Slavic dub-punk missionaries Dumai Dunai have been winning the hearts of audiences worldwide since they first burst onto the scene in 2022. Based in Montreal with members from Ukraine and Bulgaria, they have been busy touring in Canada and Europe, playing at festivals such as Colours of Ostrava, Pop Montreal, BLOK Toronto, and Newfoundland Folk Fest; were officially selected for showcases at Mundial Montreal and Tallinn Music Week (Estonia); and shared the stage with artists including the Barr Brothers, Socalled, Balaklava Blues and Puuluup.
The seven-piece combines the deep grooves of dub with the energy of punk rock, the raw ecstasy of the blasting horns of Balkan wedding brass bands, and the joys and sorrows of Ukrainian village polyphony.
Dumai Dunai was conceived by Eli Camilo between sets in smoke-filled bars in Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest, and Budapest and on the revolutionary streets of Kyiv, L’viv and Kharkiv. Eli teamed up with singer Natalia Telentso and drummer Yordan Markov to create songs that were informed by their traditions but not limited by them. They called up some friends: Julian Selody on saxophone – Eli had played with Julian in the Lemon Bucket Orkestra and Orchestar Kriminal; and Kevin Moquin on guitar and synthesizers, whom Eli knew from his days playing with the experimental folk-metal band and Montreal underground legends, Bad Uncle.
Throughout 2023, Dumai Dunai worked on their debut full-length album, “Sometime Between Now and Never,” which was released in June 2024. The title is the answer to the question “when will I see you again?” which came to Eli during nightly air raids in Kyiv, where he spent time throughout the year between recording sessions and gigs. The album was nominated for “Global Roots Album of the Year” by the Canadian Folk Music Awards, and was included on the World Music Charts Europe list of best albums of 2024.
The band, which can be seen as a lovechild between Dubioza Kolektiv and Dakhabrakha, exists somewhere between the underground scene of their beloved Montreal and the mountains and valleys of their Slavic homelands. In the words of Songlines Magazine, “An intelligent partying kind of a band.”
