The Kobza: Songs and Tunes
Played on the Kobza and sung in Ukrainian by Paul Konoplenko
Recorded at: Folkways Records, NYC, 1961
The Kobza
The origin of the instrument is lost in the ages. The Ukrainian Kobza, as it is known today, is essentially the creation of the Ukrainian people. It existed in Ukraine in a primitive form as early as the eleventh century A.D.
As the height of its popularity and development, it became the favorite instrument for entertainment, alone and as an accompaniment for vocal song, and even for dance music, in the courts of the nobility. It also became the inseparable attribute of the Ukrainian Cossack hosts both in peace and in their marches and expeditions. It was the joy and consolation of the masses both in times of prosperity and tribulation through the centuries of stormy history of Ukraine.
The kobza is an instrument of the lute family. It was never manufactured in quantity for sale. But each kobza artist (Kobzar) made his own instrument according to common principles using his ingenuity and taste. It was always chiseled out of a single block of wood either willow or maple. Those made of board and glue together came in later centuries. It was made by interested individuals according to their abilities after seeking expert advice and guidance from master craftsman. In later years, an apprenticeship was required to have the instrument perfected for its chromatic melody.
It settled to standards of eight, ten and later twelve strings spread on the fingerboard and the deck.
About the 16th century, there appeared in Ukraine a new type of instrument, the Bandura. Because of a more convenient shape, it gradually crowded out the kobza from the Ukrainian Cossack hosts where it was a mainstay.
Paul Konoplenko-Zaporozetz
Artist-Kobzar, Paul Konoplenko-Zaporozetz was born in 1890 in Kherson Province, Ukraine. He completed his musical academy on violin from professor Karbulka, and school of music on guitar in Odessa from Italian Spetsi.
In 1902, Mr. Konoplenko had the privilege of meeting the only Kobzar with a “kobza”, Danylo Potapenko, the last of the Zaporozian Kozaks. He presented Mr. Konoplenko with a kobza which then was over 150 years old.
It was from Potapenko that Mr. Konoplenko acquired the ability of playing the kobza. Over many years, he mastered the technique of playing the beautiful instrument, and at the same time, improved the kabza itself. In 1910, at the Musical Festival in Odessa, Mr. Konoplenko achieved fame as a soloist-virtuoso. He was awarded a gold medal for his performance.
Before the first World War, Mr. Konoplenko put on concerts for many cultural organizations and in various operatic theatres in Ukraine, Crimea and Caucasia. Until the second World War, he periodically presented concerts in Europe. After the war, during a period of seven years, he presented his famous concerts in Canada. These were high recognized by many cultural societies and authoritative musicians.
As a soloist, Mr. Konoplenko played his beloved kobza for over 50 years in the style of “Puteado,”. He did not use a pick. By means of special techniques in tonal vibrations, he creates an impression of more than one instrument.
Mr. Konoplenko lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba and died in 1982.
Playlist information
1. A Cossack is Leaving for War ~ Music composed by M. O. Hayworons (1892-1949) and adapted for the Kobza by Paul Konoplenko. The music was composed for a song about a young Cossack, leaving for war in the defense of Ukraine, parting with his sweetheart. In traditional custom, he asks her to give him a kerchief. Should he die on the battlefield, this kerchief would cover his face as he is laid to rest. He tells her it would make his rest in the grave easier. This marching song was widely spread among the Cossack hosts and the populace of the period. It still holds its place as a favorite among traditional songs.
2. The Black Cloud ~ Poet: Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861), Composer: M. Lysenko (1842 – 1912). The black clouds, one from the south and another from the east, are the impending enemy invasions. The tragic but heroic story of Ukraine was told and retold to the populace by the kobzars in their dumas. They sang, playing the kobza for accompaniment, as they went about like the bards and minstrels of England. Shevchenko, also, was a victim of this enslavement and severe oppression. It was not until after his death in 1861 that the Czar of Russia proclaimed abolition of slavery. Shevchenko speaksof Ukraine as sad and worried over the gathering “black cloud”. Ukraine’s people are enslaved, the Cossack hosts are dying. There is no one able to save her from this ill fate.
