A bandurist is a person who plays the Ukrainian

Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

 plucked string instrument

Plucked string instrument

Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such as way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate...

 known as the bandura

Bandura

Bandura refers to a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. It combines elements of a box zither and lute, as well as its lute-like predecessor, the kobza...

.

Types of performers

There are a number of different types of bandurist who differ in their paricular choice of instrument, the specific repertoire they play and manner in which they approach their vocation.

• Kobzar
  Kobzar
  A Kobzar was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment.-Tradition:Kobzars were often blind, and became predominantly so by the 1800s...
  
  i, who play authentic ethnographic instruments or copies. This group can also be further categorized into authentic, reproduction, and stage performers.

• Academic players, playing more sophisticated contemporary concert banduras. These performers have a tertiary education
  Tertiary education
  Tertiary education, also referred to as third stage, third level, and post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school, university-preparatory school...
  
   majoring in bandura performance and typically perform works by Western classical composers in addition to, or instead of, Ukrainian folk music. This category can be further divided into instrumentalists (who only perform instrumental works) and vocalists (who primarily use the bandura to accompany their voice). The most common academic bandurists play in the Kyiv academic style. There are also a number of Kharkiv style
  Kharkiv style
  The Kharkiv Academic Style of Bandura Playing is a specific way of playing the Ukrainian folk instrument bandura.The instrument is held in a way that allows both hands equal access to all the strings...
  
   academic bandurists.

• So-called "Fakeloric" performers, who play stylized songs and repertoire on contemporary instruments. Othen these performers refer to themselves as contemporary kobzars. Many contemporary blind bandurists can be placed into this category.

• Ensemble performers - performers who sing in a choir and accompany their chopral performance with their own playing on the bandura.

Ensembles

Evidence of ensemble playing prior to the 20th century is scarce, although there do exist accounts of two or sometimes three kobzars playing together at bazaars, especially in the area around Kharkiv.

The first documented performance by a bandura ensemble however took place in Kharkiv in 1902, at the XIIth Archaeological conference. The performance had a very positive effect on the popularity of the bandura and ensemble bandura playing. Attempts were made by Hnat Khotkevych

Hnat Khotkevych

Hnat Martynovych Khotkevych December 31, 1877 in Kharkiv, Russian Empire – October 8, 1938 in Kharkiv, in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union) was a Ukrainian writer, ethnographer, playwright, composer, musicologist, and bandurist....

 to repeat the performance and take the ensemble on tour throughout Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, but permission was not obtained from the Russian authorities.

In 1905 there is evidence of the first performance of a bandura quartet of non-blind bandurists performing in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

. From 1906 small bandura ensembles began to form not just from kobzars who had participated in the Kharkiv

Kharkiv

Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...

 performance of 1902 but also from non-blind bandurists and had become insterested in the instrument. Groups were established by M. Domontovych in Kyiv and V. Shevchenko in Moscow and the Kuban.

What is considered to be the first professional (in the sense that this was their main livelihood) bandurist ensemble was established by Vasyl Yemetz

Vasyl Yemetz

Vasyl' Kostovych Yemetz was born in the village of Sharivka, 40 km from Kharkiv, Ukraine. Son of Kost' and Yevdokia . Married to Maria Horta-Doroshenko...

 in 1918 and became known as the Kyiv Bandurist Capella. Despite periods in which the ensemble did not function due to the political turmoil within the country, the ensemble re-established and re-defined itself on numerous occasions and through its concerts stimulated the establishment of many other similar bandura groups. By 1928 there were over 900 bandura ensembles in Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

.

Active persecution of bandurists in the 1930s resulted in many players being murdered or persecuted in the 1930s. Many of those that continued playing took the opportunity of seeking freedom emigrating to the West. The Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus

Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus

The Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus is a semi-professional male choir which accompanies itself with the multi-stringed Ukrainian folk instrument known as the bandura...

 which was originally established in 1941 during the Nazi occupation emigrated as a group. It settled in Detroit in the USA where it continued to actively propagated the art form in the West.

