Authentic Kobzar Repertoire nthrals Canadian Audiences

By Bohdan Klid

Taras Kompanichenko and Jurij Fedynskyj, two musicians who are at the forefront of the kobzar (itinerant bard) tradition, recently treated audiences in Western Canada and Toronto to a sumptuous banquet of largely medieval and early modern repertoire from Ukraine’s forgotten, destroyed and nearly lost musical heritage.

The two kobzars not only sang previously unheard religious, historical and lyrical songs, but the repertoire’s presentation was  masterfully performed on instruments rarely seen or heard in North America. Taras played on the Veresai twelve string kobza (a traditional Ukrainian stringed instrument of the lute family) and on occasion the kolisna lira (hurdy-gurdy). Jurij played on the kobzar bandura, Veresai kobza, drum, and bassola, mainly in accompanying roles. Many of the songs sung were performed as duets, with Kompanichenko singing the lead and Fedynskyj the harmony. In their duets, Taras’s voice was pleasing to the ear and strong, while Jurij’s added harmony, balance and depth to the sound.

While most in the Ukrainian Diaspora are familiar with the bandura and its sounds, and the way songs are sung by our bandura ensembles and individual performers, those who had a chance to hear Taras and Jurij sing and play on the kobza are struck by some notable differences. In style and sound, the performances of Taras and Jurij have much in common with minstrel-like singing and playing in the European early-modern tradition once performed in castles, church squares and fairs before churchmen and noblemen.

The repertoire consisted largely of religious psalms and chants, some dating back to Rus’-Ukraine, and historical ballads and epic songs, mostly from the 16^th through 18^th Centuries. The lyrics to some of the songs were written by leading church figures and notables of the early modern period. The elegant and striking songs included “S namy Boh” (God is with us), a monody from medieval times; the duma on the period of the Ruin, which is attributed to Hetman Ivan Mazepa; “Oi na hori vohon’ horyt’” (A fire burns on the hill), a suite dedicated to Ukraine’s fallen heroes; and “Pyite brattia, popyite” (Drink, my brothers, drink) a 17^th Century banquet song. Eleven songs sung by the two kobzari are to be released on CD in Ukraine of the six-man ensemble “Chorea kozacky” (Cossack Dance).

The kobzars’ first concert appearance was in Edmonton sponsored by the Ukrainian National Youth Federation on February 1. Several appearances followed at the University of Alberta, most in conjunction with International Week, including the finale concert. Particularly memorable were the mini-concerts hosted by the Folkways Alive/Ethnomusicology Centre and the Kule Centre for Ukrainian and Canadian Folklore. The two also visited students in two of Professor Natalia Pylypiuk’s classes: Ukrainian Literature for Children and the Ukrainian Speaking World. Taras and Jurij performed at Grant MacEwan College, before students of Edmonton’s bilingual Ukrainian-English school program and visited Ivan Franko School of Ukrainian Studies students.

Concerts in Calgary on February 8, and Regina on February 10 were sponsored by local UCC branches. In Winnipeg on February 12, they appeared before music students at Sisler High School and that evening at a concert sponsored by the UCC, the Rozmai Ukrainian Dance Company, and the Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies at the University of Manitoba. On February 13, the two performed at St Andrew’s College at the UofM. Visiting the archives and library of Oseredok, they had a chance to glance at the Oleksander Koshets’ collection. In Toronto, the two appeared at concerts on February 14 and 15 organized by musicologist and renowned bandura player Victor Mishalow.

Many of the songs were unknown; they required an introduction by the kobzars, in Ukrainian by Taras and in English by Jurij. Explanations about the instruments were also helpful.

This Canadian tour was Taras Kompanichenko’s and Jurij Fedynskyj’s first North American appearance together. Both Taras and Jurij perform regularly throughout Ukraine together, in solo, and in the “Chorea Kozacky.” Taras was a student of Mykola Budnyk and Heorhii Tkachenko, the fathers of the Ukrainian traditional instrument revival. He researches and performs the full kobzar repertoire of epic songs and has studied Ukraine’s music history, focusing on the traditions of the early church, post-Renaissance culture, including the Cossack Baroque, as well as Romanticism and the early 20^th century. Many of the lyrics to the songs performed by the two kobzars were identified by Taras in archives and old collections, which are not widely known. Music to some of the lyrics was well known or reconstructed. Taras has also written music to some of the texts, in the spirit of the times when they were authored. A solo CD entitled “Kobzars’ko-lirnyts’ka tradytsiia” (The kobza- and hurdy-gurdy-playing tradition), contains traditional kobzar repertoire performed by Kompanichenko, released in Ukraine in 2002.

Jurij Fedynskyj was born in the US and studied bandura initially under Julian Kytasty, who plays and researches traditional Ukrainian music in the US. For the past eight years he has lived in Kyiv, studying the traditions of the kobzari. In Ukraine, he has spearheaded the creation of ethno-music projects such as the group “Karpatyany,” who study the music of the Carpathian region. His early performances on the bandura, along with those of Julian Kytasty and Michael Andrec, can be found on the CD “Experimental Bandura Trio,” issued in 2000. Earlier this year he released the solo CD “Try braty ridnen’ki” (Three dear brothers).

Kompanichenko and Fedynskyj have done much to reconstruct and recreate forgotten, lost and partially destroyed repertoire of Ukraine’s kobzari. Both belong to the “Kyivs’kyi kobzars’kyi tsekh” (Kyiv Kobzar Guild), information on which can be obtained at the Website: http://www.ceh.ua/.

The visit of the two kobzars to Canada was organized by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) at the U of A with the financial support from: the Ukrainian Culture, Language and Literature Program, and the Kule Centre for Ukrainian and Canadian Folklore (at U of A); and the Folkways Alive/Ethnomusicology Centre and the U of A International’s Global Education Program. Community support was received from the Alberta Foundation for Ukrainian Education Society and the Ukrainian Canadian Benevolent Society of Edmonton.

Bohdan Klid is at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta.