The old bandurists of Chernihiv

Do 1958 Dr.. to the Chernihiv Historical Museum named after. VV. Tarnovsky received a rare photograph. This is what the donor from Chernihiv V. writes about her. Yakymovych. The inscription is made by him in ink on the back, in Russian and Ukrainian languages: "A group of bandurist peasants (old bandurists) photographed in. Chernihiv in 1902 g. According to the deceased 1936 g. Flegont Andreevich Shihutsky one, as he said, of the initiators of photographing bandura players, this group was not a united collective in any form, and these were separate “old men” bandurists. From this group I remember perfectly, counting from left to right, first and fifth, less than a second, fourth and sixth and I don't remember the third. Why do I remember well the first and fifth? Being my student, how someone who lived on Leskowitz had to constantly walk to the city along Yeletska Gora and further along the current Proletarskaya Street and usually, especially on market days, the blind bandura player, in the photo, the first on the left was sitting near the fence. Voikov schools, then it was a male religious school; Further, along Proletarskaya street, before reaching the streets of October 25th, under the fence near the garden sat a blind bandura player, counting from left to right fifth. At that time, on the block between Komsomolskaya (then Handicraft) and October 25th streets, From the left side, if you go from Leskovitsa to the city, there was only one estate with a garden large for the whole block. Bazaar then, as is known, was on the square near the Pyatnitskaya Church and along this path the inhabitants of Leskovitsa came to the market. What were these bandurists singing about?? I didn't get into it then., but I remember, that the tales they sang were from sacred history: O Lazarus, Beautiful Joseph or about the war in Ukraine. The bandurists sang in the bazaar. 4.1.58 g. VY. Yakymovych". Photo taken by A. Zaretskyi, 1902 р., as evidenced by the inscription in the lower left corner. This exhibit is a good addition to the materials, that were published in the magazine "Rodovid", № 6, 1993 Dr.. In particular, to the article of the famous ethnographer B. Luhovsky "Materials for the fair repertoire and life of elders in Western Chernihiv Oblast". Information is important for the Museum, as for Phlegont Shihutskyi, because the family archive organized by him is kept with us.

Старший науковий співробітник музею,

кандидат історичних наук Ігор Ситий