After fleeing war, Ukrainian band DakhaBrakha back in Bay Area

DakhaBrakha has been on the frontlines of Ukraine’s cultural struggle against Russian domination for the past decade, reaching a global audience by infusing raucous traditional music from rural villages with a cosmopolitan mélange of instruments and influences.

But the folk-punk quartet didn’t expect to find themselves literally under the gun last year, fleeing Kyiv as Russian troops tried to take the Ukrainian capital on Feb. 24. When shells started falling near the Kyiv airport, the musicians scattered as they sought safety, but by mid-March they’d reassembled in France for a series of solidarity concerts.

Vocalist, percussionist and accordionist Iryna Kovalenko made her way to Hungary as the Russian army poured over the border, abandoning her car in a miles-long queue to cross the border. She eventually rejoined her husband and daughter in Seattle, where they had settled about six years ago.

“My wife and my two children are temporarily in France,” wrote Marko Halanevych in an email. Like his DakhaBrakha bandmates, he contributes on vocals and multiple instruments, including the goblet-drum darbuka, tabla, didgeridoo, accordion and trombone.

Nina Garenetska, who plays cello and bass drum, is with her family in Lviv, “the western part of Ukraine, which is quite far from the front line,” Halanevych wrote. “But still, Russian missiles fly there from time to time.”

Olena Tsybulska, who plays bass drums, percussion, and the button-accordion garmoshka, is with her family in Kyiv, “as well as the rest of the team,” Halanevych wrote. “However, we have relatives who live close to the frontline and even in the occupation.”

More motivated than ever to share their operatically intense songs, DakhaBrakha returns to the Bay Area March 8 for a Stanford Live performance at Bing Concert Hall. The quartet also performs at the SFJazz Center’s Miner Auditorium March 13-14.

Now global ambassadors for a country fighting for its existence, DakhaBrakha hasn’t been able to perform at home since the invasion. Their audiences, particularly in Europe, increasingly include fellow Ukrainians displaced by the war who are eager for reminders of what they’ve left behind.

“Often we met with them before or after the concerts, and we felt that these concerts were very important to them,” Halanevych wrote. “For some it is support, therapy. For some it is memories of home.”

Supporting each other on the road the band has become a self-contained pod that manages to deliver walloping performances while keeping one eye on the news stream from home. They know they’re in an enviable position far from danger, but anxiety about loved ones serves as both fuel and a distraction.

“More than once I had to go on stage knowing that Russia fired about a hundred missiles,” Halanevych recalled. “Will all your relatives and friends survive these two hours? Being outside Ukraine, we are in constant contact with them, monitoring air alarms, battles at the front, and the needs of volunteers.”

Marked by galloping rhythms, extended vocal harmonies, and striking instrumental textures, DakhaBrakha’s music has always evoked extreme emotions and situations. Responding to the conflict with Russia the group has added material directly inspired by the struggle, like the band’s 2018 requiem “Lament,” which is dedicated to all those who’ve died during the war.

The women tend to perform with little visible expression, but the song  “causes a wave of dramatic emotions,” he wrote. “It’s important for us that it is heard. There is also the composition ‘Boats,’ which is dedicated to all those who are currently defending our freedom, and to those who lend us their friendly shoulder.”

American audiences have certainly been lending their eyes and ears as Ukrainian culture has become more visible in the U.S. than ever before. San Jose Jazz’s Winter Fest’s “Counterpoint With Ukraine” programing, which runs through March 3, features some of the Eastern European nation’s most acclaimed improvisers. And Dakh Daughters, an all-women music and theater project from Kyiv, present “Ukraine Fire” at Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage April 24 (DakhaBrakha also plays the Freight Aug. 5-6).

Garenetska, DakhaBrakha’s cellist and vocalist, was a founding member of Dakh Daughters, and both ensembles grew out of Kyiv’s influential avant-garde Dakh Theater. She’s been too busy with DakhaBrakha to tour with the Daughters recently, but Garenetska made the Hollywood Palladium performance presented by Sean Penn last June that raised $1 million for Ukraine.

Buoyed by enthusiastic audiences and words of support, they cherish their role in the struggle, knowing “that we are doing extremely important things for the victory of good over evil,” Halanevych wrote. “We believe that our concerts can influence public opinion, and civilized countries will be more willing and faster to help us with modern weapons.”

Contact Andrew Gilbert at [email protected].

DAKHABRAKHA

When & where: 7:30 p.m. March 8 at Bing Concert Hall, Stanford University; presented by Stanford Live; $15-$85; live.stanford.edu; 7:30 p.m. March 13-14 at  SFJAZZ Center’s Miner Auditorium, San Francisco; $30-$70; www.sfjazz.org