dakhabrakha

#music #artist #ukrainian #worldmusic #folk #🌲

listening stats

as of october 12th, 2024, dakhabrakha is my #2 most listened artist of all-time with 4,713 plays, as tracked on last.fm.

about

how they describe themselves:

DakhaBrakha — is world-music quartet from Kyiv, Ukraine. Reflecting fundamental elements of sound and soul, Ukrainian «ethno-chaos» band DakhaBrakha, create a world of unexpected, intimate and new music.

sometimes they also refer to themselves as exploring "avant-folk" styles. i see them as having very wide range of moods, but carrying an almost "folk-punk" essence in their sound. they make music that's intentionally imperfect, bringing a kind of chaotic movement that is still able to cohere and create tremendous harmony and beauty that can lead us to previously unimaginable - soft, powerful, loving, heart-wrenching, gut-punching and most of all - alive places.

i had never heard of the term "world music" (though i was listening to some of it), and much less heard of it interpreted through the lens of ukrainian "ethno-chaos". a few of their songs may sound/look at first look like some common neo-folk with some quirks/drops of unexpectedness here and there that make it "fun", but if you listen to it, really, openly and attentively, especially their more unconventional songs, i'm convinced there's some ancestral, mushroomy alchemy there.

songs like "buvayte zdorovi", "please don't cry", "tjolky" carry so much weirdness and aliveness in them... the band isn't afraid to go from lullabies (kolyskova) to very intense, gut-punching stuff (specially for you) - in this song, for example they were able to pick apart my soul's angst and express it in ways i didn't know i wanted to express.

and even some of their "standard" songs (which aren't standard by any other means at all) like "yahudki"/"dibrova" (often played together), "vesna" or "oy za lisochkov" carry so much soul in them. plus their more recent jazzy stuff is so gooood... aaarrghhh, so much to love and talk about. :) so i'll keep it short.

i find them both traditionally honoring and boldly subversive. very unique, very beautiful, very metamodern.

from: the evolution of my weird relationship with music & the origins of my occult references

some very cool random thoughts/comments from youtube:

"mesmerized and enlivened by them at once"
"Confused. Alarmed. Aroused. Joyous. Fascinated. The 5 steps of the DakhaBrakha experience."
"Imagine going to work at morning, without any life motivation, and some folk loving people just start dancing in the middle of nowhere."

yeah, so... i really like them :)

playlists

as i've listened to them, i started creating playlists based on my own perception of the songs' primary mood, so i could at least know a little bit what to expect. 😅 some of the songs are featured in more than one playlist.

spotify playlists:

i also created a few playlists specifically for rituals, so they have a sense of narrative/progression in them.

youtube playlist:

alchemical analysis of their sound / how i experience them:

a playlist i created collecting songs that highlight each member's "superpower": dakhabrakha - personal powers

"where's your power?"

the playlist is in order:

marko (male) - tjolky, specially for you - street/hip-hop, looseness/raspiness, intensity/realness (wind/earth)

olena (drums) - dibrova, oy ishov chumak, ya siv ne v toy litak - head voice, vulnerability/openness, elegance/delicacy (wind + water/fire)
-> back energy, mastery through surrender/non-control

iryna (piano, accordion) - oy za lisochkom, plyve choven - riffs, endurance, strength (earth/fire)
-> frontal energy, anchoring

nina (cello) - oi upav snizhok, at the end of "baby" - belting, expansion, depth (fire/water)
-> diagonal energy, unique, pierces through

(the order of the elements indicates what i feel as primary/secondary amongst them)

other loose notes

articles:

quick interview in which they share some of their references: https://mouthingoffmagazine.com/a-chat-with-dakhabrakha-ukraines-biggest-folk-band/?fbclid=IwAR01d9F_q3bujilZCkDDNnxhZfs3H2OAZl9raF3QgSZWDAagRRR8vyVo6lM

a deeper analysis of the band and their music, from a slightly more technical standpoint: https://mouthingoffmagazine.com/dakhabrakha-ukraine-world-music/

i also really like their design/branding. see their website for reference: https://www.dakhabrakha.com.ua/en/music/

spotify's recommended related playlists ("more like dakhabrakha"): organica, dark & stormy, deep dark indie, classical x, terra incognita, steampunk, the others, track IDs, oceanvs orientalis

idea: dakhabrakha ritual/mc experience? (guiding people through soundscapes. bridging the inner and outer through theatrical/role-play journeys)
-> e.g.: vesna = will you honor the winter, accept it and let the spring come?

see also: even more specific notes on dakhabrakha's music production: music production references