DakhaBrakha Today

Oh, look.  A video of a performance by the Free Ukrainian band DakhaBrakha from February 2018 (almost exactly one year ago).  Speaking as we've been about unusual vocal techniques and harmonies, and non-traditional musical heritages, it's inevitable that DakhaBrakha will come up in the conversation.  We don't know anything about this performance, because all the commentary on YouTube is in Ukrainian and uses the Cyrillic alphabet.  We don't know where this performance was, but all the masks hanging on the wall makes the venue look like Game of Thrones' House of Black and White. But despite the lack of any English-language explanation, it appears that the band has been through some changes since we saw their revelatory set at Bumbershoot in 2014 and even since their 2017 KEXP live performance. 

First and most notably, it appears that the former costumes are now gone. No more "big hats," at least in this performance, but with no audience present, it's hard to tell if this is just an intimate little jam session or an indication of what their performances are like today.  After five-plus years, the pseudo-ethnic outfits might have come to be seem as schtick to the band, or even a distraction to the music itself, so we have no objection to them dressing as "regular" persons (although the big hats were pretty cool . . .).

Also, they're no longer a quartet but performing here as a trio.  Again, we don't know if this is a "one-off" event or if this is the band as they're touring today, but the former third vocalist and occasional pianist is not with the band in this performance.  

And their drummer now has a fuller kit than the single tom-tom of before.

But the good news - the terrific news, really - is they still sound just as great, just as original and just as startling, as before.  Part of the enjoyment of a DakhaBrakha concert is one often has literally no idea of what's going to happen next, and DakhaBrakha continue to surprise (check out the "trumpet" solo at the 3:00 minute mark).  They still bring it, and we still experience a big dose of sequential-system endorphins as our brains process their ever-unfolding patterns and musical references.  

Back in Seattle in 2014, DakhaBrakha first blew our minds and we regret that our paths have not crossed since then,  Hopefully, if this is in fact a somewhat pared-down version of the band, they might be able to tour more widely and even play the American South some day.