Hryhory Ivanovych Bazhul ( uk, Григорій Іванович Бажул transcribed as Georg Baschul)
[ Note: Name was transcribed via German on Australian Government documents.] (January 22, 1906 — October 17, 1989) was a
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
bandurist
A banduryst ( uk, бандури́ст) is a person who plays the Ukrainian plucked string instrument known as the bandura.
Types of performers
There are a number of different types of bandurist who differ in their particular choice of instrumen ...
and publisher of articles on
bandura
A bandura ( uk, банду́ра) is a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. It combines elements of the zither and lute and, up until the 1940s, was also often referred to by the term kobza. Early instruments (c. 1700) had 5 to 12 strings ...
history from
Poltava, Russian Empire.
[http://histpol.pl.ua/pages/content.php?page=1261 ] After World War II he emigrated to Australia settling in Sydney.
Early life
Hryhory Ivanovych Bazhul was born in the
Poltava Governorate
The Poltava Governorate (russian: Полтавская губерния, Poltavskaya guberniya; ua, Полтавська Губернія, translit=Poltavska huberniia) or Poltavshchyna was a Governorate (Russia), gubernia (also called a provin ...
of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
(in present-day
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
), his father was a rail road engineer and his family moved to
Kharkiv
Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.[agronomist
An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the ...]
.
[Dibrivny, I. "Григорій І. Бажул (некролог)", ''Вільна Думка'', Sydney, Australia, 12.ХІ.89 ]
In the late 1920s he was arrested and spent 2 years of
penal labour at the
Berdyansk
Berdiansk or Berdyansk ( uk, Бердя́нськ, translit=Berdiansk, ; russian: Бердя́нск, translit=Berdyansk ) is a port city in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast (province) in south-eastern Ukraine. It is on the northern coast of the Sea o ...
agricultural
labour colony
A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...
.
On his return to Kharkiv he became interested in the
bandura
A bandura ( uk, банду́ра) is a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. It combines elements of the zither and lute and, up until the 1940s, was also often referred to by the term kobza. Early instruments (c. 1700) had 5 to 12 strings ...
after hearing the blind
kobzar
A ''kobzar'' ( ua, кобзар, pl. kobzari ua, кобзарі) was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment, played on a multistringed bandura or kobza.
Tradition
Kobzars were often blind and became predominantly so b ...
, Pavlo Keleberda, playing on the streets. In 1931 he enrolled in bandura classes and studied with
Hnat Khotkevych
Hnat Martynovych Khotkevych ( uk, Гнат Мартинович Хоткевич, also ''Gnat Khotkevich'' or ''Hnat Khotkevych'', born December 31, 1877 – died October 8, 1938) was a Ukrainian writer, ethnographer, playwright, composer, musico ...
in the second group of students established at the Kharkiv worker's conservatory. In 1933, after the classes were closed, he continued to study privately with Khotkevych and soon became a close friend of his family.
[Мішалов В. Культурно-мистецькі аспекти ґенези і розвитку виконавства на Харківській бандурі // Давидов М. Виконавське мистецтво - Енциклопедичний довідник // Київ. Національна музична академія України ім. П. І. Чайковського, 2010 — С.277 - 287.][Мішалов В. - Видатний будівничий бандурного мистецтва - Гнат Хоткевич // Гнат Хоткевич - «Твори для Харківської бандури» Глас, Х.:2007 - С.192-241]
In the early 1934, Bazhul was arrested again and charged with improperly giving bread ration coupons to the Khotkevych family during the period of the Famine-
Holodomor. He was sentenced to two years in exile in
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
, northern
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
and
Tayshet
Tayshet ( rus, Тайшет, p=tɐjˈʂɛt, lit. ''cold river'' in the Kott language) is a town and the administrative center of Tayshetsky District in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located northwest of Irkutsk, the administrative center of the obla ...
. After serving his sentence he returned to Kharkiv in 1936.
In February 1938, Khotkevych was arrested by the
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
(Soviet secret police) and in October he was shot in Kharkiv as an enemy of the state with all his possessions confiscated.
Khotkevych's widow gave Bazhul a number of her husband's manuscripts for safekeeping. Some 60 manuscripts were preserved by Bazhul, including the original of the epic ''Bayda''.
War years
Hryhory Bazhul published a number of inflammatory anti-Soviet articles, during the Nazi
occupation of Kharkiv (1941–1943), in the occupational press about the treatment of kobzars and bandurists by the Soviet regime.
[Bazhul, H. "Про бандуру", Нова Україна, 25.ХІІ.1942. - p. 4] He attempted to organise a
bandurist capella in Kharkiv and performed numerous solo concerts locally under the ''non-de-plume'' of Keleberd. To escape repercussions from the advancing
Soviet forces Bazhul moved west.
