Yevhen Adamtsevych: kobzar who rested in the Crimean land
Yevhen Adamtsevych: kobzar who rested in the Crimean land
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Yevhen Adamtsevych: kobzar who rested in the Crimean land

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It is necessary to sing with the soul, not with the throat!

Eugene Adamtsevich

Yevhen Adamtsevych: kobzar who rested in the Crimean land
Yevhen Adamtsevych: kobzar who rested in the Crimean land

The whole country knows the famous Ukrainian kobzar, virtuoso performer of folk historical songs Yevhen Adamtsevych, without exaggeration – thanks to the inherited “Zaporozhye March”, which is often heard on television and radio and at foreign concerts of Ukrainian artists, begins solemn ceremonies. . Soldiers of our army and navy march to his notes at military parades. The first congress of the People’s Movement of Ukraine also began with him. Needless to say, state independence was proclaimed by the Verkhovna Rada during this march: at that time the national anthem had not yet been approved.

It should be noted at once for the sake of justice: Yevhen Oleksandrovych was neither the creator, nor the author, nor the “father” (rather – the godson) of the “Zaporozhian March”. Moreover, he was angry when he was called that. He only preserved and brought to this day this melody, inheriting it from those who taught him the art of kobza; the same, in turn, inherited from their teachers. According to Adamtsevich himself, it was an authentic Cossack march, created around the 17th century: since then, kobzars have passed it on to each other.

The figure of the outstanding bandura player is especially revered among Crimean Ukrainians: it was near Bakhchisarai that he, suffering from a severe illness, spent his last days giving his soul to God and his body to the Crimean land.

The future kobzar was born on January 1, 1904 in the village of Solonytsia in the Lubny region. My father, a station servant, had a strong voice and sang Ukrainian songs fondly. His mother, Maria Bilan, was of bourgeois descent and was born into a large family of tailors; was an actress, befriended the famous Anna Zatyrkevych-Karpynska, was noted among her peers for the poetic nature: from her, apparently, inherited Eugene and remarkable musical abilities.

 

Yevhen Adamtsevych: kobzar who rested in the Crimean land
Yevhen Adamtsevych: kobzar who rested in the Crimean land

Why do I have young young men,At the age of 2-3, having contracted chickenpox, the boy lost his sight due to complications. However, he grew up lively and inquisitive, fascinated by theatrical performances, to which his mother often took him, putting him in an orchestra pit: apparently, it was from then on that he fell in love with music. From the age of 11 he studied for some time at the Kyiv School for the Blind – and made progress because he had a phenomenal memory; he could listen to the text once and repeat word for word, he mastered music according to the Braille system, and then learned to play the violin, flute, kobza. For some time Eugene had to leave school due to family poverty; his grandmother took him to Romain, where his parents later moved. Adamtsevich studied bandura free of charge with the talented performer Musiya Oleksienko, taking over from him not only the technique of performance,but also a rich repertoire – including the work “The Fate of Dark Eugene”, which the teacher dedicated to his favorite student, with the words:

And health without hope, and girls’ jokes?

I, as in a dark homeland, miss, suffer,

I don’t know how long to wander around Ukraine…

In the second half of the 1920’s Yevhen Adamtsevych became a member of the Roma wandering chapel named after Leontovych: its leader Ivan Polozhay united his musicians with those of Myrhorod. In 1927, the combined group went on a concert tour of Kharkiv, Poltava and Kryvyi Rih. In the same year, Adamtsevich married Lydia Paradis (in some sources – Paradas), after which he left the chapel and began to travel to cities and villages with his wife as a solo bandura player. His wife not only sang with him, but was also his first censor, determining what and under what circumstances he could sing so as not to jump into trouble.

Lydia Paradis was born in 1902 in the Romny region, at the age of 4 she was orphaned and raised by her aunts in Poltava, where she studied at a women’s gymnasium. In the 1920s, she often visited her uncle in Romny, where she met Yevhen Adamtsevich. After falling in love with a blind kobzar, Lydia dedicated her life to him. Educated and respectful relatives reacted disapprovingly to the girl’s choice: for some time they did not maintain ties with the young couple, but then reconciled. According to the memoirs of Larisa’s eldest daughter, Lydia Paradis was “a pleasant-looking, educated, tactful, kind-hearted person, a faithful wife, a good mother. She was a friend, wife, servant, guide, in the eyes of my father. On their shoulders piled it all for what it called “Lida-Great Martyr ‘” .

