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The word husli was, in the times of Kievan Rus', the generic word for a string musical instrument. This Later the word became associated with a psaltery-like instrument that existed in Kievan Rus' and continued to be played in Ukraine until well into the 19th century. The root of the word is derived from the early Slavic word "gosl," which meant "string" and can be found in other Slavic languages have formed terms dealing with string music instruments. In Bulgaria and Yugoslavia "gusle" denotes a one-stringed fiddle. In Western Ukraine and in Byelorus' it is often used to denote a fiddle and sometimes a ducted flute. A special school of music was opened in Hlukhiv in 1738, Chernihiv province, which taught bandura, violin and husli. It is thought that the husli influenced the introduction of treble strings on the bandura and that because of this, the bandura replaced the husli. In the 19th century it was played primarily by townsfolk and clergy. The husli had 11 to 36 gut or metal diatonically tuned strings and was made in various sizes. It is thought to have come to Rus' from Byzantium. The husli were primarily used by the landed gentry and was made redundant by the introduction of keyboard instruments. They are no longer in widespread use as a Ukrainian folk instrument, though they continue to be used in Russia
No 1 Illustration: (p.6) Husli ensemble, 16th century. (Possible change drawing of more contemporary husli)
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The history of the kobza can be traced back to 6th century Greek chronicles and it was often mentioned by wandering Arab scholars who visited Rus' in the 10-11th centuries. The term itself is thought to be of Middle Eastern extraction and was thought to have been introduced into the Ukrainian language in the 13th century with the migration of a large group of people from Abkhazia to the Poltava region. The term came to differentiate this instrument from other string instruments generically known as husli.
The kobza became a favorite instrument of the Ukrainian Cossacks and
was widely played by the rural
masses and in the courts of Polish kings and Russian tsars. Here it served
a role similar to the lute in Western
Europe. Unfortunately, the kobza, like its close cousin the lute, fell
into disuse and was gradually replaced by the
bandura, guitar and mandolin. The term kobza later became a synonym for
the bandura. The instrument kobza
was traditionally carved out of a single piece of wood and consisted of a
soundboard with strings strung across it.
The number of strings could vary from three to eight. Occasionally it
would have frets made of gut, and three to
four additional strings strung along the soundboard. The strings were
either plucked with a plectrum or with the
ends of the fingers.
Kobzar Ostap Veresai
In recent times attempts have been made to revive the original fretted kobza. In 1968-70 Kyivan instrument-maker Mykola Prokopenko has designed several fretted kobzas which have become the standard in Ukraine. (However this has met however with only limited success.) The contemporary fretted kobza is made in two versions. The first is a seven-stringed instrument that uses an open G tuning similar to that of the seven-string guitar. Other variants of this instrument having a six-string guitar tuning are becoming popular as well as a double course twelve string model.
 The legendary Cossack Mamai playing the fretted kobza |
The second is a four-stringed orchestral variant. The orchestral kobza is tuned in fifths like the strings of the mandolin and violin, and is played with a plectrum. It is used in orchestras of Ukrainian folk instruments, and is produced in prima, alto, tenor, bass and contrabass sizes. The Romanians and Moldovans also have a similar fretted instrument that they call a Cobsa which appeared in the 16th century and has eight to twelve gut or metal strings tuned in fourths or fifths. This instrument is thought to have originated in Bukovyna and is also the term used in Rumania to describe the guitar.
No 4 Photo Anatoliy Prokopenko's seven string kobza (Please use this photo) (No 5 Prokopenko's four string orchestral kobza) (No 6 Photo Kobzar Pavlo Konoplenko Zaporozhetz)
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The Torban is a variant of the bandura and is often called the
gentlemen's or pans'ka bandura. The torban
differs from the standard bandura in that the body is glued from ribs like
that of a lute or mandolin. It has two
pegboxes on the end of the neck, the additional one of which houses a
second set of bass strings. Some torbans
have frets on the neck which made them into a more universal instrument by
combining aspects of the bandura and
kobza. The torban has approximately 30 strings, usually made of gut,
although instruments having up to 60 strings
are known to have existed. These instruments were very popular among the
gentry and nobility of Poland, Russia
and Ukraine, and it is known that prominent Ukrainians such as Hetman
Mazepa and Kyrylo Rozumovsky played
the torban.
Torbans from "The Guitar review" N 33
It is thought that the Torban was influenced by the French theorbo (teorbe) which the Cossacks under the command of Colonel Ivan Sirko would have observed during their campaigns with the French during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). The Cossacks would have had bandurists among their ranks and it is thought that these bandurists may have been the first to develop the hybrid instrument. The torban began to fall into disuse in the 19th century. It was more difficult to play and make, and more expensive. In the early 1920's the torban was branded antiproletarian, because of its association with court aristocratic musical traditions. This marked the end of its use in Ukraine, where it was replaced by the guitar and bandura. Certain structural peculiarities of the torban have made an appearance in the contemporary bandura. These include such peculiarities as the doubled bass pegbox and the glued back. The later feature is being used extensively on the Lviv banduras.
Kobzar Hnat Honcharenko and Olexander Borodai (standing)
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The bandura is a uniquely Ukrainian instrument that does not have any direct analogies in neighboring countries. The classical or folk bandura is thought to have evolved developed from its predecessor, the kobza, in the 14-15th centuries. First mentions of a Ukrainian bandurist date back to Polish chronicles of 1441. The bandura differed from the kobza in that it had no frets along the neck and the major playing was done on treble strings known as prystrunky. These were placed to one side of the strings strung across the neck. The classical bandura became very popular among the Ukrainian Cossacks and was often played in the courts of Poland and Russia.
