A memorial concert in honour of the victims and survivors of Aardakh, also known as Operation Lentil - Stalin's brutal deportation of the Ingush and the Chechens, perpetrated exactly 75 years ago. Songs that will break your heart - but then mend it, showing you an incredible, inspiring triumph of the human spirit over brutality and injustice.
Daria Kulesh, accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Jonny Dyer, will perform songs from her award-winning album Long Lost Home. Named LCM Album of the Year, it is inspired by Ingushetia (Ghalghai Mokh) – the lost home of Daria's Grandmother Fatima Akhrieva, a survivor of Aardakh which struck her family and nation when she was a child of 11.
Hear the haunting story of Fatima Akhrieva's parents told in The Moon and the Pilot, described by Mike Harding as "one of the most beautiful songs of the last 10 years":
Daria's intrepid quest to explore her family roots and bring her Grandmother's powerful stories to life has led her from the folk clubs of Hertfordshire to the mountains of Caucasus; from Cadogan Hall in London to Gradsky Hall in Moscow. See: http://www.daria-kulesh.co.uk/ingushetia/
A mountainous republic in the south of Russia, Ingushetia is a breathtaking land of immense beauty and harrowing tragedy, of fascinating culture and age-old traditions. But above all, Long Lost Home is an album for our times, exploring themes of displacement and (in)tolerance, identity and integrity, humanity and strength in the face of adversity, hope against hate; it's "an album for everyone", according to Northern Sky Magazine. Expect powerful, timeless human stories beautifully told in an eye-opening and profoundly uplifting musical experience. "Songs that aren't just sung, but lived" (Fatea Magazine).