In this interview, KGNU’s Joel Davis speaks with Ulana Bihun of Sunflower Seeds Ukraine about the upcoming Boulder performance by Ukrainian band DakhaBrakha at Chautauqua Auditorium on July 22nd, presented by KGNU, and the role of music and culture in supporting Ukraine during the ongoing war.
Bihun discusses DakhaBrakha as cultural defenders and ambassadors, and how their music continues to connect audiences around the world. She also highlights the growing Ukrainian community in Colorado and several local events supporting Ukraine, including a Ukrainian meal at Chautauqua Dining Hall, Dine Out for Ukraine, and Sunflower Seeds Ukraine’s efforts providing medical supplies, protective equipment, and solar chargers to people in Ukraine (Air Date 7/18/26).
Listen to the interview here:
Transcript:
Joel Davis: That brings us, as I’ve been mentioning, to talking about DakhaBrakha and Ukraine for a little bit. I’m joined in the studio right now by Ulana Bihun. Am I saying that correctly?
Sunflower Seeds Ukraine: That’s absolutely right.
Joel Davis: Ulana is here from Sunflower Seeds Ukraine, and they have a couple of events coming up this week centered around major Ukraine artists and ambassadors, DakhaBrakha, coming to the Chautauqua Auditorium. The show is presented by KGNU this Wednesday, July 22nd.
Ulana, welcome to TerraSonic and KGNU. Let’s start. Where would you like to start?
Sunflower Seeds Ukraine: Great. Hi. Thanks for having me. I think we should just go ahead and start right in on DakhaBrakha. We’re really excited to co-present the event with KGNU, and we’re really looking forward to seeing DakhaBrakha in Boulder again.
Boulder has a pretty good DakhaBrakha fan base, which is amazing, but they have fans all over the world at this point. This band has been around since well before the war, the full-scale invasion that began in 2022. Since that time, they’ve regained additional popularity all over the world, and we’re thrilled to have them here in Boulder on the 22nd.
Joel Davis: They’ve always—I’ve been saying this to you and to everyone listening—I’m a big DakhaBrakha fan. I’ve seen them many times and they’re pretty much the best live band out there. There’s just no experience like it.
Since the war began, I think they’ve taken on a major role as cultural ambassadors for Ukraine. Do you know if there’s any official part of that? Are they in touch with the government, acting in an official capacity, or are they doing that on their own to speak for Ukrainians?
Sunflower Seeds Ukraine: I believe they’re on their own to speak for Ukrainians, with full support from Ukrainians at various levels of leadership.
Honestly, the last time they were in Boulder, I remember introducing them at the beginning of a concert and saying that, at this point, they are cultural defenders. There are defenders fighting on the front lines every day, but in Ukraine, cultural defenders—defenders of Ukrainian language, music, literature, and art—are making this music and culture evolve into something new at a time when so much is being destroyed.
Joel Davis: Yes, and their music is absolutely always evolving.
They’re playing Wednesday the 22nd at Chautauqua Auditorium. KGNU is presenting that show. There are some other Ukraine-related events going on around that, and Sunflower Seeds is involved with those. Tell us about them.
Sunflower Seeds Ukraine: Absolutely. As we were walking in, I was saying I feel like the city of Boulder and the Front Range are giving Ukraine a big hug this week.
At DakhaBrakha, we’re at Chautauqua Auditorium, and the Chautauqua Dining Hall stepped up and said, “You know what? We’d like to offer a three-course Ukrainian meal.”
This is new for them—to serve Ukrainian food. They’re creating a three-course meal. It’s $50 per person, and 30% of the proceeds are going to Sunflower Seeds Ukraine.
The following day, we’re doing Dine Out for Ukraine. Restaurants all over the Front Range of Colorado are donating a percentage of their proceeds from the day to Sunflower Seeds Ukraine.
This year we expanded a little bit and moved outside of Colorado. There are Ukrainian restaurants in Washington, D.C.—Ruta—as well as a restaurant in Chicago called Tryzub. So if you’re in either of those places this week, go check them out on July 23rd.
Joel Davis: Awesome.
