Saturday night saw a near-instantly sold-out crowd pack Le Poisson Rouge (LPR) for Ukrainian sensation DakhaBrakha. The room was filled to capacity with fans eager for a rare appearance from the globe-trotting, genre-defying quartet. Known at first glance for their distinctive traditional Ukrainian garb and seamless three-part female-led harmonies, DakhaBrakha needed no opening act.

At 7:30, Marko Halanevych, Olena Tsybulska, Iryna Kovalenko, and Nina Garenetska took the stage to thunderous applause. As they picked up their instruments, the room fell into an expectant hush—except for one man who bellowed, “Fuck Russia!” The audience roared in approval, and Marko responded with a smirk and a knowing nod, confirming that tonight, they were among friends.

All of DakhaBrakha’s lyrics are in Ukrainian, outside of the occasional, powerful refrain. With the band’s incredible attention to detail in their musicality, language was no barrier to the audience’s understanding. Rhythm, and sheer sonic force carried every emotive message through.

The set opened with a slow burn, a building, foreboding pulse of brush and toms. A bevy of drums were in use including the kick drum played by hand instead of foot, adding a primal intensity to the live offering. The cello served as a backbone of darkness and self described “ethno- chaos”, augmented with effects that twisted and distorted its harmonics into something beyond traditional strings. Beneath it all, a mysterious, creeping bassline that offered structure, to the mystery unfolding in front of our eyes.

As the band moved through their set, they leaned into their signature elements: seamless three or four-part harmonies, earworm call-and-response chants, an array of subtle choices—a twinkling of keys here, a bow scraping out tension there. One piece, with a grinding beat and electronic processing elements, evoked the eerie tension of the theme from Apple TV’s hit show Severance,while another pulsed with the self described “ethno-techno” energy, a stark contrast in genre highlighting their versatility. A later selection fused traditional Ukrainian storytelling with a hip-hop cadence, a rapid-fire lyrical flow that had the crowd nodding along in appreciation.

DakhaBrakha’s new material reflected the unimaginable personal weight of the ongoing war in Ukraine, with lyrics that spoke to loss,tenacity, and unwavering bravery. Between songs, the band shared moments of levity. They told the tale of a woman searching for a husband, rejecting every suitor who came her way—a classic folk theme, spun with humor. A hush fell over the room for one particularly moving dedication—"to those who defend our freedoms." The song that followed, built on a mournful distorted southern dirge, carried the weight of generations, its lyrics a declaration of unity: together we will win. QR codes with links to donate to the Ukrainian war relief efforts were splashed across the back screen, ( https://savelife.in.ua/en/, https://ptahy.vidchui.org/ennew/, https://musiciansdefendukraine.com/en) with a montage of Ukrainian soldiers highlighting the personal toll. Before the encore, a live auction was held with Marko serving as an enlivened bid caller, to support these charities—three pieces of one of a kind DakhaBrakha artwork, with one fetching a final bid of $3,500.

Despite the gravity of their message, DakhaBrakha’s lament was short-lived. Closing the night with their seminal hit “Baby”, a final song bursting with unrestrained joy. A reminder of the unencumbered love that can overcome the darkness and chaos that pervades. This tour is celebrating 20 years of DakhaBrakha, in Marko’s words “longer than The Beatles”. In that time they have become cultural ambassadors, storytellers, and above all, artists that truly understand the power that an expertly crafted musical experience can wield.

Review & Photos by: Jay Bartell

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DakhaBrakha Brings Ukrainian “Ethno-Chaos” To A Sold Out Saturday in NYC