Over the weekend, hundreds of bands performed at Treefort Music Fest, showcasing musicians coming from all corners of the world.
For the Ukrainian band Dakhabrakha, sharing their eclectic blend of traditional folk sounds and world beats with audiences abroad has taken on new meaning since Russia invaded their home country two years ago.
Wearing black traditional Ukrainian garb and tall wool hats, the four musicians played the main stage on the last day of the festival, bringing the house down with their polyphonic singing and punk sounds they call “ethnic chaos.” The group from Kiev started playing two decades ago as an avant-garde art project. Today, the band still sounds like nothing else out there.
Speaking after their performance, vocalist, percussionist and accordion player Marko Halanevych said when they tour abroad they want their audiences to understand their country is still very much at war. Halanevych explained that while they want to connect with the people they play for around the world, their heart is always back home.
They often play shows after hearing news of bombings and are constantly checking their phones for messages from their loved ones backstage. Irina Gorban, the band’s manager interpreted.
“We live in this reality all the time and people in Ukraine live in this reality,” Halanevych said. “We really want people around the world not to forget about this.”
As Dakhabrakha played on Sunday, messages like “Ukraine will win” and “Russia is a terrorist state” were displayed on giant screens behind them. During one song, they showed a montage of black and white images of war torn cities. In another they showed cellphone videos taken on the frontline by Ukrainian soldiers.
“It’s a big honor to have these faces behind us,” Halanevych said. “We want to share it with people so they can see that it's not like some professional army. It's also artists, writers, sound designers.”
Halanevych said many Ukrainian artists have had to put their careers on hold to help with the war. A friend of theirs is a famous painter who for the last two years, has been working as a paramedic and finding ways to paint and draw while on the front.
“People still continue doing their art and have some inspiration to this, because all these big tragedies they give you, you need to find the way to express this out,” he said.
Ukrainians are still finding ways to connect with each other through art, Halanevych said.
“People want to know more about themselves, about their history, about their identity,” he said. “People really doing new music, new books, new paintings, on posters, whatever they can. It's really now a great rising of Ukrainian art inside of Ukraine.”
After months of playing in venues across the world, Dakhabrakha is playing in Seattle next, then Canada and Europe. Halanevych says their dream is to tour Ukraine again. People back home are still going to concerts, he said, even if they are often interrupted by the sound of sirens warning of upcoming air strikes.
In times of fear and uncertainty, Dakhabrakha hopes their music will help Ukrainians feel connected to their culture while also bringing awareness to the plight of their country.
“Every day can be your last day and you want to spend it with your family, with nice music, with nice art. We can see that culture can help people to survive in this big tragedy, in this terrible times,” he said.
From the Treefort main stage. Halanevych shared the band’s message of hope and solidarity.
“Ukraine became victim of Russian aggression but Ukrainian people became real heroes of resistance. We defend our freedom and right to democracy,” he said, to the crowd’s cheers. “Thank you so much and Stand with Ukraine!”
