After four months of revolution, the country’s young performers are motivated by a desire to help their country live in peace. Kyiv Dakh Daughters band just came back from their concert in Moscow and say now they see themselves as peacemakers.
“I know that might sound too heroic, but that’s how it feels now,” says Ruslana Hazipova, one of seven Dakh Daughters members. The band was formed two years ago after a performance of Kyiv Dakh Theater, when seven Dakh actresses simply thought they “sounded good together.” The band defines their style as “freak cabaret.”
Band members say they still do not have a single studio recording and ensure their music is much better live. But after only two dozen concerts, many of them at Maidan, the band’s fan number in the thousands.
“Their folk motives are not cliché, which is very rare. Besides that I believe their song Gannusya can actually unite east and west,” says Oksana Levkova, a Dakh Daughters fan and Kyiv civil activist. And even people in Russia seemed to feel band’s peacemaking prowess.
“In Russia people came to the concerts with huge bouquets of roses because of our famous song Donbass Roses,” Melnyk says, recalling a March show in Russia, adding that they felt absolutely no aggression. Still, the question of going to Russia or not was critical and very touchy, the women agree, especially after the Russian annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea on March 16.
“We almost lived at Maidan, we were there at all times, now we boycott Russian goods and then go to Moscow? It was a difficult decision,” Melnyk explains. “Our message there was – there is no war in our hearts.”
They don’t regret the decision, the performers say, just as they never regretted the band’s involvement in Maidan events. The band first played at EuroMaidan when there was no stage yet, on Nov. 28, near the Stella independence statue on Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti. From then on, the musicians say their motto during the protests was “do what you can where you are with what you have.” All seven worked as volunteers at information centers, helping in the kitchen, bringing tires or medicine to the front lines and singing, of course. “Sometimes we were not sure whether this or that was the right moment to sing, sometimes could not decide on the repertoire, but we never thought we should not be there,” Melnyk says.
Dakh Daughters performed both on the big stage of EuroMaidan and on Hrushevskoho Street, Maidan’s January hotspot, to support protesters and even trying to entertain riot police. “No reaction though,” Melnyk smiles, but says playing for protesters went even better than planned. “We wanted just to sing a bit for self-defense fighters there, but people gathered and almost a real concert happened,” she recalls and smiles at the memory.
Just one of hundreds of beautiful, intimidating, scary, sad and inspiring memories Dakh Daughters got from four revolutionary months. Vitaliy Medvedev, one of the Maidan self-defense fighters says he heard Dakh Daughters at Maidan, but couldn’t come closer to see them. “Then I saw the video and they are amazing,” he says. “They are like witches in the process of some magical ritual, very cool.”
A classic Dakh Daughters performance includes a lot of theater, up to 15 musical instruments on stage and stage make-up, however the singers say they had to give up both elements due to the conditions on the Maidan. “We happen to sing a capella and without any costumes or even minimal preparations,” Melnyk says.
One of the band’s newest songs, Divoche Viche, was even written on one of the revolutionary days, and many have revolutionary videos. “Life at Maidan was so suppressed, full of events and emotions. It felt like we lived 44 years in four months,” says Natalka Galanevych, another member of Dakh Daughters.
Dakh Daughters say they are not disappointed with the revolution. “The main thing that changed – people started taking responsibility,” Galanevych says. All the members say that “despite all the mistakes that new authorities are making” Ukrainians should give them time and participate in changing the system themselves.
“We were sick for many years and we cannot get better in some 15 minutes,” Melnyk says, and the others nod. All seven are ready to do what they can to build a new country.
Kyiv Post staff writer Daryna Shevchenko can be reached at [email protected].
