REVOLUTION17
GIGS
Revolution17 saw one of our biggest gig programmes ever, in a firework burst of music and performance with artists from the Post Soviet States.
Taking place in venues across the UK, we brought some of the world’s best artists to a UK stage, including Maya Youssef, Yat Kha and Dash Arts favourites Sasha Ilyukevich and The Highly Skilled Migrants. See the full programme and photos below.
Dash Asylum
2 December 2017 | 7.30pm | Rich Mix
Over two weeks, Dash Arts worked with some of London’s exceptional migrant artists in its brand new International Perfomers Laboratory. During this time an eclectric and exciting collection of UK-based actors and muscians worked with Dash Arts Artistic Directors Tim Supple and Josephine Burton, exploring all aspects of performance in the unique Dash Arts style -- across art-forms, languages and cultural background.
Our closing party on Saturday 2nd December threw open the doors to the public to share selections of the work from the Lab as well as other collaborations that emerged plus live music and djs.
Dakhabrakha - Only London Concert
29 November 2017 | Oval Space, 29-32 The Oval, London E2 9DT | SOLD OUT
Dash Arts and the Nest Collective were very pleased to present the return of Ukrainian folk superstars Dakhabrakha. After a sell out gig in 2016 at Rich Mix and a triumphant Glastonbury debut, Dakha Brakha returned to London selling out the 1,000 capacity Oval Space.
"Edgy, eerie harmony vocals with concertina, cello and percussion work, in an exhilarating set that seemed to sum up their country's chaos and hope." Robin Denselow, The Guardian
Asylum: Maya Youssef - A Night of Global Sounds
27 October 2017 | Coastguard Studios | Portsmouth | Pay What You Can
ASYLUM was launched by Dash Arts at London’s Courtyard Theatre as a response to anti-migrant rhetoric. In October 2017 the Dash Arts team joined up with Journeys Festival International and The People’s Lounge to present a live performance from the phenomenal Syrian kanun player, Maya Youssef , winner of the Exceptional Talent Award and recent star of the BBC Proms at The Royal Albert Hall and WOMAD.
Headlining the final night of Journeys Festival International Portsmouth for 2017, Maya Youssef treated a sold out audience to an intimate evening performance proving that music is a healer and antidote to what is happening, not only in Syria but across the entire world.
The Asylum Project was a collaboration between Dash Arts and Journeys Festival International celebrating the artistic talent and incredible stories of exceptional refugee and asylum seeker artists - creating a positive interface with the community, through great art and culture. Local refugee/migrant artists were featured as support artists on the evening.
A virtuoso Syrian kanun player (a traditional Syrian 78-stringed plucked zither), Maya's virtuosity and unique innovative approach to playing the kanun, originally a traditional instrument, have expanded her audiences to international platforms. She combines her extraordinary musical gifts with a generosity of outlook, warmth, humour and optimism.
Maya Youssef Band - Victorious Festival
27 August 2017 | World Music Village, Victorious Festival | Portsmouth
The collaboration with Dash Asylum, Journeys Festival and Syrian artist Maya Youssef continued with a special performance of Maya Youssef and her band as part of the annual Victorious Festival in Portsmouth.
Maya Youssef - Portsmouth Festivities (Refugee Week)
20 June 2017 | New Theatre Royal Cafe, Portsmouth
As part of Refugee Week 2017, Dash Arts launched a new collaboration with Journeys Festival International -- an annual celebration of the artistic talent and incredible stories of exceptional refugee and asylum seeker artists - creating a positive interface with the community, through great art and culture. Together we hosted the extraordinary Maya Youssef in a special community performance during Refugee Week.
A virtuoso Syrian kanun player (a traditional Syrian 78-stringed plucked zither), Maya's virtuosity and unique innovative approach to playing the kanun, originally a traditional instrument, have expanded her audiences to international platforms. She combines her extraordinary musical gifts with a generosity of outlook, warmth, humour and optimism.