The Kyiv State Bandurist Capella was re-established in Kyiv in 1948 under the direction of Oleksander Minkivsky. Many members after being mobilized to the front in 1941 had died. Others had emigrated. It currently has over 70 members. Numerous other bandurist Capellas exist in Ukraine throughout the country having all male membership, mixed membership, or just female membership. A capella made up of blind bandurists also exists in Lviv.

Bandurist choruses, ensembles and capellas were also established in Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Paraguay, Poland the United States and Venezuella.

Renown exponents

Polish court bandurists	Albert Dovhohrai
Russian court bandurists	Alexey Razumovsky Alexey Razumovsky Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky , was a Ukrainian Cossack who rose to become lover and, the morganatic spouse of the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna.- Early life :...
Prominent kobzari	Honcharenko Hnat, Ivan Kuchuhura Kucherenko Ivan Kuchuhura Kucherenko Ivan Iovych Kuchuhura-Kucherenko Ivan Iovych Kuchuhura-Kucherenko Ivan Iovych Kuchuhura-Kucherenko (July 7, 1878—November 24, 1937 was a Ukrainian minstrel (kobzar) and one of the most influential kobzars of the early 20th century... , Pavlo Hashchenko Pavlo Hashchenko Pavlo Ivanovych Hashchenko was a Ukrainian kobzar and bandura player.Hashchenko was originally from Poltava province but lived most of his life in the village of Konstantynivka, Bohodukhiv county, Kharkiv province.... , Petro Drevchenko Petro Drevchenko Petro Semenovych Drevchenko was also known by the surname of Drevkin and Drygavka.-Biography:Drevchenko was born in 1863 in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire to a family of servants. From the age of 12 he lived in Kharkiv, in the area of Zalutin. At the age of 13 he came down with... , Ostap Veresai Ostap Veresai Ostap Mykytovych Veresai , was a renowned minstrel and kobzar from the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire... ,
Prominent reconstructive kobzari	Opanas Slastion Opanas Slastion Opanas Georgievych Slastion was a Ukrainian graphic artist, painter and ethnographer.He was born in the Ukrainian port town of Berdyansk on the Berdyansk Gulf of the Sea of Azov... , Volodymyr Kushpet Volodymyr Kushpet Volodymyr Kushpet is an influentian Ukrainian baritone singer, and player on torban, kobza, bandura and lira, noted reconstruction of traditional playing techniques on these instruments.... , Tkachenko Heorhy,
Prominent blind bandurists	Yevhen Adamtsevych Yevhen Adamtsevych Yevhen Oleksandrovych Adamtsevych was a prominent blind Ukrainian bandurist.- Biography :Yevhen Adamtsevych was born in the village of Solonytsia, not far from the town of Lubny, Poltava oblast. He died in 1972 in the village of Kholmivka in Crimea.Adamtsevych became blind in his childhood. He... ,
Prominent early 20th century bandurists in Ukraine	Fedir Zharko Fedir Zharko Fedir Avramovych Zharko , Merited Artist of Ukraine .Fedir Zharko was one of the most renown singers of dumy in Ukraine. He was born in 1914 in village of Mykhailivka, Cherkasy province. From 1931-36 Zharko studied at the Cherkasy Pedagogical Institute, completing his studies in Mathematics and... , Hnat Khotkevych Hnat Khotkevych Hnat Martynovych Khotkevych December 31, 1877 in Kharkiv, Russian Empire – October 8, 1938 in Kharkiv, in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union) was a Ukrainian writer, ethnographer, playwright, composer, musicologist, and bandurist.... , Mykhailo Domontovych, Omelchenko Andriy, Serhiy Bashtan Serhiy Bashtan Serhiy Vasylievych Bashtan is a professor of Bandura at the Kiev ConservatoryBashtan was born in the village of Novi Birochky, now Velykyj Khutir, Cherkasy Oblast.... , Volodymyr Kabachok Volodymyr Kabachok Volodymyr Andryievych Kabachok was a bandura player in the Ukraine.-Biography:Born in the village of Petrivka, in the Poltava region, Kabachok became a singer in the Archbishop's choir in Poltava until 1907 when he entered the Poltava music college.Kabachok continued his music education at the... ,
