The Kobzars’ Pentecost Festival recently ended at the Ivan Honchar Museum, part of the Ukrainian Center for Folk Culture in Kyiv. The program included master classes on making banduras, kobzas, and lyres, as well as exhibits devoted to the kobzar art and a concert of kobzar, bandurist, and spiritual music. A highlight of the festival was an exhibit called the “Kharkiv Kobzar Tradition,” featuring a modern kobzars’ guild. This association of musicians differs from other performers in developing areas of Ukrainian folk music, but it is not creating a monopoly on performances of this type of music. The guild does not compete with professional bandurists, who use both modern and old-world instruments. The main goal of the kobzars’ guild is to perform in the traditional epic style.
