DakhaBrakha: Live Soundtrack for "Earth"

DakhaBrakha is a music quartet from Kyiv, Ukraine. Their “ethno chaos” sound spans years of performances prior to Russia’s 2022 invasion, but war is in everything now. They masterfully blend Ukrainian traditional music with influences from around the world, resulting in an unexpected new music.

They are troubadours, activists, and educators. Though their name means Give/Take in the old language, DakhaBrakha is new Ukraine, both pre-colonial and post-Soviet, working within a global network of art and music. They aim to help audiences see Ukraine not as a monolith, but as a cosmopolitan culture that takes in other cultures  and gives in return. 

In addition to their own performances, DakhaBrakha also performs their original live soundtrack alongside a screening of the classic 1930 film “Earth” by Aleksandr Dovzhenko that is considered to be one of the most important films of the Soviet era.  Dovzhenko is a master of composition, and the film—with its intense close-ups and the impressive expanses of the landscape—is a passionate tribute to the countryside, to nature, and to the people that work on it.