Kobzar guilds, regional organizations of

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 by ...

s and

lirnyk ] The lirnyk ( Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: лірник; plural лірники - lirnyky) were itinerant Ukrainian musicians who performed religious, historical and epic songs to the accompaniment of a lira, the Ukrainian version of the hurdy- ...

s, were widespread in the mid-19th century. Modeled on artisans' guilds, they protected their members' interests. Every brotherhood had its own secret traditions and regulations. Its members collectively chose as their centre a church, for which they bought icons, candles, and oil. They met at the church on certain holy days to attend requiem services for deceased members and to settle urgent matters. In the spring they secretly gathered elsewhere (usually the forests near

Brovary Brovary ( uk, Бровари, , yi, בראָוואַר, Brovar) is a city in Kyiv Oblast (Region) in northern Ukraine, an eastern suburb of the country's capital, Kyiv. It is the administrative centre of Brovary Raion (district). Brovary h ...

outside

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

) to elect their officers, to define the territory on which individual kobzars could operate, and to initiate new members according to a prescribed ritual. If necessary, the elected leader (pan otets) would call additional meetings. To become a member one had to have a physical handicap, to study

kobza The kobza ( uk , кобза), also called bandurka ( uk , бандурка) is a Ukrainian folk music instrument of the lute family ( Hornbostel-Sachs classification number 321.321-5+6), a relative of the Central European mandora. The term ''kobz ...

playing with a master (usually for at least two years), and to obtain permission ( vyzvilka) to perform independently, to know the kobzars' lebiiskyi language, and to pay dues regularly. A member who had violated a brotherhood's moral code was tried by a brotherhood's court. The severest punishment was ostracism. Lesser transgressors were whipped or fined. A member who chose to marry received a dowry from the brotherhood's treasury and was thereafter addressed in the polite second person plural by other members. If members caught a kobzar performing who had not received a vyzvilka, they destroyed his instrument, and he was fined and even beaten. The brotherhoods propagated the idea that kobzars were not beggars but professional artists, and instilled a sense of pride among their members; e.g., in asking or waiting for a reward, a member was forbidden to fall to his knees.

Sources

*Мішалов, В. і М. Українські кобзарі-бандуристи – Сідней, Австралія, 1986 - 106с. *Самчук, У. - Живі струни - Детройт, США, 1976 (468с.) Blind musicians Ukrainian music Kobzarstvo Bandura ensembles

See also

Sources