Resilience and Cultural Solidarity

The bandura, a symbol of Ukrainian identity and resilience, played for centuries by kobzari who safeguarded the nation’s history through song. John Kinnear photo

There is so much to learn about Ukrainian history and while our dear Ukrainian columnist Irina leads us through their cultural and ethnic story, I thought I might add to it all.  Take you through some historic insights into what has shaped and plagued this remarkably resilient country for centuries.   I came across the story of the bandura and the kobzari recently and it spoke to me about this resilience.  It is something that Irina shares in her columns about her people. 

The story also revealed the brutality experienced through just one of many atrocities committed on them by the Russian and Soviet systems.  

Banduras have an unusual shape and can have between 55 and 68 strings.  Listening to one played on YouTube; I found it to be a beautifully melancholic instrument with rich sound. It appears to be a cross between a harp, a lute and a harpsichord.  When one understands its history the songs become more meaningful.  So here is the story. 

 The bandura is Ukraine’s national instrument but it is also a symbol of why negotiating with Russia is not going to work. For centuries blind musicians called kobzari travelled from village to village across Ukraine playing the bandura. They and their songs were the custodians of Ukraine’s oral history, Ukraine’s spiritual values and its national consciousness. There were songs and epic poems that chronicled Ukraine’s struggles and trials. Their existence made the kubzara and the bandura a threat to the Russian Imperial project. That’s because a nation with a keen sense of identity is difficult to subjugate. So Russia went to war against the bondura. In the 1800’s Russian authorities made it illegal to play the bondura on stage and even to walk down the street with a bondura on your back. In the 1900’s Soviet authorities shot and killed many of the remaining bondura players and burned their instruments. Most of the remaining kozaree perished in the 1932/1933 famine genocide orchestrated in Moscow.  This is referred to as the Holodomor (translation: death by starvation). But that is another story.

So why did they target the musicians? Because Russia’s goal was never about land or some geopolitical aim. They wanted to destroy Ukraine and Ukrainianess. Their ethnicity. Their national identity.  But to do that you have to destroy the bondura and the kobzari... 

It is heart-warming to learn that the bondura is experiencing an incredible resurgence these days with hundreds learning to play this captivating instrument. One that symbolizes the unwavering spirit of the Ukraine.