The repertoire of Yevhen Adamtsevych, whose voice range was two octaves, was dominated by Ukrainian historical and family songs. He sang the song “The sun has already set to the west” in the words of A. Karpenko, the thought-song “Yevshan-potion” in the words of M. Vorony, “You fly, my singing, with a prayer” in the words of V. Alexandrovich, songs in the poems of T. Shevchenko, J. Shchogoliv, O. Oles and others. He also knew many humorous, humorous, satirical songs, performed polkas, waltzes, chardashi. The kobzar’s repertoire also included sharp social works.

Yevhen Adamtsevych: kobzar who rested in the Crimean land
Yevhen Adamtsevych: kobzar who rested in the Crimean land

Yevhen Adamtsevych is considered one of the most talented folk singers of Ukraine of the 20th century. He was not only a master of folk singing, but also the author of the lyrics of many songs. He sang more than a hundred songs on Tarasova Hill – and always hid his authorship, so for a long time the famous march was considered a folk work. At the ringing of the strings of his bandura, which had 13 basses and 25 strings (so it seemed that two or even three instruments sound), people immediately gathered. Adamtsevich developed the technique of playing with the beams themselves, not the phalanges, sometimes wiping his fingers to the blood. He himself mentioned his kobza playing in the 1920s and 1930s:“Sometimes, we would come to the village, and in the club in the evening people would be packed that the lamps went out. When I went on stage, I was not released until the morning. I played for 5-6 hours without a break so that calluses ran into the bundles, and my nails got lost . Back in 1926, Yevhen Adamtsevich heard a melody from Ivan Polozhay, which later became part of the Zaporozhian March. The second part, major, he composed himself. Adamtsevich first performed “March” in public in 1969 during a concert of kobzars and lyre players at the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv Opera House. Later, the march was arranged for the orchestra by the chief conductor of the State Orchestra of Folk Instruments Viktor Gutsal. Kobzar played the melody three times at the request of the audience, which greeted it with a thunder of applause. According to the unconfirmed version, Adamtsevich could hear the melody of the “Zaporozhian March” from his teacher Musiya Oleksienko.

In 1939 Yevhen Adamtsevych was invited to the Republican Meeting of Kobzars and Lyricists in Kyiv, and within a year he took part in the All-Union Meeting of Folk Singers in Moscow. For some time he again had to play and sing at fairs and bazaars, travel to the villages with students.

During World War II, Adamtsevich again traveled through Ukraine, urging the people not to obey the occupiers, to fight for freedom and independence. It was up to the kobzar to perform in one of the UPA units, from which he received gratitude.

After the war, Adamtsevich played alone in the Roma bazaar, complaining that he was “as if forgotten.” Over the years, having no official work experience, he was left without means of subsistence and was forced to live by playing and singing in bazaars and fairs, on trains, under churches. But the Soviet authorities, as before the tsarist government, treated it as begging, so Adamtsevich was repeatedly persecuted – expelled, taken away and thrown alone in a deserted or ravine in winter, arrested and starved, beaten, smashed a bandura and so on. However, for some time the pension permit was obtained. Kobzars, lyre players, and bandura players in the communist state were destined for two paths: either “work on the ideological front,” or the brand of beggars and vagrants with the relevant article of the penal code. Time dictated its conditions: we had to compose songs about Lenin to order,military figure Ivan Fedko, etc.

 

At the pace of the march
At the pace of the march

In the winter of 1970, together with other kobzars, Adamtsevich performed in Moscow at the Institute of World Literature and other institutions. However, the early 1970s were marked by a new wave of repression and oppression of Ukrainian culture. The kobzar association also slowly curtailed its activities. Adamtsevych, a patient with jaundice, and his wife moved in with their daughter Tatiana, who moved to the Crimea from the Altai in the 1960s and lived in the Bakhchisaray district in the village of Kholmivka (until 1945, Zalanka). The couple also visited their younger daughter Iryna, who lived in Sevastopol, where Adamtsevych also came to perform. The kobzar lived in Kholmovka for three weeks, where he died on November 19, 1972, at the age of 68, and was buried in the village cemetery.Two years after the singer’s death, the Zaporozhian March was banned because of its alleged resemblance to the songs of the Sich Riflemen and the “not-quite-Soviet mood.”In the 1960s, Yevhen and Lidia Adamtsevich, through the Central Board of the Music and Choir Society in Kyiv, managed to get a ticket for free spa treatment and recreation in Truskavets, where they were welcomed with bouquets of flowers, playing and singing by members of the Strumok bandura band. and “Dniester”. Adamtsevich also had to play and sing: this was his first public performance in the Lviv region in the postwar period. After that there were concert performances at Drohobych Pedagogical Institute and Novorozdil Music School and several other performances in Drohobych and Novy Rozdol. In 1969 Yevhen Adamtsevych visited the Lviv region again with a group of kobzars. We managed to organize two kobzar performances – in the concert hall of Lviv Polytechnic Institute and at the Lviv Forklift Plant.

