The dissertation is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of the composer's
heritage of bandura players in the period of the second half of the 20th - beginning of
the 21st century. The work is based on the determination of historical, socio-political
and personal circumstances influencing the emergence and existence of the
compositional direction of bandurists-practitioners.
Until now, the composer assets of bandura players were considered only in the
context of studies of individual creative personalities, genres or directions of original
bandura creativity, but there was no independent study that would comprehensively
cover the specified phenomenon.
First of all, the main principles of the academic bandura tradition, which began
its formation at the beginning of the last century with the ascetic activity of Hnat
Hotkevych, his associates and followers, are characterized. Bringing the bandura out
of existence only within the authentic tradition of kobzars, opening bandura classes in
professional musical education institutions of various levels, working on the
modernization of the instrument’s— all this equally affected the change in the
historical and social functions of the bandura art of that time.
In the analysis of the historical basis of the bandura tradition of the 20th-21st
centuries, special attention is focused on the emergence of the simulacrum of bandura
art. In this context, the philosophical concept of simulacrum, which was consistently
substantiated by the French postmodernist Jean Baudrillard in the 1980s, is understood
as the replacement of the deep content of bandura creativity and performance with
socialist ideological narratives and the active use of such twisted bandura art in
propaganda activities. The facts and statements described in the study unequivocally
confirm the deliberate creation of the bandura simulacrum by the Soviet ruling elite,
its persistent use and, unfortunately, a direct impact on today's bandura art. Concrete
confirmation of such a policy regarding bandura and bandura players can be found in
the uncensored work of a bandura player, artistic and public figure and composer
Hryhory Kytasty "Some Aspects of Ukrainian Music Under the Soviets", which is
presented for Ukrainian artistic and scientific community within the framework of this
thesis.
The path of formation of the professional repertoire for bandura was also
analyzed, it was established that it took place in several stages, which naturally arose
at the boundaries of the change of bandura players’ generations and as a result of
powerful historical and socio-political processes that took place in Ukraine during the
last century. The first such stage is, of course, connected with the process of the
emergence of the academic direction of bandura itself. It is characterized by the
creation of works, essentially connected with the still living Kobzar tradition, for an
already modernized instrument. The first printed musical materials are being
published. First, in the form of sections for educational and methodical textbooks, or
ethnographic collections of folklorists with a recorded repertoire of kobzars, and then
the appearance of the first printed sheet music editions. The next stage arises under the
influence of severe repression of the entire Ukrainian culture in general and bandura
art in particular, somewhat prolonging some of the assets of the previous stage, but also
creating a thematically and meaningfully different material in the conditions of
oppression and restrictions. The emergence of the phenomenon of translation to ensure
a more active replenishment of the bandura music library, the dominance of folklorism
in the compositional work of bandura performers, a sharp transition from the heroicpatriotic, ideological theme of creativity to the use of song folklore as the main
manifestation of the national direction of creativity is taking place. Conventionally, the
third stage is the period of the collapse of the Union and the establishment of Ukraine's
independence, when there is a rapid departure from the framework of art imposed by
the Soviet simulacrum and, to some extent, old-style academicism. Bandura ascetics
gain access not only to new treasures of the world's musical culture, but also to the
essentially meaningful works of Ukrainian predecessors exported to the diaspora.
Active communication and international cooperation stimulate the rethinking of all
bandura creativity. As a result, the compositional creativity of the performers receives
a more author-identical direction, there is an active search for new compositional
techniques and styles, expansion of the stroke palette due to greater attention to the
capabilities of their instruments. And the last stage, which we enter with the beginning
of the new millennium and is still ongoing.
