Paul Konoplenko-Zaprozhetz ( uk, Павло Конопленко-Запорожець, b. 1890, Kherson Province, Ukraine — 1982

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

, Canada) — was a

Ukrainian Canadian Ukrainian Canadians ( uk, Українські канадці, Україноканадці, translit=Ukrayins'ki kanadtsi, Ukrayinokanadtsi; french: Canadiens d'origine ukrainienne) are Canadian citizens of Ukrainian descent or Ukrainian-born p ...

author and

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 ''kob ...

player. Konoplenko originally obtained his kobza from

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 ...

Danylo Potapenko in Kyiv in 1902. At that time the instrument was 50 years old. Konoplenko had studied violin under professor Karbulka and guitar in Odessa under an Italian teacher Spetsi. He joined the

Sich Riflemen The Sich Riflemen Halych-Bukovyna Kurin ( uk, Січові Cтрільці з Галичини та Буковини) were one of the first regular military units of the Ukrainian People's Army. The unit operated from 1917 to 1919 and was for ...

and retreated with Ukrainian forces to Poland. He continued to perform throughout Europe in the mid war years. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he emigrated to Canada, settling in Winnipeg where he continued to perform kobzar repertoire on his kobza. In 1961 Paul Konoplenko-Zaporozhetz recorded a disc of kobza music for the Folkways label, which is available from the Smithsonian website Konoplenko's instrument had eight strings strung along the neck and four treble strings strung on the soundboard. The tuning used was reminiscent to that of the seven-string Russian guitar tuning (open G tuning). Konoplenko was the author of a number of books about the history of the bandura, koza and kobzars published in Canada including: * ''Кобза і бандура'' ("The Kobza and Bandura"), Winnipeg, 1963. * ''Kobzar'', Winnipeg, 1978. In 1980 he was awarded the Shevchenko Medal by the

Ukrainian Canadian Congress The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC; uk, Конгрес Українців Канади) is a nonprofit umbrella organization of Ukrainian-Canadian political, cultural, and religious organizations. History Originally known as the Ukrainian ...

References

Sources

* Kudrytsky, A. V. - ''Mystetsvo Ukrainy - Biohrafichnyj dovidnyk'' - Kiev 1997 * Ukrainians in North America, USA * Литвин, М. – ''Струни золотії'' – “Веселка”, К.:1994 (117с.) * Мішалов, В. і М. ''Українські кобзарі-бандуристи'' – Сідней, Австралія, 1986 - 106с. * Самчук, У. - ''Живі струни'' - Детройт, США, 1976 (468с.) Kobzarstvo Bandurists 1890s births 1982 deaths {{Ukraine-musician-stub