Prominent 20th century bandurists outside of Ukraine	Hryhory Bazhul, Yevhen Ciura, Leonid Haydamaka Leonid Haydamaka Leonid Hryhorovych HaydamakaLeonid Haydamaka has left his impression on the development of bandura art in the 20th century.... , Petro Honcharenko Honcharenko brothers The Honcharenko Brothers—Alexander 1913-2005) and Peter —became the dominant bandura-makers and designers in the Ukrainian diaspora.-Formative years:... , Hryhory Kytasty Hryhory Kytasty Hryhoriy Trokhymovych Kytasty was a Ukrainian émigré composer and conductor. In 2008 he was honored with the Hero of Ukraine state decoration.- Early years :Hryhory Kytasty was born in the town of Kobeliaky, Poltava oblast... , Petro Kytasty, Volodymyr Luciv Volodymyr Luciv Volodymyr Havrylovych Luciv is a Ukrainian bandurist and tenor. He learned to play the bandura from Hryhory Nazarenko in the Leontovych Bandurist Capella in Goslar, Germany... , Hryhory Nazarenko Hryhory Nazarenko Hryhory Pavlovych Nazarenko was a bandura player.... , Zinoviy Shtokalko Zinoviy Shtokalko Zinoviy Shtokalko . Amongst the more renowned performers of bandura art, one of the prominent is that of bandurist virtuoso Zinoviy Shtokalko.-Biography:... , Mykhailo Teliha Mykhailo Teliha Mykhailo Pavlovych Teliha Mykhailo Teliha was an active Ukrainian community leader and distinguished musician. He was born in the Akhtyrka Stanitsa in the Kuban. It is here that he first became interested in playing the bandura in 1913... , Vasyl Yemetz Vasyl Yemetz Vasyl' Kostovych Yemetz was born in the village of Sharivka, 40 km from Kharkiv, Ukraine. Son of Kost' and Yevdokia . Married to Maria Horta-Doroshenko... , Volodymyr Yurkevych Volodymyr Yurkevych Volodymyr Ivanovych YurkevychYurkevych was born December 2, 1912 in Lviv.He met up with Yuri Singalevych and began to take lessons from him. Together with Zinoviy Shtokalko they organized a bandura trio. Later they were joined by Stepan Hanushevsky and Semen Lastovych.His original bandura was... ,
Prominent contemporary active bandurists in Ukraine	Oksana Herasymenko, Roman Hrynkiv, Taras Lazurkevych, Kost Novytsky Kost Novytsky Kostantyn Heorhiovych Novytsky, better known as Kost' Novytsky is one of the more influential bandurists in Kiev today. Originally, he studied under Andriy Omelchenko and later at the Kiev Conservatory under Serhiy Bashtan... , Oleh Sozansky, Volodymyr Voit
Prominent contemporary active bandurists outside of Ukraine	Ken Bloom Ken Bloom Ken Bloom is a New York-based theatre historian, playwright, director, record producer, and author.He began his theatre career in the mid-70s at the New Playwrights Theatre of Washington. With some friends, Bloom co-founded the ASTA theatre. That company became the basis for New Playwrights... , Peter Deriashnyj Peter Deriashnyj Peter Deriashnyj, is a Ukrainian Australian bandurist, composer of secular and sacred music, and choral conductor. He specializes in the Kharkiv style of bandura playing, but also plays folk and rock guitar.... , Mykola Deychakiwsky, Marko Farion, Ola Herasymenko-Oliynyk, Andrij Kytasty, Julian Kytasty Julian Kytasty Julian Kytasty is a Ukrainian-American composer, singer, kobzar, bandurist, flute player and conductor. He was born January 23 1958 in Detroit, Michigan, in the family of refugees.... , Victor Mishalow Victor Mishalow Victor Mishalow is an Australian born Canadian bandurist, and educator. He is also known as a composer, conductor, and musicologist.-Biography:Born April 4, 1960, in Sydney, Australia, he graduated from the Sydney University B.A... .

Persecution

Many bandurists and kobzars were persecuted by authorities that controlled Ukraine at various times because of the association of the bandura

Bandura

Bandura refers to a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. It combines elements of a box zither and lute, as well as its lute-like predecessor, the kobza...

 with growing Ukrainian national self-awareness

Nationalism

Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...

.