Talk:Kobzar/Archives/2012

Point of view

The entire Discussion section of this article belongs on the talk page, not in the article body. It is not encyclopedic in content or tone. Alan 15:37, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

Discussion

One of the problems in the contemporary study of the bandura and its art is the definition of what is and what is not a kobzar. What are the parameters for being a kobzar? When does one stop being a kobzar? Can a woman be a kobzar?

Some people have the notion that anyone that holds a bandura in his hands is a kobzar. Others feel that the term can only be used for a male, and excludes females. Still others feel that it is all dependent on repertoire. When one becomes even more specific, some categorize kobzars as the singers of dumy, historic songs and psalms. Still others state that true kobzars were blind.

In recent times the term kobzar is being more specific, being used for the vocation of a blind itinerant musician who played the bandura or kobza and led a specific lifestyle. With the great social upheavals of the 20th century, this lifestyle and vocation ceased to exist. With it disappeared much of the kobzar legacy. This cessation has been strongly missed by sections of the Ukrainian society and attempts were made to document and revive it. Thus we have bandurists who are not kobzars in the traditional sense, who perform music which may, or may not have been greatly influenced by the kobzars. These performers are however not true kobzars.

There are even instances of blind musicians who play the contemporary bandura - conservatory trained who remind us in may ways of the traditional kobzar, - however these are not true kobzars - these are more accurately categorized as Blind bandurists.

The problem then stands as to how to categorize these many related groups of performers.

It may be better to confine the definition of kobzar to just those musicians who lead a specific lifestyle, performed in a traditional manner and a specific repertoire. Soviet pseudo-kobzars (usually blind musicians whose lifestyle, repertoire and bandura technique differs considerably from that of their predecessors), authentic performers (contemporary bandurists performing in a manner as similar to the authentic kobzars as possible), kobzar-bandurists (non-blind performers on contemporary instruments with metal pegs and chromatic strings using contemporary bandura techniques) and bandurists (conservatory trained instrumentalists who usually play non-traditional repertoire).

Strings

What material were the strings originally made from, and what material is used today? Badagnani 02:36, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

Gut until mid-19th century, brass thereafter. Not overnight, naturally.Galassi 02:39, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

Thin Steel strings for the violin began to be sold in the Russian Empire after 1891. The first bandurist to use steel strings on the bandura was Hnat Khotkevych in 1896. By 1902 most of the kobzars in the Kharkiv region had metal strings.

In 1874 Ostap Veresai had gut strings except for 1 string on the neck whi8ch was of brass. Gut strings however were still in use by some bandurists up until the 50's --Bandurist 04:36, 4 August 2007 (UTC)