Kobzar

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For the collection of poems by Taras Shevchenko, see Kobzar (book).

Kozak Mamai playing a kobza

Slobozhan kobzar P. Drevchenko and Poltava kobzar M. Kravchenko in Kharkiv 1902

A Kobzar (Ukrainian: кобзар, pl. kobzari Ukrainian: кобзарі) was an itinerant Ukrainian bard. Kobzars were often blind, and became predominantly so by the 1800's. Kobzar literally means ‘kobza player’, a Ukrainian stringed instrument of the lute family, and more broadly — a performer of the musical material associated with the kobzar tradition.

The kobzar tradition was established during the Hetmanate Era around the sixteenth century in Ukraine. Kobzars accompanied their singing with a musical instrument known as the kobza, bandura or lira. Their repertoire primarily consisted of paraliturgical psalms and "kanty", and also included a unique epic form known as dumas.

In Ukraine, kobzars organized themselves into regional Guilds or Brotherhoods, known as Kobzars'kyj Tsekh. They had to undergo a rigorous apprenticeship (usually three years in length) before undergoing the first set of open examinations to become a kobzar. These guilds were thought to have been modelled on the Orthodox Church brotherhoods as each guild was associated with a specific church. These guilds then would take care of one church icon or purchase new religious ornaments for their affiliated church (Kononeko, p. 568–9). The Orthodox Church however was often suspicious of and occasionally even hostile to kobzars.

The institution of the kobzardom essentially ended in the Ukrainian SSR in the mid 1930s during Stalin's radical transformation of rural society which included the liquidation of the kobzars of Ukraine.^[1] Kobzar performance was replaced with stylized performances of folk and classical music utilising the bandura.

In recent times there has been an interest in reviving of authentic kobzar traditions which is marked by the re-establishing the Kobzar Guild as a centre of historical authentic performance practice.

At the turn of the nineteenth century there were three regional kobzar schools: Chernihiv, Poltava, and Slobozhan, which were differentiated by repertoire and playing style.

[edit] Other use of the term

Kobzar is also a seminal book of poetry by Taras Shevchenko, the great national poet of Ukraine.

The term "kobzar" has on occasion been used for hurdy-gurdy players in Belarus (where the hurdy-gurdy is often referred to as a "kobza", and bagpipe players in Poland where the bagpipe is referred to as a "kobza" or "koza".