Kobzar

A kobzar (Ukrainian: кобзар [kobˈzɑr] ^ⓘ; pl. кобзарі, kobzari) was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment. The professional kobzar tradition was established in Ukraine during the Cossack Era around the 16th century. Kobzari were often blind and became predominantly so by the 1800s. The word kobzar literally means 'player of kobza', a Ukrainian stringed instrument of the lute family. More broadly, the term is given for a performer of the musical material associated with the kobzar tradition.

Kozak Mamai (Ukrainian: Козак Мамай) is a popular and iconic image that has many variants, but usually features a man sitting cross-legged and playing a kobza.The hairstyle is often a chupryna of Kozak style. Various items often surround Kozak Mamai including a horse, a tree, a rifle, a sword, and a gunpowder horn, and sometimes a bottle and cup. Sometimes other individuals such as a woman or other Cossacks surround Kozak Mamai, who is deep in thought and reflection. While the historical certainty of this image cannot be established, it represents the assumption that the original composers and singers of dumy were military musicians associated with the Cossacks. Kobzari also played the bandura, an instrument which was likely developed from the kobza.

While prior to the 1800s, there is evidence of performers able to see, blindness was a requirement to become a kobzar in the 1800s, as the social role of kobzar was both profession and social welfare for those who were unable to contribute to farm work. Only men could become kobzari.

In the 1800s, infant mortality was around 30%, with 40% of children dying before age two. Of those that survived, an unusually high number were blind due to the effects of poor health and disease.

As Natalie Kononenko writes, being a blind musician was both a qualification for traditional kobzari, and also part of their effectiveness:

"The restrictions placed on traditional minstrelsy, the restrictions that permitted only blind people to become minstrels and kept ordinary folk from performing a certain set of songs, did not inhibit the profession. Rather, they contributed to its artistic power and especially to its spiritual effectiveness."

In rural life, everyone was expected to contribute to survival, with farm labor being the most important. The blind, unable to help with these tasks aside from rope work, developed an alternate source of income as performers. To learn the necessary skills, blind children could be apprenticed to a professional beggar, either a kobzar or lirnyk. The first stage of training consisted of how to physically live and survive in the world being blind. Next, the apprentice would learn songs to be performed, and the etiquette of begging. The normal time for an apprenticeship was three years. Training for girls ended with singing; only males were allowed to learn to play instruments and learn to sing epic songs. Because apprentices could not see, they had to be taught to play instruments by touch.

Learning the skills to be a kobzar took time and effort, and apprentice needs varied. Apprentices' intelligence and aptitude would affect the length of the apprenticeship. Older students might have a shorter apprenticeship because they'd already learned needed skills for survival while blind. Some apprentices with less aptitude might set out on their own without learning difficult songs including dumy. Others might seek an additional apprenticeship for additional skills. Upon completing an apprenticeship, apprentices were given the status of minstrel during a secret and closed initiation rite called a vyzvilka, following which they were allowed to perform as kobzar or lirnyk.