to this group that I had never had any previous interactions with.

I really like the instrumentation throughout DakhaBrakha’s set, but it was the vocals that sent chills up my spine. From moments of siren-like beauty to the time where the vocals felt a bit more like chants than anything else, I was transfixed, trying to figure out the meaning of each song. It was wild because there were times when I felt like I could actually understand what they were singing about, even though they weren’t singing in English, and I know absolutely zero Ukrainian. It was easy enough to tell if a song was sad or happy based on the beat, but the understanding went further than that. It’s as if you could feel when the group was singing about love and could tell, based on just the overall vibe, if that was a love for another human, a group of people, or something else. In true me fashion, I’ve backed myself into a bit of a corner with this train of thought, but I suppose this is one of those things that just can’t be put into words because, at the end of the day, it wasn’t about the words. I felt what DakhaBrakha was saying throughout their set without understanding more than just a couple of singular words, and that is probably one of the biggest takeaways of this show for me.

I liked how DakhaBrakha really immersed the audience in Ukrainian culture. Yes, you had the obvious layer of immersion that came with the music and the clear immersion that came with the traditional outfits being worn on stage, which came complete with the three women of this group wearing tall black hats made out of fur (or faux fur), which are inspired by traditional Ukrainian winter headgear, but it was more than that. There were a few moments throughout the set when Marko Halanevych would speak to the audience solely in Ukrainian. Again, I may not have understood what he was saying (but definitely felt the weight of his words), but I loved watching other people in the audience who did understand Ukrainian banter back and forth with him, if only for a second. Add in the visuals that were playing on the screens that hung above and to the sides of the stage, and you were left with more than just a Ukrainian concert; you got a Ukrainian experience, and I loved everything about that so much.

I don’t have the right words to explain everything I felt, heard, or saw on Wednesday night. I didn’t even come close to touching on all of the moments of the performance that made my heart soar or made me feel like I was floating among clouds. I don’t know enough about Ukrainian culture to mention all of the things that spoke to DakhaBrakha’s home, and I definitely don’t know enough about what’s happening over there to really speak on the political issues or why this beautiful culture is under attack. What I do know is that DakhaBrakha opened my eyes to new sounds on Wednesday night. They brought every audience member in attendance on a beautiful journey to a world that many of us will never see with our own eyes. They showed us everything from the beauty to the horror, the freedom and the oppression, the smiles and the tears, and I can not thank them enough for that.