Ukraine’s Lost Instruments Kobzaring across Canada

Ukraine’s Lost Instruments Kobzaring across Canada

Rosanne Fortier News Correspondent

To get at the root and truth about Ukrainian culture, history, and traditions, people need to experience the stories and sounds from the lost instruments of Ukraine-the traditional Ukrainian bandura, kobza, and turban. These instruments became alive at the Kobzaring across Canada program with Jurij Fedynskyj and Oleh But on September 23 at the Senior Citizen Sunshine Club of Vegreville.

Jurij was born in Indianapolis. He has lived in Raleigh, North Carolina since he was 23 and then for the next half of his life, he has lived in Ukraine because this is where he feels most at home. Jurij said he decided to perform these lost instruments because the world needs serious and educational songs where the lyrics and lectures speak of virtuous moral concepts.

The most unique thing about these instruments is no one in the world; especially in Ukraine knows what these instruments are. Yet, before the Soviet Regime in 1917 everyone in Ukraine would have known.

His colleague for this event, Oleh But has been traveling to villages in Ukraine trying to save the Ukrainian traditional dance music and musical instruments like the violin, drums, and folk whistles.

Jurij opened by playing the Ukrainian bandura where he continued later to perform on the turban and kobza. Jurij made these instruments from old photographs he has seen.

During the program, But taught the audience different traditional dance steps while he later, gave a traditional demonstration and repertoire of the fiddle and other Ukrainian instruments and spoke about and showed how certain chords create a soundscape in the music.

Some members of the audience later commented that the lost instruments sounded really beautiful.

This event had free admission. Jurij Fedynskyj with the Organization-Kobzarskiy Tabir presented the program in partnership with Vegreville Tourism Advisory Board.