Ukranian band Yagódy will perform at the Foundry Theater Thursday, April 3, beginning at 7 p.m. General admission is $25, with student tickets available for $5. (Submitted photo)
Foundry Theater— Ukrainian band Yagódy’s epic sound
- Published: April 3, 2025
Ukrainian band Yagódy comes to the Foundry Theater Thursday, April 3, as part of their first North American tour. Blending folk, pop, rock and electronic sounds, the band’s unique oeuvre can only be described as epic.
Founded in 2016 by Zoriana Dybovska, Yagódy combines the voices of Dybovska, Vasylyna Voloshyn, Tetiana Voitiv and Nadiia Paraschuk in soaring, mystical harmonies. They’re accompanied by instruments from Ukrainian and Baltic folk traditions, as well as elsewhere in the world — accordion, cymbals and the jaw-harp-like drymba, but also the Tibetan bowl and West African djembe drum, among others. Rounding out their eclectic sound are bass guitar and a trap set.
These musical elements combine to create a kind of mythical concoction, weaving together both convention and exploration for a powerful sound that’s thick with drama.
The band’s 2024 original song “Tsunamia” — shortlisted to represent Ukraine in last year’s EuroVision competition — conjures a primal fury, lending mind’s-eye images of forces of nature, as its English-translation lyrics suggest: “By the waves the tsunamia flowed/The blue waves beat hard/The waters of power washed away the blood … The sounds heal, the roots will stand … We are tsunamia.”
The band stated on their website that the song speaks to the fact that “people, united around a common goal, can wash away everything in their path with a large, powerful wave.”
The News spoke by video chat this month with the band’s manager, Victor Lihodko, and drummer Teimuraz Gogitidze; ahead of their tour, the band’s members were scattered throughout Ukraine, Poland and the wider European continent. Noting the ongoing war in Ukraine — founder Dybovska had to flee her Donetsk home in 2014 due to rising discord that later turned the area into a warzone ahead of the 2022 Russian invasion of the country at large — Lihodko said it’s “very hard to be in Ukraine right now,” but that some members of the band remain there “for different reasons.”
“Some people stay because of parents and others because of work — every situation is personal,” he said. “But generally, we are trying to keep optimism — we have no other option.”
Looking forward — with optimism — is the order of the day for drummer Gogitidze; the band’s lineup has changed over the last near-decade, and he and Dybovska remain Yagódy’s only original members. He said Dybovska invited him to join the then-nascent Yagódy in 2016 because she was looking for someone who could bring “crazy drama” to the project.
“She called me and said, ‘Are you crazy?’ and I said, ‘Are you crazy enough to have me in a band?’” he said. “And so it started.”
Gogitidze said Yagódy’s sound has morphed and broadened over the years, beginning as “completely folkish,” but becoming more “dynamic.” From the beginning, he was fascinated with the band’s energy — “They were singing out of the box,” he said — but as time went on, he wanted to introduce “a groove” to the way they performed.
“And so I started working with Zoriana really close, and she started trusting my musical taste, and I started pushing in different ideas,” Gogitidze said.
Those “different ideas” were informed by Gogitidze’s musical foundations and interest in nu metal and electronic dance music, shaped by American bands like System of a Down and Prodigy.
“I had a whole library of music in my head,” he said. “I was telling them, ‘OK, we could do folk rock — but folk rock died in Ukraine like, 15 years ago.’ So that’s why I brought an electronic flavor.”
There was some trepidation, he said, about broadening Yagódy’s sound — “They had never heard that kind of music,” he said — but it wasn’t long before the band had found their stride, and asked Gogitidze to bring his work as a composer to bear.
“And then they’re calling me and saying, ‘Hey man — you have 10 days. You need to make a song for EuroVision,’” he said. “So I made the song ‘Tsunamia.’”
This year, Gogitidze penned Yagódy’s second EuroVision entry, “BramaYa.” Carrying a strong EDM influence, Gogitidze said “BramaYa” didn’t get the same kind of support from Ukrainian listeners that “Tsunamia” had the previous year. Nevertheless, he said he considers the song an achievement, particularly as it included musicians from both West African and Middle Eastern traditions.
The band began touring Europe in the fall of 2022 — about “half a year after the war started,” manager Lihodko said. At the time, he said, he presented the idea of a tour to the band because it felt “more necessary to show Ukrainian culture” to a wider audience. Gogitidze agreed, adding that the band’s members are “so excited” to visit the U.S. for the first time.
“They’re very confident in what they’re doing, what their message is,” he said. “They want to share their culture, their tradition, their energy, and represent Ukraine to an American audience.”
For his part, Gogitidze said that coming to the U.S. will feel a little like coming home, since he’s steeped himself in American music and culture for the majority of his life.
“I resonate with ‘yippeie-ki-yay, motherf—-er,’” he said, laughing.
Yagódy will perform at the Foundry Theater Thursday, April 3, beginning at 7 p.m. General admission is $25, with student tickets available for $5. With support from Ohio Arts Council’s Arts RISE Program, accessible rate tickets are available for $12.50. For more information and tickets, go to bit.ly/FoundryYagody.
Contact: chuck@ysnews.com
The Yellow Springs News encourages respectful discussion of this article.
You must login to post a comment.
Don't have a login? Register for a free YSNews.com account.
No comments yet for this article.