I looked at the website and the restaurants participating because I wondered, “Are there a lot of Ukrainian restaurants on the Front Range that I’m somehow unaware of?” But actually, these are mostly restaurants people already go to all the time, and they’re participating and sending some money toward Sunflower Seeds.
Sunflower Seeds Ukraine: They sure are. There’s actually Molotov in Denver, which is a Ukrainian restaurant. Then the Sunflower Food Truck, which has been at the Boulder Farmers Market for a lot of this summer, is also participating.
But then there are restaurants like The Laughing Goat, Centro, Jack’s, and Lucky Pie. There are a whole lot of them, so please check out our website and find your restaurant.
Joel Davis: And what is that website?
Sunflower Seeds Ukraine: It’s sunflowerseedsukraine.org.
Joel Davis: Also Ukraine-related, Boulder is famous for our sister city Dushanbe because we have the incredible tea house right in the middle of town. Boulder has several other sister cities, and we have a new one.
Sunflower Seeds Ukraine: Brand new sister city with Vinnytsia, Ukraine. That was signed in April with incredible support from the city of Boulder and the mayor of Boulder, and we’re moving ahead.
Really, the cornerstone of the sister city relationship at this point has been working on trauma. There’s an international trauma institute in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, and Dr. Gay Logan from Boulder, who is world-renowned for helping with trauma in war areas, has been involved.
At this point, they think a conservative estimate is that they’ve reached 50,000 people in Ukraine with trauma support.
For Sunflower Seeds Ukraine, it’s been wonderful because we have a really nice partnership where our group provides protective gear and medical gear to defenders in Ukraine, as well as civilians, through things like solar panels that turn into chargers that people can use when the power is out—which happens often, more than we’d like.
Joel Davis: That’s incredible work you’re doing. Thank you for that. Congratulations on the success and the warm reception you’re receiving across the Front Range.
How many Ukrainians are there on the Front Range? Is there a large Ukrainian population?
Sunflower Seeds Ukraine: It is getting bigger by the minute. About 10 years ago, I would say it was a pretty small community, and now we have a lot of Ukrainians moving to Colorado.
We’ve got a big Ukrainian festival. There’s a group called Ukrainians of Colorado sponsoring that in August. If you want to learn more about Ukrainian culture and events happening with the Ukrainian community, you should come out to that festival as well.
Joel Davis: That sounds awesome.
So we’ve got DakhaBrakha at Chautauqua Auditorium on Wednesday the 22nd, presented by KGNU. We have the special Ukrainian three-course meal at the Chautauqua Dining Hall immediately preceding that. Then on Thursday the 23rd, all across the Front Range, we’ve got Dine Out Ukraine with proceeds going toward Sunflower Seeds.
Tell me the website again.
Sunflower Seeds Ukraine: We have one more. I’m going to sneak one more in.
When I mentioned those solar panels, at Pattern Break Brewery—the new Pattern Break here in Boulder—we’re doing a solar charger event where we exchange the chargers and decorate the solar panels. They’re pretty small, and we send them to Ukraine.
So come to that as well. Check our website at www.sunflowerseedsukraine.org.
Joel Davis: Awesome. Ulana Bihun, thank you very much. Before I say goodbye, we’re going to offer up a pair of tickets to see DakhaBrakha at Chautauqua Auditorium this Wednesday.
I’ve seen DakhaBrakha many times. If you don’t know what’s up with DakhaBrakha, we’re going to hear a song from them in a minute, and this is them playing in the background right now.
The best story I can tell about them live is seeing them at Lyons Folk Festival. I went basically just to see them, and at the beginning of the set, people were like, “What the heck is this?” But by the end, the whole place was up dancing, screaming, and having an amazing time.
I felt terrible for the singer-songwriter guitarist who had to follow them. But believe me, if you don’t know what to expect, that’s the best condition under which to see DakhaBrakha.
We’re going to give tickets away to the fifth caller at 303-442-4242. You can start calling now, and I’ll get to those calls as soon as I can.
Ulana Bihun from Sunflower Seeds Ukraine, thank you again for coming in. Give us that website one more time.
Sunflower Seeds Ukraine: www.sunflowerseedsukraine.org.
Joel Davis: Awesome. Thank you very much.
Sunflower Seeds Ukraine: Thank you.
