Hryhory Ivanovych Bazhul (January 22, 1906 — October 17, 1989, sometimes spelled Georg Baschul) Note: Name was transcribed via German on Australian Government documents. was a Ukrainian

bandurist A bandurist () is a person who plays the Ruthenian plucked string instrument known as the bandura. Types of performers There are a number of different types of bandurist who differ in their particular choice of instrument, the specific reperto ...

and publisher of articles on

bandura A bandura ( ) is a Ukrainians, Ukrainian plucked string instrument, plucked-string folk-instrument. It combines elements of the zither and lute and, up until the 1940s, was also often called a kobza. Early instruments () had 5 to 12 strings and ...

history from

Poltava Poltava (, ; , ) is a city located on the Vorskla, Vorskla River in Central Ukraine, Central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Poltava Oblast as well as Poltava Raion within the oblast. It also hosts the administration of Po ...

, Russian Empire.History
After World War II he emigrated to Australia settling in Sydney.

Early life

Bazhul was born in the

Poltava Governorate Poltava Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. It was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Little Russia Governorate (1796–1802), Little Russia Governorate and had its capital in Polt ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(in present-day

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

), his father was a rail road engineer and his family moved to

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

in 1911. After completing his studies at the Institute of Grain Culture, he was employed as an

agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.) is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the Uni ...

.Dibrivny, I. "Григорій І. Бажул (некролог)", ''Вільна Думка'', Sydney, Australia, 12.ХІ.89 In the late 1920s he was arrested and spent 2 years of

penal labour Penal labour is a term for various kinds of forced labour that prisoners are required to perform, typically manual labour. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Forms of sentence involving penal labour have included in ...

at the

Berdyansk Berdiansk or Berdyansk (, ; , ) is a port city in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, south-eastern Ukraine. It is on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov, which is connected to the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Berdiansk Raion. The ...

agricultural labour colony. On his return to Kharkiv he became interested in the

after hearing the blind

kobzar A ''kobzar'' ( ; ) was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment, played on a multistringed kobza or bandura. Tradition The professional kobzar tradition was established during the Hetmanate Era around the sixteenth cen ...

, Pavlo Keleberda, playing on the streets. In 1931 he enrolled in bandura classes and studied with

Hnat Khotkevych Hnat Martynovych Khotkevych (, also ''Gnat Khotkevich'' or ''Hnat Khotkevych'', born December 31, 1877 – died October 8, 1938) was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian theater and public figure, engineer, inventor, writer, historian, translator, ethnographe ...

in the second group of students established at the Kharkiv worker's conservatory. In 1933, after the classes were closed, he continued to study privately with Khotkevych and soon became a close friend of his family.Мішалов В. Культурно-мистецькі аспекти ґенези і розвитку виконавства на Харківській бандурі // Давидов М. Виконавське мистецтво - Енциклопедичний довідник // Київ. Національна музична академія України ім. П. І. Чайковського, 2010 — С.277 - 287.Мішалов В. - Видатний будівничий бандурного мистецтва - Гнат Хоткевич // Гнат Хоткевич - «Твори для Харківської бандури» Глас, Х.:2007 - С.192-241 In the early 1934, Bazhul was arrested again and charged with improperly giving bread ration coupons to the Khotkevych family during the period of the Famine-

Holodomor The Holodomor, also known as the Ukrainian Famine, was a mass famine in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. The Holodomor was part of the wider Soviet famine of 1930–193 ...

. He was sentenced to two years in exile in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, northern

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

and

Tayshet Tayshet ( rus, Тайшет, p=tɐjˈʂɛt, lit. ''cold river'' in the Kott language) is a town and the administrative center of Tayshetsky District in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located northwest of Irkutsk, the administrative center of the obl ...

. After serving his sentence he returned to Kharkiv in 1936. In February 1938, Khotkevych was arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

(Soviet secret police) and in October he was shot in Kharkiv as an enemy of the state with all his possessions confiscated. Khotkevych's widow gave Bazhul a number of her husband's manuscripts for safekeeping. Some 60 manuscripts were preserved by Bazhul, including the original of the epic ''Bayda''.

