Dobranotch

Dobranotch (Russian: Добраночь) is a folk music ensemble based in Germany, originally from Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in Nantes, France in 1997, the group plays Klezmer, Russian folk music, Balkan music, Moldovan music, and a mix of other genres.

Dobranotch
Dobranotch performing at the Rudolstadt-Festival in 2016
Background information
Genres	Klezmer, Balkan music, Russian folk music
Labels	CPL-Music
Website	dobranotch.com

History

Dobranotch was founded in Nantes, France in 1997 by three folk musicians from Saint Petersburg: Mitia Khramtsov, Oleg Drobinsky, and Stas Zubtsov.^[1] These musicians had been living in France at that time, busking and playing Jewish and Celtic music.^[2] The group's name, which means "good night" in Russian, is also a reference to a tune genre in Klezmer music which marked the end of the day's events in a traditional Eastern European Jewish wedding.

Because of the eclectic personal and musical backgrounds of the group's members, their repertoire came to include a wide variety of genres including not only Klezmer and Balkan music, but Russian-language Jewish songs from Odesa, Middle Eastern music, and others.^[1] The group became an important part of the renewed popularity of Klezmer music in Russia in the 1990s, notable for their use of traditional acoustic instruments rather than electronic music.^[3][4][5]

The group has performed at a number of festivals over the years, including the Fusion Festival and Jewish Culture Festival Krakow,^[6] KlezKanada,^[7] Ashkenaz,^[8] the Rudolstadt-Festival,^[9][10] the Sziget Festival.^[11] The group has won various awards, including the Eiserner Eversteiner audience favorite award in 2017,^[12] the Russian World Music Award in 2018, and the German Record Critics Award for best third quarter release in 2019.^[6]

Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine members of the group left Russia and have been living abroad due to their opposition to the invasion.^[13][14]

Discography

• Musique Russe & Yiddish (OTZ, 1999)^[1]
• Чтоб Душа Развернулась... (Let the Soul Unfold, Kailas Records, 2002)^[1]
• Gagarin Chochek (Orange World Records, 2005)
• In The East The Sun Decides All (Orange World Records, 2010)
• Bazardüzü (no label, 2012)
• Виноград (Vinograd, no label, 2014)
• Махорка (Makhorka, CPL-Music, 2017)
• 20 Years (CPL-Music, 2018)
• Merčedes Colo (CPL-Music, 2019)
• Цимес (Tsimes, no label, 2019)
• Zay Freylekh (CPL-Music, 2022)^[15]
• Vander Ikh Mir Lustik (CPL-Music, 2024)