The size and shape of the classical bandura has remained remarkably stable for the past 300 years. Instruments which date from the 1600's are very similar to those used at the turn of the century by the wandering minstrels known as kobzars. The classical bandura had 20 to 24 metal strings tuned diatonically. The back was hewn from of a single piece of timber, with a soundboard of spruce or pine. Wooden tuning pegs were used and there was hardly any metal on the instrument. The instrument often had a belt to aid in holding it when being played or carried.
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Left - Classical bandura made by William Vetzal. Right - Kobzar Tkachenko with his students. | |
This has resulted because of the suggestion by the Russian academic A. Famintsyn that the Ukrainian people had borrowed the bandura from England from a guitar-like instrument developed invented in 1561 by John Rose that he called a bandore. This has since been disproved. The first mentions of the bandura in Ukraine now date to more than a hundred years earlier.
(No 11 Picture of Kobzar)
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The Kharkiv style of bandura playing was developed by Hnat Khotkevych. At the turn of the century Khotkevych published the first textbook for bandura in 1909 in Lviv. This text introduced the method of playing the classical bandura with 20 strings. In the 1920's the bandura was introduced as an instrument taught at the Kharkiv Conservatory. A new concert instrument evolved having 30 to 31 strings, tuned diatonically through four octaves. The instrument was held so that the player could use both hands over all the strings. It was later made in three orchestral sizes: piccolo, prima and bass. These early Kharkiv banduras were designed by Leonid Haydamaka. The Kharkiv bandura was developed into a fully chromatic instrument by the Honcharenko brothers in 1946. Further developments continue to take place in North America mainly in the instruments made by Bill Vetzal in Canada.
 T. Paliyivetz - master bandura-maker, Poltava, with newly made Kharkiv banduras for the Polta va Bandurist Chorus |  Hryhoriy Bazhul with the Kharkiv bandura |
The Kharkiv style of bandura-playing disappeared in Ukraine and was used at one time only by emigre bandurists. Recently Professor Vasyl Herasymenko in Lviv has made several Kharkiv-style instruments and has actively tried to reintroduce the style back into mainstream Ukrainian musical life. The most renown exponents of this style in Ukraine are Oleh Sozansky and Taras Lazurkevych in Lviv. The contemporary Kharkiv bandura is now a chromatically tuned instrument with a mechanism on each string that allows the instrument to be retuned into various keys quickly.
 Ken Bloom with his Kharkiv bandura | Photo: Bill Vetzal's Poltavka |
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The Kyiv bandura was developed in the 20th century based on the classical instrument. The instrument differed from the classical bandura in that it had many more strings. Additional chromatic strings were introduced onto the instrument, initially just the leading note string in 1916 and then all 5 chromatic strings in 1925 bt bandura maker Olexander Kornievsky. In 1956 the Chernihiv musical instrument factory began manufacturing a scientifically redesigned instrument developed by master bandura-maker - Ivan Skliar. Since then the instrument has been stable in its shape and method of playing. The contemporary Kyiv bandura is made in several sizes and types. The most common is the standard 'prima' instrument made by the Chernihiv Instrument Factory with 12 bass and 43 treble strings tuned chromatically through almost five octaves. The professional concert bandura is the same size and shape as the 'prima'. It has 62 to 65 and a universal mechanism like that of a harp to rapidly change the tuning of the strings. Smaller sized instruments for children with 42 strings are also available, and alto, bass and contrabass banduras are used in professional bandura choruses in Ukraine.
The Lviv musical instrument factory now manufactures small size concert banduras with mechanism with 65 strings and a full range geared toward younger players. These instruments were designed by Professor Vasyl Herasymenko, and will no doubt help establish a professional class of bandurists. The Kyiv bandura has developed into a very capable virtuoso instrument, with original music such as suites, sonatas and concertos being composed for it by professional composers. Gradually it is leaving the confines of its folkloric environment. Courses in bandura are now being taught in several conservatories in Ukraine and brilliant performers are now emerging.
(No 15 Photos of children's bandura) (No 16 Bandura prima) (No 17 Concert bandura) No 17a Photo: (p16) Master Bandura-maker Vasyl Herasymenko and his Lviv concert bandura.
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With the popularity of Ukrainian folkloric instrumental and vocal ensembles the need for orchestral banduras to even out the sound in the upper and lower registers became important.
The first orchestral banduras were Kharkiv-style banduras designed by Leonid Haydamaka in the late 1920's made for the Metalsit Ukrainian Folk Instrument Orchestra. N. Lupych made a fretted bass bandura for the Kyiv Bandura Chorus in 1935. The Honcharenko brothers developed bass and contrabass banduras with a fretboard and treble strings, in the experimental workshop of the Shevchenko Bandurist Chorus in Ingolstadt, Germany. Ivan Skliar also developed alto, bass and contrabass banduras for the Kyiv Bandurist Chorus in the early 1960's. These instruments were built on the principles of the Kyiv concert bandura and some included a retuning mechanism. In the 1970's a fretted bass was developed by Mykola Chystota for the Kiev Bandurist Chorus. This instrument had three bass stings tuned in fourths and 12 chromatically tuned treble strings. The ease of playing and sound quality of these instruments was so good that they soon replaced the bass banduras developed by Ivan Skliar.
Photo Honcharenko Brothers with Bass and contrabass banduras