In Western Ukraine, he formed a bandura trio with
Zinoviy Shtokalko and
Volodymyr Yurkevych which worked throughout the region, including numerous performances for the soldiers in the
Ukrainian Insurgent Army
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army ( uk, Українська повстанська армія, УПА, translit=Ukrayins'ka povstans'ka armiia, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and later partisan formation. During World ...
.
[Bazhul, H. "Альфа і омеґа мистецької одиниці в Сіднеї", ''Вільна Думка'' 13.VI.1982]
Bazhul continued travelling west through
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
to Austria. In Vienna, he joined the
Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus
The Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus ( uk, Українська Капеля Бандуристів Північної Америки ім. Т. Г. Шевченка; full name: ''The Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus of North America'') is a s ...
and eventually became the administrator. At his insistence
Volodymyr Bozhyk joined the group, alongside other professional singer non-bandurists primarily from Western Ukraine
He resigned from the Chorus and founded and directed a bandura quintet,
the Veresai Brotherhood, which toured the Ukrainian communities in the
displaced persons
Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...
camps in Germany with a program agitating against the return to the Soviet Union of Ukrainians, to great acclaim until 1948.
Emigration to Australia
At the end of the war, in September 1948, Bazhul migrated to Australia.
[ Note: ''Protea'' arrived in Melbourne on 25 September 1948.] He performed solo at various community functions and ethnic festivals. He established a bandura ensemble in 1958 which toured Australia and made a recording in 1961, when it disbanded.
[Bazhul, H. "Кобзарське мистецтво в Австралії", ''Вільна Думка'', № 51(1047), Sydney, Australia, 21.XII.1969] In 1964, he re-established the bandura, which later became the
Hnat Khotkevych Ukrainian Bandurist Ensemble
The Hnat Khotkevych Ukrainian Bandurist Ensemble is a vocal and instrumental Ukrainian folkloric performing ensemble in Sydney, Australia. It was founded in June 1964 by bandurist Hryhory Bazhul and since May 1971 was directed by Peter Deria ...
. He remained as director until 1971 when
Peter Deriashnyj replaced him.
[Markus V. (ed) ''Encyclopedia of the Ukrainian Diaspora Vol 4''. (Australia-Asia-Africa) Австралія-Азія-Африка) ]Shevchenko Scientific Society
The Shevchenko Scientific Society () is a Ukrainian scientific society devoted to the promotion of scholarly research and publication that was founded in 1873.
Unlike the government-funded National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the society ...
and the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; uk, Національна академія наук України, ''Natsional’na akademiya nauk Ukrayiny'', abbr: NAN Ukraine) is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine th ...
, Kyiv—New York—Chicago—Melbourne, p.40 1995
During the ensemble's existence it undertook numerous performances by itself and with the Boyan Choir under the direction of
Vasyl Matiash. In 1970, on the basis of the bandura ensemble, Bazhul organised a school for bandura playing.
Bazhul published a number of articles about Khotkevych and his life as a bandurist in various Ukrainian language journals.
Bazhul died on October 17, 1989 in Sydney, aged 83.
Bibliography
* Bazhul, H. "Про бандуру", ''Нова Україна'', 25.ХІІ.1942. - p. 4
* Bazhul, H. "Спогади про Гната Хоткевича" – Interview recorded on cassette 1984. (90 minutes)
* Bazhul, H. "Гнат Хоткевич", in ''Новий Обрій'', №2, Melbourne, Australia. 1960, pp. 142–149
* Bazhul, H. "Кобзарське мистецтво в Австралії", ''Вільна Думка'', № 51(1047), Sydney, Australia, 21.XII.1969
* Bazhul, H. "Альфа і омеґа мистецької одиниці в Сіднеї", ''Вільна Думка'' 13.VI.1982, and also in ''Бандура'', 1985, №13-14, pp. 27–32
* Bazhul, H. "З бандурою по світу", ''Бандура'', 1984, №9/10, pp. 46–52
References
;General
* Dutchak V. - "Bazhul, Hryhory Ivanovych", i
''Українська музична енциклопедія'' – том. 1(''Ukrainian Music Encyclopedia'' Vol. 1),
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; uk, Національна академія наук України, ''Natsional’na akademiya nauk Ukrayiny'', abbr: NAN Ukraine) is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine th ...
, Kyiv, 2006 p. 118
;Specific
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bazhul, Hryhory
Bandurists
Kobzars
1906 births
1989 deaths
Ukrainian musicians
Australian people of Ukrainian descent
Soviet emigrants to Australia