Ukrainian kobza and wheel lyre tradition has been included in UNESCO's Register of Good Safeguarding Practices!
It is the first time a Ukrainian nomination has been included in this register, representing a great step forward in preserving national identity & promoting Ukrainian culture.
—MFA Ukraine
The Kobzar-Lirnyk tradition is an integral part of Ukraine's musical and verbal heritage. In the past, it was performed by travelling blind singers and musicians – kobzars, lirnyks, and bandura players – and today, it is being revived by contemporary singers and instrumentalists.
—Ukrainska Pravda
I present to you: the bandura, a lovely Ukrainian instrument that is something between a lute and a harp, or a psaltery played like a harp... but it sounds more like a harpsichord. (Maybe in another life I was an organologist...)
Here are some snippets from the fascinating history of this instrument. I’m am mystified by the fact that all around the world, from Ireland to Peru to Ukraine, there have been traditions of traveling blind bards who play plucked instruments...
The use of lute-like stringed instruments by Ukrainians dates back to 591. In that year, Byzantine Greek chronicles mention Bulgar warriors who travelled with lute-like instruments they called kitharas. There are iconographic depictions of lute-like instruments in the 11th-century frescoes of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, the capital of the vast medieval kingdom of Ruthenia.
In the Hetman state in left-bank Ukraine, the bandura underwent significant transformations with the development of a professional class of itinerant blind musicians called kobzars.
A Kobzar (Ukrainian: кобзар, pl. kobzari Ukrainian: кобзарі) was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment played on a multistringed bandura or kobza.
Up until the 20th century, the bandura repertoire was an oral tradition based primarily on vocal works sung to the accompaniment of the bandura. These included folk songs, chants, psalms, and epics known as dumy.
A Duma (Ukrainian: дума, plural dumy) is a sung epic poem which originated in Ukraine during the Hetmanate Era in the sixteenth century (possibly based on earlier Kievan epic forms). Historically, dumy were performed by itinerant Cossack bards called kobzari, who accompanied themselves on a kobza or a torban, but after the abolition of Hetmanate by the Empress Catherine of Russia the epic singing became the domain of blind itinerant musicians who retained the kobzar appellation and accompanied their singing by playing a bandura (rarely a kobza) or a relya/lira (a Ukrainian variety of hurdy-gurdy). Dumas are sung in recitative, in the so-called "duma mode", a variety of the Dorian mode with raised fourth degree.
“As the harp is to Ireland, the bandura is to Ukraine.”
It’s strange how nationalism saves obscure instruments from oblivion.
The vocal and instrumental ensemble "Kobza" was created in 1971 in Kiev, consisting of Alexander Zuev (musical director, keyboards), Konstantin Novitsky, Vladimir Kushpet, Alexander Rogoza (bandura players), Georgy Garbar (flute, pipe), Valery Viter ( vocals) and Anatoly Lyutyuk (percussion instruments).
In September 1971, the company "Melody" ordered from the leading Ukrainian singer Valentina Kuprina to record a small disc, VIE "Kobza" was invited to accompany him when recording. The three songs recorded with Kobza were so liked by the editors of Melody record company that it was decided to record a solo record of the ensemble ... This record gained phenomenal popularity not only among listeners in the Soviet Union, but also throughout the world.
And in 1973, the first official recognition came to VIA Kobza - at the “All-Union Competition of Vocal Instrumental Ensembles” in Minsk, she shared the third place with the Muscow ensemble. The first time received the "Pesnyary", the second was not awarded to anyone. Such a successful performance opens up great opportunities for the ensemble to tour not only in Ukraine, but throughout the Soviet Union.
Since 1979, the most striking rise in popularity has begun at VIE Kobza. The ensemble prepares new programs, updates stage costumes, gives solo concerts several times a year on the main stage of the country - the Ukrainian Palace. "State Concert", which at that time was engaged in foreign tours, puts the ensemble on a regular schedule, where trips are scheduled for 5 years in advance. And, in general, in the 80s of the 20th century the ensemble becomes one of the most touring groups of the “Ukr-contsert”, giving more than 200 concerts in a year. The travel geography covered the entire former Soviet Union, European countries, Canada, Japan, etc.
The basis of VIE Kobza’s repertoire was composed of Ukrainian folk songs, to a lesser extent songs by Soviet composers. Several records and music videos of the songs performed by the ensemble have been published.
Unfortunately, the life of creative teams is often not cloudless. Musicians are unyielding, rebellious people, their emotions clearly prevail over the radio. According to the classical definition, the real life of the theater team is one and a half decades. This postulate was also true for VIE Kobza. Artistic directors changed, the fluidity of the composition exceeded all permissible limits, the repertoire ensemble lost its originality, except for the name, however, remained intact. Old baggage could not save anything. From the mid-80s, the ensemble began to decline.
