Volodymyr Kushpet (born 1948) is an influential Ukrainian

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

singer, and player on

torban The torban ( ua, Торбан, also ''teorban'' or ''Ukrainian theorbo'') is a Ukrainian musical instrument that combines the features of the Baroque lute with those of the psaltery. The Тorban differs from the more common European bass lute ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current currency of Turkey and also the local name of the currencies of Lebanon and of Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, including those of Italy, Malta and Israe ...

, he is noted for reconstruction of traditional playing techniques on these instruments. He is the author of a primer for these instruments and an in-depth study of the institution 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 b ...

Guilds, associations of itinerary

blind singers Blind musicians are singers or instrumentalists, or in some cases singer-accompanists, who are legally blind. Resources Historically, many blind musicians, including some of the most famous, have performed without the benefit of formal instruct ...

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 ...

. Volodymyr Kushpet studied

initially under Andriy Omelchenko and then later completed his studies at the

Kyiv Conservatory Pyotr Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine ( uk, Національна музична академія України імені Петра Чайковського) or Kyiv Conservatory is a Ukrainian state institution of higher music e ...

under

Serhiy Bashtan Serhiy Vasylievych Bashtan (12 January 1927 – 10 January 2017) was a professor of bandura at the Kiev Conservatory. Bashtan was born in the village of Novi Birochky, now Velykyj Khutir, Cherkasy Oblast. (Other sources state that he was born in ...

. Along with Kost Novytsky he was one of the founding members of the KOBZA pop group and played an electrified

in the ensemble. Later Kushpet performed in an instrumental bandora duo with Novytsky playing primarily classical transcriptions of instrumental works on the bandura. Kushpet beceameinterested in the authentic bandura and the kobza as played by

Ostap Veresai Ostap Mykytovych Veresai ( uk, Остап Микитович Вересай) (1803–April 1890) was a renowned minstrel and kobzar from the Poltava Governorate (now Chernihiv oblast) of the Russian Empire (now Ukraine). He helped to popularize k ...

, after being introduced to

Heorhy Tkachenko Heorhiy Kyrylovych Tkachenko ( uk, Георгій Кирилович Ткаченко; 5 May 1898 in Hlushkovo, Kursk region of the Russian Empire – 1993 in Kyiv, Ukraine) was a Ukrainian bard and bandurist. Biography Tkachenko was able to com ...

. From the transcriptions made by M. Lysenko in the 1870s Kushpet has managed to restore most of the repertoire performed by Veresai. Kushpet teaches at the kobzar school in Strytivka near

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 ...

and at one time at the Kharkiv Musical-Drama Institute. Recently he has also taught the

for a short period of time at the

Publications

*Kushpet, V. - "Samonavchytel' hry na starosvits'kykh muzychnykh instrumentakh" - K. 1997

References

*Czorny, M. - "Banduryst iakyj hraye na riznykh instrumentakh" - ''Svoboda'' 24 October 1997 #203 1948 births Living people Bandurists Kobzarstvo Ukrainian musicians Torbanists 21st-century Ukrainian musicians 20th-century Ukrainian musicians {{Ukraine-musician-stub