Opening Night Party - The Dacha at Rich Mix
Monday, 12 June 2017 | 7:30pm to Late | Rich Mix London
This event threw open the windows, aired the mattresses and brought in the revolutionary year of 1917. We opened with MAZAIKA Duo and their intoxicating blend of contemporary folk songs, jazz, tango and gypsy fiddle, with DJ Sasha playing out the evening with a set of rocking tunes from across the Post Soviet states.
Presented with Rich Mix and with the support of Georgy Rossi.
Oligarkh
23 May 2017 | Rich Mix London
Presented with Rich Mixand Nest Collective
Drawing together contemporary urban culture, deep folk memory and Soviet experiences, Oligarkh's music erases the borders between high and popular culture, ancient and modern. Oligarkh's live gigs are augmented with a drummer and video collages from historical films, documentaries, fairytales and old TV clips. Together they create a journey through the Russian collective conscious, from grand cathedrals to remote villages, from suburban ghettos to the enclaves of the rich.
Vardan Hovanissian & Emre Gultekin
11 May 2017 | Rich Mix London
Presented with Rich Mix, Nest Collectiveand Kazum
A stunning collaboration between Armenian Duduk player Vardan Hovanissian and his musical soulmate, Turkish saz player Emre Gultekin. A friendship capable of overcoming frontiers brought them to Adana, their first CD as a duo. No mere reference to the city that bore the brunt of the Armenian tragedy just a century ago, Adana also stands for the hope the musicians share of an Adana where Armenians and Turks live in harmony.
The Disorientalists
4 May 2017 | Rich Mix London
Presented with Rich Mix and the Nest Collective
Part klezmer cabaret, part oriental ragtime, part theatrical storytelling, Berlin-based The Disorientalists presented a piece of musical theatre based on the life of Essad Bey a.k.a. Kurban Said a.k.a. Lev Nussimbaum, author of the great Romeo and Juliet-esque novel Ali and Nino, set in Baku during the upheaval of the Russian revolution. Performing on ba˘glama, accordeon and piano - The Disorientalists are a little bit folkloristic - a little bit klezmer.
Originally commissioned by the Maxim Gorki Theatre, Berlin.
Mariana Sadovska & Abraham Brody
25 April 2017 | Rich Mix London
Presented with Rich Mix and the Nest Collective
Two exceptional international musicians teamed up for a double bill, bringing together their backgrounds of Ukrainian and Lithuanian folk-singing traditions, using voices, violin, harmonium, loop station, shruti box, and other instruments to weave their own unique magical sound worlds. Performing separately as well as together, this performance served as their initial foray into a duo-collaboration on their shared roots in the Carpathian Mountains in both Ukraine and Poland.
The Jack Wood
25 February 2017 | Rich Mix London
Presented with Rich Mix
The Jack Wood, Siberian garage-protopunk-blues band, fronted by the lead voice of Pussy Riot, Sasha Klokova, will kick off our REVOLUTION17season on Saturday 25th February 2017. Famed for powerful and unpredictable live performances, this rough, full of darkness, smoke and whiskey trio conquered stages of Glastonbury Festival, The International Film Festival Rotterdam, Cinema for peace, Berlin and the most popular festivals of Russia. The Jack Wood have collaborated with famous musicians like Richard Hell, Lenny Kaye, Mark Ribot, Nick Zinner, Pussy Riot and Le Tigre in New York and performed with Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth in London in 2015.
Battleship Potemkin (1925) with live, improvised score
17 February 2017 | Regent Street Cinema, London
Dash Arts collaborated with Kino Klassika and Regent Street Cinema for this landmark screening of Eisenstein’s masterpiece, Battleship Potemkin. Originally conceived as part of a cycle of films commemorating the revolutionary events of 1905, Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin recreated in documentary-style the failed mutiny of the Black Sea fleet and the subsequent massacre of the people of Odessa.
