A Selective Guide to the Arts in Los Angeles

DakhaBrakha will perform at Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz on Dec. 7. / Photo courtesy of TRK

Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz (TRK) presents Ukrainian punk-folk quartet DakhaBrakha in concert on Sunday, Dec. 7, at 7:30 p.m. DakhaBrakha is an award-winning Eastern European ethno-chaos quartet, driven by drums, cello and vocals from members Marko Halanevych, Olena Tsybulska, Iryna Kovalenko and Nina Garenetska. The world music event is part of DakhaBraka’s current U.S. and European tour. At the crossroads of Ukrainian folklore and theatre, the group’s musical spectrum spans a range from intimate to riotous, mining the depths of contemporary roots and rhythms.

Culture Spot LA readers can win a pair of free tickets to Sunday’s concert. Email editor@culturespotla.com with “TRK” in the subject line to be entered in the drawing.

The name, DakhaBrakha, means “give/take” in the old Ukrainian language. Created in 2004 at the Kyiv Center of Contemporary Art “DAKH,” by theatre director Vladyslav Troitskyi, DakhaBrakha experiments with Ukrainian folk music, with added rhythms from the surrounding world. Accompanied by Indian, Arabic, African, Russian and Australian traditional instrumentation, the quartet’s astonishingly powerful and uncompromising vocal range creates a transnational sound rooted in Ukrainian culture.

All four DakhaBrakha members are graduates of the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts. The group has played more than 300 concerts and performances and has taken part in numerous international festivals all over the world, including performances in Ukraine, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Austria, Slovenia, Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Belarus, Georgia, Hungary, Poland, China, Australia, the United States, Canada and Columbia.

Fresh from lauded appearances on Prairie Home Companion and at Bonnaroo, the group has been touring the U.S. and Europe this autumn. Rolling Stone dubbed the band’s recent Bonnaroo appearance the “Best Break Out,” gushing that DakhaBrakha had “one of the most responsive crowds of the weekend.”

The show will take place at Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz, the innovative performance space at Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles, 10361 W. Pico Blvd., LA 90064 (310-286-0553). Tickets are $35 for adults and $25 for students. A no host bar will be available. For more information on this event, please visit TRK’s event page here and the Facebook Event Page here. Tickets are available online here. To learn more about Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz, please visit https://www.theatreraymondkabbaz.com.