Kobzar Vasyl Nechepa performs at Stanford University (12/24/06)

Kobzar Vasyl Nechepa performs at Stanford University

by Nestor Wolansky

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Vasyl Nechepa, the well-known Ukrainian kobzar and recording artist from Chernihiv, gave a memorable performance at Stanford University on November 15.

Nancy Kollmann, the William H. Bonsall Professor of History at the university and the director of the Ukrainian Studies Program, introduced the dashing Mr. Nechepa, sporting a splashy and stylized modern-day kobzar costume. He had no trouble charming and mesmerizing a small but enthusiastic audience of some 50 people, with his dazzling display of total command of the two instruments he used: the plaintive, crank-driven lira and the soulful kobza, the precursor of today's larger, big-sound bandura, which, many readers will be surprised to learn, is only some 100 years old.

Like a magician, Mr. Nechepa changed his instruments back and forth as the particular song required. Most of the audience has never seen either the kobza, which - unlike the Russian national instrument, the three-stringed balalaika derived from the Mongol-Tatar musical tradition - has its origins in Europe and is close to the European minstrel-troubadour tradition, or the even more rare lira, also known as the hurdy-gurdy.

Mr. Nechepa commented briefly before each song in Ukrainian, and the translation, sometimes as difficult to understand as the original, was provided by a volunteer from Odesa. According to Mr. Nechepa, the Ukrainian kobzar tradition is being revived throughout Ukraine today, and is achieving great popularity.

Natalie Kononenko, in her wonderful book about the Ukrainian kobzars, "Ukrainian Minstels, and the Blind Shall Sing," points out that the two kinds of minstrels, the "kobzari" and the "lirnyki" were much more than blind street performers and beggars; they were the repositories of ancient Ukrainian traditions and culture. Such traditional minstrels were active between 1850 and 1930, when most disappeared abruptly under the Soviet regime. Many were imprisoned and executed on the orders from Stalin.

But the Ukrainian minstrel tradition goes back to the 15th century if not earlier. To be a kobzar or a lirnyk, a person had to be blind, and during a rigorous apprenticeship had to learrn his trade well. Each received musical training, learned the songs, both the religious psalms and the historical dumas, epic songs about ancient wars with Turks and Tatars, about the uprising against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or the oppressive Russian yoke, as well as the secret kobzar language, which helped them to communicate among themselves.

The initiated minstrels had to obtain the approval of the established performers in a special initiation ceremony. Seasonally, they toured the Ukrainian countryside, the towns, markets and bazaars, the church grounds or private homes, accompanied by a hired child guide.

In attendance at Mr. Nechepa's concert were the two Ukrainian consuls from the Ukrainian Consulate in San Francisco, who could not hide their pleasure, despite the fact that the mischievous Mr. Nechepa took a well-meaning pot shot at their expense, reminding them that governments in Ukraine were not always sympathetic to Ukrainian kobzars and their ancient traditions.

Mr. Nechepa's short tour in the United States included Texas, Chicago and New York. He has returned to Ukraine, where he is a senior scholar and researcher at the Kyiv Institute of Ukrainian Studies. His CD is available (and on sale) at the Yevshan Ukrainian online store: www.yevshan.com/catalog.asp.

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