Dustyesky Meet Aleksandr Dovzhenko’s Earth

Live music event | 75 mins | Rated PG
A "Made in the Northern Rivers" Bangalow Film Festival exclusive

The much beloved choir Dustyesky return to the stage with their very first film concert!

The choir will accompany the screening of the Aleksandr Dovzhenko’s 1930 masterpiece Earth (Zemlya) for an extraordinary meeting of voices and film. Earth is celebrated by film critics as one of cinema’s supreme visual masterpieces.

Commissioned to make propaganda for Stalin’s farm collectivization, the acclaimed Ukranian filmmaker Alexander Dovzhenko instead delivered an impassioned hymn to nature, following the farmer Vassily as he opposed the coming of collective farming.

The secret of Dustyesky is lost in the misty undergrowth of famous Mullumgrad hinterland. Like the recipe for gherkin liqueur, the magic of their music lies in the heart of all of us, but never one man alone. Your heart will soar. You will smile and cry. For sure. As rough as sawmiller’s beard as gentle as his touch, Dustyesky is elusive yet eternal. Like the wind of the Siberian steppes, we shall blow within you forever...

From the Dustyeksy's;

"We were excited to be invited to provide the soundtrack to Earth. In respect to our approach to providing the soundtrack, we will be singing a repertoire in most part from the Soviet period the film was set, with roughly equal balance of Russian and Ukrainian traditional songs. If we had more time we would sing exclusively from the period. Our intention and why we chose these songs has to do with our belief that often it is from periods of the greatest challenges that the most significant and powerful of art is created. Taking direction from Dostoevsky, we celebrate the human experience and the art that was influenced during these times of great human hardship and despair. The music we have chosen comes from a place of respect. We believe that great music stands the test of time, that it can be uplifting and joyous, even though it might have come from a place of pain and despair. Songs can be captured, can be propagandised and can feed us complex emotions. We sing them for humanity and not for any state or political agenda."

Having recently sold out two shows at the Sydney Opera House to standing ovations both nights back in May 2021, the accidental global phenomenon that is Dustyesky finally return to the stage for a very special one off performance for the Bangalow Film Festival.

Best served with gherkin liqueur.

“As rough as a sawmiller’s beard as gentle as his touch, Dustyesky is elusive yet eternal..." - Anton Chekov