On the big stages,in particular Lviv theaters or the Philharmonic, communist officials did not allow folk singers to perform. Then Yevhen Adamtsevych together with the best kobzars of Ukraine performed in Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil regions, enchanting many listeners with virtuoso playing and singing. In September 1969, it was possible to organize a performance of kobzars on Lviv television. This time, too, there was pressure from communist regime officials to cross out the Zaporozhian March in their speech program or change the name to simply “March” or “Cossack March.” The kobzar reacted to this with indignation, protesting against distortions and forgeries, and said with excitement:enchanting numerous listeners with virtuoso playing and singing. In September 1969, it was possible to organize a performance of kobzars on Lviv television. This time, too, there was pressure from communist regime officials to cross out the Zaporozhian March in their speech program or change the name to simply “March” or “Cossack March.” The kobzar reacted to this with indignation, protesting against distortions and forgeries, and said with excitement:enchanting numerous listeners with virtuoso playing and singing. In September 1969, it was possible to organize a performance of kobzars on Lviv television. This time, too, there was pressure from communist regime officials to cross out the Zaporozhian March in their speech program or change the name to simply “March” or “Cossack March.” The kobzar reacted to this with indignation, protesting against distortions and forgeries, and said with excitement:“But is that the point? A beautiful work, built on native folk melodies, will live as our eternal desire for freedom, forever! And it will make people happy, regardless of the name or the ban! ”

 

Yevhen Adamtsevych: kobzar who rested in the Crimean land
Yevhen Adamtsevych: kobzar who rested in the Crimean land

Grieving the death of her husband, Lydia Paradis until her last days maintained ties with fans of his talent. In particular, it is known that at the end of 1973 she was in Sevastopol at the address: Gorpyshchenko Street, bldg. 59, apt. 41 (probably Iryna Adamtsevych lived at this address). She also died in Kholmovka on October 27, 1979, where she was buried next to her husband. All three of their daughters, who sometimes also accompanied their parents on their travels to Ukraine and the former “union republics”, and after World War II got married and moved to different parts of the world, are now also missing.According to available data, Yevhen Adamtsevich’s death on the operating table was caused by a gallstone. However, his daughter Larysa noted in her memoirs that the cause was a heart attack, and the patient did not undergo surgery: “He was with us in such a way that he never took a pill. Only surgery could save him, but he did not even want to hear about the hospital. He was gone in a week. It was an unbearable grief for my mother. She got along so hard with him that she almost went crazy. Then I was once again convinced that she loved him too much. And their mother’s love united them . 

Residents of Kholmivka kept the memory of the musician, who became the only known figure who lived in their village. A thematic corner with materials about the kobzar was arranged in the village library. A school-museum of a kobzar was created in the school of the neighboring village of Krasny Mak, where copies of the manuscripts of his wife Lydia Dmytrivna were kept, who recorded songs and poems composed personally by the kobzar.

 

Yevhen Adamtsevych: kobzar who rested in the Crimean land
Yevhen Adamtsevych: kobzar who rested in the Crimean land

In 2010, schoolchildren filmed TV programs about the bandura player; teachers gave them interviews in embroidered shirts. Hours of remembrance, literary and musical evenings, lessons dedicated to the life and work of Yevhen Adamtsevich have become traditional. In November 2011, representatives of the NGO “Congress of Ukrainians of Sevastopol” during a press conference initiated the installation of a monument to Eugene Adamtsevich on the route Sevastopol-Bakhchisarai, thus paying tribute to all kobzars of Ukraine. Sculptor Alexander Sukholit agreed to carve the image of a kobzar from Almin stone for free. Meanwhile, the Potapov family, which had founded a private ethnographic museum near the villages of Kholmivka and Krasny Mak a few years earlier, received a permit to erect a monument to Adamtsevich and planned to do so on the museum’s premises in the spring of 2012:the model of the memorial sign was designed by sculptor Oleksandr Zholud, who took part in the reconstruction of Khortytsia. Fundraising began for the production and installation of the sculpture, for which a stone was also selected.At the end of January 2004, the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Yevhen Adamtsevych was initiated in the Crimea. . Even then, there were ambitious plans to turn Kholmivka into a “cultural and tourist center, known throughout Ukraine thanks to a man who lived in it for only a few weeks.” Unfortunately, the authorities of that time were present at the events only as a guest, not as an organizer, active participant or sponsor: the celebration was over, everyone left and forgot about the outstanding person until the next round date.

The Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014 made honoring the memory of the kobzar “irrelevant” and even “undesirable.” That black year should mark the 110th anniversary of Adamtsevich’s birth – “forgotten” at a high level, in contrast to the anniversary of the Pereyaslav council. We had to put an end to the plans to name Adamtsevych to the village school and one of the new village streets and to erect monuments to the kobzar. Even the mentioned ethno-museum “Ridne Selo” was renamed “Slovyanske Selo”, and Russian and Belarusian interiors were decorated in two Ukrainian houses.

Adamtsevich’s banduras and some of his belongings are kept in various museums – in the Museum of Theater Arts in the Pechersk Lavra, in the Shevchenko Museum on Chernecha Hill in Kaniv, in the Kremenets Museum of Local Lore. Some of the things left by the kobzar are carefully taken care of by his family. Adamtsevich’s descendants still live in Kholmovka: a few years ago his granddaughter, who lived almost all her life in Kholmovka, recalled the period when her grandfather moved to the peninsula.

From the memoirs of the kobzar’s daughter Tatiana, who spent the last years of her life paralyzed:

“The pinnacle of musical art is its impeccable performance technique. The bandura in his hands walked briskly, the right hand covered the strings with all five, the left worked on the bass. My father could convey sadness, joy and admiration on a bandura. This is how historical, humorous, satirical folk songs were performed. Singing and music were complemented by facial expressions. It was a unique talent! Only he could play like that. There will be no more such kobzar! My father sang more in a recitative, and this created a special harmony. I froze at these magical sounds.

More than once, my father began to teach me to play the bandura, because he had good hearing and a pleasant voice, but he did not have enough patience for that. Not only because I lacked free time, I, despite a good ear canal, did not always want to do it. Now I am very sorry. She probably wouldn’t have become a talented bandura player, but she probably would have been able to play the way banduras are played now.

My father was energetic, cheerful, knew many interesting stories, proverbs and sayings. You could talk to him indefinitely. He had a good memory, caught the motives and words of songs on the go, added and subtracted “in the mind”. He was neat at home and outside the house, never went outside in uncleaned pants or coats, put everything in order and always said: “Every thing has its place.” He had no hair, shaved his head. He did everything himself: sawed and chopped firewood, repaired the house, built, even covered the house with iron, dug cellars and covered it with bricks. Of course, my mother told me to correct him. My mother and I read a lot of books to him. That’s how I became passionate about reading. He did not like lies, he was very honest.

At home, my father and mother were very rare: all the time traveling, so we could not pay much attention. The nanny was older sister Larissa. Our mother was often ill, and we children replaced her as best we could. Before the war, Larisa went and traveled with her father during the holidays. My parents took me with them, went to the villages with a bandura – to play for a piece of bread. My father made a cart with pigeons, harnessed to it and together with his mother, who was walking nearby, went on the road. In two or three days they returned – already with flour, millet, groats and all sorts of things. When they had eaten all that, they set off again. How many of them, poor people, have passed all their lives – or, they have walked all over Ukraine along and across… »

 

SILENT SONGS FROM YEVHEN ADAMTSEVYCH’S REPERTUARY

 

OLD LIFE OF UKRAINE

 

Old life of Ukraine

It’s over now.

Only thoughts and memories,

And the songs remained.

Both powerful and tenacious

Songs of Ukraine,

Vulnerable, and uril,

The language of the weeping of the poor.

And how fun to sing

To you, Ukraine,

You never knew

Clear hour.

You were pushed from all sides

With all my might

Both baptized and unbaptized

Neighbors are cute.

Though not though, and it was necessary

All age to fight

And for faith, and for family,

To stand for the truth.

And they stood wherever they were,

At a bad hour,

And everyone was given up

Sons of Ukraine.

All of you, our Ukraine,

Glory covered,

Fierce grief and tears,

And covered in blood.

But so far over the world

The sun will shine –

Another song, our thought

People will not forget.

 

GREYHOUND

 

The Dnieper groans on the rocks,

Beats on the thresholds;

Everyone asks, everyone searches:

“Where are my gods?”

The Dnieper groans from the rapids,

Line to Khortytsia:

“Where is Baida?” Where is that Sich?

Flag and hooks?

Where is the Sich, which, like the sea,

Boiled by force,

That will that is in the expanse

Hell gurgled? ”

The redoubts fell apart,

And the ditch is thick,

From the bottom to the top,

Covered with grass.

