The first thing to ask a Ukrainian at this time is if he and his family are in a safe place and, as far as possible, healthy. Marko Galanevich, a member of the Ukrainian world music group DakhaBrakha, answers the question soothingly, but adds something else. His wife is in France, he told K, due to her commitments to her own musical group, the Dakh Daughters, and their two children are with her. “And we are in Poland,” continues Galanevich, “because as a band we decided to be as effective as possible for our country and help it by giving as many concerts as possible.”

Their mission began about twenty years ago when three women in the group, ethnomusicologists Irina Kovalenko, Elena Tsybulskaya and Nina Garenetskaya, began to traverse their country from end to end to record its traditional songs. Returning to Kyiv, they met with the artistic director of the independent theater “Dah” Vlad Troetsky, who introduced them to Marko Galanevich with the aim of creating a group that would perform music at the theater’s performances. Galanevich was an occasional actor and studied philology instead of ethnomusicology. But he grew up in the countryside, next to people who carried old songs and Ukrainian traditions. “I was inspired by these traditions, I bathed in them,” says Galanevich, “and if in childhood I did not understand the value of a folk song, then I understood it as an adult when I entered the Dakh Theater and met Troetsky. . He helped create the band and inspired us to experiment with the national song.”

What experiments? If not, interesting. In the album “Na Dobranich” (2005), DakhaBrakha combined polyphonic Ukrainian songs with Japanese percussion and more. By Na Mezhi (2009), the Balkans, Africa, India and Western currents such as pop and minimalism were added to the mix. In The Light (2010), the group even dabbled in hip-hop, with accordion and cello playing the dominant role. In the latest “Alambari” the band seems to have digested all of the above cultural “give and give”: after all, that’s what the band’s name means. And while their style has been described as ethno-chaos, Marko Galanewicz adds to what looks like post-Soviet Ukraine’s attempt to discover its heritage, redefine it, and present it to the world: “We love it,” he says, “putting Ukrainian folk song in different colors. Put him in unusual positions. Let’s see where he can go.”

How does he comment on the conviction of Vladimir Putin and his associates that Ukraine, and hence its culture, does not exist? “Our very existence proves that their words are false,” Galanevich replies. “We prove it every day with our work. But what can we say? Russia is indeed an imperialist country and Putin wants to be a great emperor. He wants to destroy countries that want to be free and have their own culture. This effort has been going on for a long time – our culture has been oppressed for about three hundred years. What we need to do now is continue to carry our message and spread our culture around the world. And the fact that we are fighting and will be able to stand firmly on our feet is a miracle.”

“We love to paint the national Ukrainian song with different colors. Put him in unusual positions. Let’s see where he can go,” emphasizes Marko Galanevich.

Today, when looking for information about the band on the Internet, one can stumble upon a YouTube video of a recent performance at the El Cervantino festival in Mexico. At the end of the song “Baby”, Marko Galanevich leaves the role of the performer and addresses the audience with the words “Peace and love. Say no to war, no to Putin and Russian aggression. Support Ukraine.” People stand up, applaud him, and the question arises of the meaning of such small displays of support for a distant, war-torn country.

“Obviously, they are very important for us,” concludes Marko Galanevic. “In general, we are trying to use all possible platforms to counter this very strong enemy. And we believe that such support can really lead to our victory, because through it we communicate with ordinary people. Ordinary people are of great value in democratic countries. And we want to reach their hearts.”

DakhaBraha will perform on 7 December at the Athens Conservatory (21:00, 17 Vass. Georgiou II) and the next day at the Principal Club Theater in Thessaloniki (26:00, 26 October, 15 October).