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FUGU DUGU UNLEASHES BUCKY WANKO AND THE LEGEND OF BABA YAGA
CHICAGO, 2026
During the shadows of the Soviet occupation of East Germany, the Siberian Cowboy Bucky Wanko found himself ensnared by the cannibalistic sorceress Baba Yaga, eventually finding a questionable salvation through the “Romanov Dame” known as Madame Broshkina.
As the two storm the Continent with underground performances and become a thorn in the side of the authorities in several countries, their legend only grows…
Meet Fugu Dugu, Chicago’s Wild East Punk band — where Eastern European folklore, klezmer, Americana and punk collide.
Listen To Bucky Wanko and The Legend of Baba Yaga
Following a 15-city U.S. tour, performances and collaborations with The Klezmatics, Vopli Vidopliassova and Enver İzmaylov, and a breakout Square Roots Festival performance named among the Chicago Sun-Times’ festival standouts, Fugu Dugu is poised on the edge of wide recognition.
They’ll push off with Bucky Wanko and The Legend of Baba Yaga, a new album arriving October 1. Fan favorite “You Should Be Dancing” was released as a single September 1 and will be followed by an appearance at the Lotus World Music & Arts Festival to kick off The Legend of Baba Yaga: East Meets West — a multi-city fall tour through the Midwest, Canada and East Coast, including a hometown album release concert at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music.
At the center of Fugu Dugu are Madame Broshkina aka Olya Prohorova, a classically trained violinist turned folk-punk force- called “a genius violin player” by Oleg Skrypka, frontman of Ukrainian folk-rock pioneers Vopli Vidopliassova- and songwriter Bucky Wanko, a singing & guitar-slinging poet whose songs turn love, politics, folklore and absurdity into music built to be shouted back from the audience.
And then there is Baba Yaga.
On the new album, Fugu Dugu pulls the legendary Slavic witch out of the forest and drops her into the modern world — a dangerous, fiercely independent outsider who refuses to play by anyone else’s rules. Around her, the band builds songs about identity, migration, rebellion, relationships and the absurdities of contemporary life.
The result is unmistakably Fugu Dugu: songs in Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian and English, explosive violin against electric guitar, and old-world melodies colliding with American roots and punk.
Above all, Fugu Dugu makes people dance.
“Like attending a raucous Eastern European wedding and standing on the front lines of a revolt at the same time.” – Chicago Sun-Times
“With Bucky Wanko, Fugu Dugu hits that sweet spot between music for the head, the heart, and the funny bone — smart, silly, serious, and packed with great musicianship throughout.” – Danny Blume, Grammy Award-winning producer
At Square Roots, the Chicago Sun-Times praised the band’s collision of klezmer revelry and punk-rock poetry, called Prohorova “exemplary on the violin,” and noted that when the band played “You Should Be Dancing,” its title “felt like a direct order as many in the crowd obliged.”
After the fall tour, Fugu Dugu heads into 2027 as an Official Showcase Artist at Folk Alliance International in Chicago.
Fugu Dugu doesn’t preserve Eastern European folklore. They make it dance.
FIRST SINGLE: “You Should Be Dancing” — September 1, 2026
ALBUM: Bucky Wanko and The Legend of Baba Yaga — October 1, 2026
TOUR: The Legend of Baba Yaga: East Meets West — Fall 2026
FAI: Official Showcase Artist — January 2027
Fugu Dugu — music, video, bio, tour & media
FALL 2026 TOUR DATES
Oct 2–3 — Bloomington, IN — Lotus World Music & Arts Festival
Oct 16 — Chicago, IL — Old Town School of Folk Music — Album Release
Oct 21 — St. Paul, MN — Amsterdam Bar & Hall
Oct 22 — Madison, WI — North Street Cabaret
Oct 26 — Toronto, ON — Monarch Tavern
Oct 28 — New York, NY — DROM — Album Release Concert
Oct 29 — Philadelphia, PA — Sweeney’s
Oct 31 — Lafayette, IN
Jan 27, 2027 — Chicago, IL — Folk Alliance International — Official Showcase
Management & Booking
lya Sokolov | Roots and Chords Music
ilya@rootsandchordsmusic.com | +1 312-613-8746