Leyton Midsummer Festival
19 June 2016 | Leyton Jubilee Park, London
Celebrate Midsummer Eve with a feast of musical performances, delicious food and drink and a variety of family friendly activities, arts and entertainment for all ages. Explore folk stories in a Midsummer Night’s Dream, Kupala-inspired Faery Den. Make head-dresses, lanterns and puppets while hearing stories that weave magic and mystery from across the globe with acclaimed story teller Craig Jenkins and designer maker Bryan Woltjen.
Entertainment with an Eastern European flavour included:
MuHa / Elena Dana / Katy Carr and The Aviators / Don Kipper / Yiddish Twist Orchestra / DJ Penny Metal
Mimika Orchestra: Divinities of the Earth and the Waters
25 June 2016 | The Courtyard Theatre, London
Dash Arts and The Courtyard Theatre present the extraordinary Mimika Orchestra with Divinities of the Earth and The Waters, a Kupala Mid Summer Evening of Magical Mystery Madness - bringing together South Slavic folk traditions, live electronics and contemporary jazz into a feast of performance performed by their big band. A theatrical show that uses archaic Slavic languages, the onomatopoeia of Khlebnikov’s futurism and elements of the folk music from the Balkans mixed with Mimika Orchestra’s own brand of alternative jazz-rock.
Mimika Orchestra is a unique ensemble, in many ways a mixture of a traditional band, prog rock band and a jazz orchestra (big band) with members from the UK, Europe, West Indies and Africa. It uses varied instrumentation from brass and woodwinds to percussion, live electronics and voices. Elements of theatre are obvious in the band's expressive energy when using voices and bodies rather than only instruments. The ensemble is fronted by the expressive stage persona of Maja Rivić, led by Croation composer and saxophonist Mak Murtic and supported by various musicians from London’s jazz and other scenes.
YAT KHA & DJ Penny Metal
Thursday 23 July 2015 | Richmix, London
Founded in Moscow in 1991 as a collaborative project between Albert Kuvezin (Russian: Альберт Кувезин) formerly of Huun-Huur-Tu and Russian avant-garde, electronic composer Ivan Sokolovsky, Yat Kha (Russian: Ят-Ха) blends traditional Tuvan folk music with post-modern rhythms and electronics.
Yat Kha is named after the giant zither that lead singer Albert Kuvezin often plucks at on stage. But at other times he'll be grinding out fuzzed up riffs from an electric guitar, which shows the two main hooks in their unique sound.
The truly anarchic Penny Metal is a DJ extraordinaire, boldly playing tunes no one else dares. Her passion for Eastern European and Russian music shines through in the eclectic sets she unleashes on her audiences. Innovative and inspirational, expect a quirky soundtrack of rich folk anthems and eccentric electronica splashed with polka, surf and chiptunes. With wry humour and a cheeky grin she propels you into your own personal cartoon.
Lilith Guegamian
2nd July 2014 | Rich Mix, London
Guegamian is an accomplished Armenian folk singer with a fairy-tale voice, full of delicacy and imagination. A Dash Café in association with Music of Armenia.
Radik Tyulyush
10th July 2014 | European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, London
Direct from Tuva, Tyulyush is one of the world's leading throat singers and multi-instrumentalists. For this exclusive London appearance he is joined by collaborator Lu Edmonds, former punk guitarist with The Damned.
Trans-Siberian March Band and friends with DJ Penny Metal extraordinaire
16th July 2014 | Rich Mix, London
A night on board the Trans-Siberian Express with live music, films and food between stations. The evening will include the brilliant Trans-Siberian March Band and Mazaika Duo, DJ Penny Metal, and food samples from the station stops along the way from theatrical culinary wizards, Russian Revels.
Dakha Brakha
26th July 2014 | Rich Mix, London E1 6LA
27th July 2014 | WOMAD, Charlton Park
Award winning theatrical quartet from Ukraine whose folk melodies and rhythms create unforgettable music that is at once sacred and modern. Presented in association with British Ukrainian Society
Sasha Ilyukevich and the Highly Skilled Migrants
30th July 2014 | Rich Mix, London
The great Belarusian troubadour Sasha Ilyukevich and his British band The Highly Skilled Migrants create an incomparable brew of post punk electric energy and folk lyricism.