He sleeps motionless in the face of the Sich

Stone mountain.

The earth, covered with glory,

Ball of comrades.

The soldier-prince is covered

In the floodplains rests;

Glory, washed in blood,

He wanders around the world.

And the Dnieper runs to the sea,

Khortytsia asks everyone:

“Where is Baida?” Where is that Sich?

The flag and hooks? ”

 

According to folklorists, in his repertoire Yevhen Adamtsevich had a song about the Holodomor of 1932-1933; Sorry, it was not found. In the early 1930s, in the midst of collectivization, Adamtsevich composed a song that began:

 

Why do I have sorrow in my heart?

In the center of the city is a large prison,

And in that prison sits the “salt of the earth”,

Those who are now called “kulaks” «

 

POEMS TO THE MELODY OF “ZAPOROZHYE MARCH”

 

Timpani thunder, flags burn,

Gene high sun shines the way.

And under the mountain ravine-valley

Glorious Cossacks go on a campaign.

Glory awaits them, death awaits them, –

All that will be later, in the scream of battles.

Numo, brothers, a song! Hey, kobzar, where are you!

Let’s make our sound soar to the heavens.

Fast-footed horses, saddles silver,

Sword and pistol in the right hand.

Feel, enemy! Gene in the field, in the field

Defenders of freedom are Sich archers.

Break up, thorns! Play around, sea!

God be merciful, the way to sanctify them.

Kafa and Berestechko, Constantinople and Zbarazh…

Give strength and power. So what worlds!

Trumpets will sound and jealous guns,

Gray will throw himself into a bloody whirlpool.

On clear stars and on calm waters

Will restore Christian peace from captivity.

Otake resurrected in my heart yesterday

Simple to the pain leitmotif of the ages.

Tambourine and cymbals, violin and flute,

The tickling of thousands of horseshoes at dawn.

They say: forgotten, the author is unknown.

Hey, hey, but what a jerk!

Great-grandfather gray-haired, brother-in-law though the devil,

He passed it on from his ancestor.

Timpani are thundering, flags are burning

The high sun gene illuminates the path.

Lean our native! From genus to genus

Live today and stay from age to age.

 

(Recorded in 1996 by Ivan Golubenko in the Vinnytsia region; according to other sources, the author of the words is Mykola Oliynyk)

 

The force of the enemy will push the native Ukraine –

He wants to enslave, he wants to capture.

You rob, lyashe, take away ours, –

How can we live well with you?

We were not born to die in captivity,

That children may be judged by slavery and yoke, –

We will not tolerate oppression for the ridicule of the world,

We will not give our freedom to mockery!

More than one son was tortured by enemies,

More than one winner fell on the hook.

He did not forget the insidious treacherous invasions

The glorious Cossack is faithful to sincere friendship.

Boiling waves in the sea blackened,

The old seagull cries when he hears the fighting.

We can not overcome the hated force,

Let us not dishonor our clean flags!

You hear, hostile son, you are for our Baturyn

And in that world you will give the answer.

Ukraine is roaring, the sounds of trumpets are heard,

We see a free mother of young beauty.

We see Ukraine free and clear,

We see grandchildren in happiness and kindness.

And we put a Cossack faithful guard

By our sea, as in the old summer.

The strings of the kobza ring, the army goes,

Disassembles the enemy’s fear and black rage.

The difficult path of the Cossacks is not close,

The Cossacks go for the truth and for freedom.

… Gay, valley, gay, wide Cossacks go…

 

(Author – Oleksa Yushchenko)

 

Hey guys! – trumpets blow to battle call –

It’s time for us to join forces in the dark night!

Our only mother –

Our native Ukraine,

Let us rise, brethren, all for her! – all in January!

Hey guys! – Tulumbas hit the march –

The enemy will not stop time, the world is with us!

What do we need steel plates –

With us is the truth and the Mother of God,

Let us rise, brethren, let us not dishonor the glorious race!

Hey, on January! –

Hey, January, falcons! –

Defend mountains and destinies

Brothers call!

At dawn the Cossacks

Ringed sabers:

Numo, brothers, all of us! –

All for January!

Hey guys! – trumpets blow to battle call –

It’s time for us to join forces in the dark night!

Our only mother –

Our native Ukraine,

Let us rise, brethren, all for her! – all in January!

Hey, on January! –

Hey, January, falcons! –

Defend mountains and destinies

Brothers call!

At dawn the Cossacks

Ringed sabers:

Numo, brothers, all of us! –

All for January!

 

(Author – Igor Zhuk)

Prepared by Sergei Konashevich

 

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