3. O, Bethrothed Maiden ~ An old folk song arranged for the kobza by Kobzar P. Konoplenko. An engaged maiden explains that she walks about sad because she could not put out of her mind the one she really loves. Teasingly, she is told that her thoughts are wandering and that she doesn’t really know whom she loves. She declares that she knows full well the person she loves. But she doesn’t know with whom she will have to live. In her thoughts, she reassures herself that her charming face has not faded, and that the one she loved, and hoped he would propose, wasn’t worthy of her.
4. Oh, My Mother Told Me ~ A folk song written by composer S.H. Artemowsky (1813-1873). The water well often served as a convenient evening rendezvous for pairs in love. In this song, the mother admonishes her daughter not to invite boys into the orchard-grove beside the house. However, one evening on her trip for water, love proves stronger than words. She forgets mother’s admonition and chats with her handsome lover until late at night. This song was well known among Ukrainian village youth.
5. For Your Cherry Lips ~ Music composed by R. Kupchinsky. A boy, charmed by the cherry-red lips of a beautiful girl, tells her that he would surrender to her all his possessions in return for her love.
6. Ukrainian Folk Dances ~ A group of four old favorites from Ukraine: a) Highlander’s Kolomeyka, b) Carpathian Dance, c) Choomak (namesake of men who travelled back and forth bringing salt, etc. from Crimea), and d) Doodochka (means pipe or reed). The steps of these dances, the dance tunes and songs that go with them originated and developed among the populace and descended through the centuries. Hence, there is no known author for the words or music.
7. Bayda, An Old Duma ~ Arranged by H. Khotkevitch (1877-1938). A ballad about a famous Ukrainian prince, Bayda Vyshevetsky, of the 16th century. At that time, there were battles between Turkey and Ukraine. In one of the combats, he was captured. The Sultan said that if Bayda would give up his native land and faith, he would get in return the Sultan’s daughter in marriage, honors and wealth. But Bayda categorically refused the offer. He would rather die than be a traitor to his country, Ukraine!
8. O, Green Oak Tree ~ Music composed by M. O. Hayvoronsky. A folk song of the Volyn province of Ukraine. A young Cossack worries because, though born handsome, he lacked good fortune which he considered to be more important. He draws an analogy between himself and the sadly leaning young oak tree. At the height of despair, when he was about to drown himself, the girl he loved became convinced of his true love for her. She came forth to save him by declaring her love for him.
9. Our Ukraine ~ This duma, sung by the kobzars of Ukraine in the latter part of the 18th century, told this tragic story. Through deliberate falsehoods and treachery, the Czar of Moscovy seized control of Ukraine. To regain complete independence and liberty Hetman (chosen ruler) Ivan Mazzepa joined forces with King Karlo XII of Sweden against Czar Peter I of Russia in 1709 A.D. The attempt failed and the Czar’s hold tightened until the enslavement of Ukraine became complete.
10. Blow Wind, Unto Ukraine ~ Music composed by W. Alexandriw (1825-1893), Verse composed by Stephen Rudansk (1825-1873). A folk song of a youth, living in another country far from Ukraine, where he left his sweetheart. He requests the wind to find her and see if she shows signs that she is steadfast in her love for him. Then the wind is to return with the good news at midnight. But if she loves another, the wind should scatter over the wide steppes of Ukraine and not return to him with the bad news.
11. There Stands a Mountain ~ Music composed by M. Lysenko. This folk song compares the passing beauty of summer, which returns with the warm spring sun, to the fleeting years of youth that never return. At the foot of the high mountain spreads the green forest like the Garden of Eden. Along the edge of this forest winds a stream whose glistening waters flow through the green valley and are lost in the great beyond. Although this beautiful grandeur will be lost with the advance of autumn and winter, it will return with the arrival of the warm sun in the spring. But our fleeting days of youth, like the gleaming waters, will never return.
12. A Bundle of Jocund Folk Songs ~ Sung, with accompaniment on the kabza, by P. Konoplenko.
a) If I but the magic knew, I’d do away with winter and it would always be summer. Instead of snowdrifts, we’d have drifts of sugar; in the clouds would be a hole from which whiskey would drip into one’s mouth; and sausages would grow on willows.
b) Be gone, death! Death came to take the widow but she says she has no time to die for she’s busy entertaining with her neighbors.
c) John was sowing millet. This husband’s wife is so stubborn and contrary that she insists the fish he caught is a lobster. For the sake of peace, he says, “Let thine will be done, let the fish be a lobster.” She was always fast to take a contrary stand and he readily gave in.
External Links
Source: LP album insert