War years

Hryhory Bazhul published a number of inflammatory anti-Soviet articles, during the Nazi occupation of Kharkiv (1941–1943), in the occupational press about the treatment of kobzars and bandurists by the Soviet regime.Bazhul, H. "Про бандуру", Нова Україна, 25.ХІІ.1942. - p. 4 He attempted to organise a bandurist capella in Kharkiv and performed numerous solo concerts locally under the ''non-de-plume'' of Keleberd. To escape repercussions from the advancing Soviet forces Bazhul moved west. In Western Ukraine, he formed a bandura trio with Zinoviy Shtokalko and Volodymyr Yurkevych which worked throughout the region, including numerous performances for the soldiers in the

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist partisan formation founded by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) on 14 October 1942. The UPA launched guerrilla warfare against Nazi Germany, the S ...

.Bazhul, H. "Альфа і омеґа мистецької одиниці в Сіднеї", ''Вільна Думка'' 13.VI.1982 Bazhul continued travelling west through

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

to Austria. In Vienna, he joined the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus and eventually became the administrator. At his insistence Volodymyr Bozhyk joined the group, alongside other professional singer non-bandurists primarily from Western Ukraine He resigned from the Chorus and founded and directed a bandura quintet, the Veresai Brotherhood, which toured the Ukrainian communities in the

displaced persons Forced displacement (also forced migration or forced relocation) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR defines 'forced displaceme ...

camps in Germany with a program agitating against the return to the Soviet Union of Ukrainians, to great acclaim until 1948.

Emigration to Australia

At the end of the war, in September 1948, Bazhul migrated to Australia. Note: ''Protea'' arrived in Melbourne on 25 September 1948. He performed solo at various community functions and ethnic festivals. He established a bandura ensemble in 1958 which toured Australia and made a recording in 1961, when it disbanded.Bazhul, H. "Кобзарське мистецтво в Австралії", ''Вільна Думка'', № 51(1047), Sydney, Australia, 21.XII.1969 In 1964, he re-established the bandura, which later became the Hnat Khotkevych Ukrainian Bandurist Ensemble. He remained as director until 1971 when Peter Deriashnyj replaced him.Markus V. (ed) ''Encyclopedia of the Ukrainian Diaspora Vol 4''. (Australia-Asia-Africa) Австралія-Азія-Африка)

Shevchenko Scientific Society The Shevchenko Scientific Society (), founded in 1873, is a Ukrainian scientific society devoted to the promotion of scholarly research and publication. Unlike the government-funded National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the society is a pu ...

and the

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; , ; ''NAN Ukrainy'') is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine that is the main center of development of Science and technology in Ukraine, science and technology by coordinatin ...

, Kyiv—New York—Chicago—Melbourne, p.40 1995 During the ensemble's existence it undertook numerous performances by itself and with the Boyan Choir under the direction of Vasyl Matiash. In 1970, on the basis of the bandura ensemble, Bazhul organised a school for bandura playing. Bazhul published a number of articles about Khotkevych and his life as a bandurist in various Ukrainian language journals. Bazhul died on October 17, 1989, in Sydney, aged 83.

Bibliography

* Bazhul, H. "Про бандуру", ''Нова Україна'', 25.ХІІ.1942. - p. 4 * Bazhul, H. "Спогади про Гната Хоткевича" – Interview recorded on cassette 1984. (90 minutes) * Bazhul, H. "Гнат Хоткевич", in ''Новий Обрій'', №2, Melbourne, Australia. 1960, pp. 142–149 * Bazhul, H. "Кобзарське мистецтво в Австралії", ''Вільна Думка'', № 51(1047), Sydney, Australia, 21.XII.1969 * Bazhul, H. "Альфа і омеґа мистецької одиниці в Сіднеї", ''Вільна Думка'' 13.VI.1982, and also in ''Бандура'', 1985, №13-14, pp. 27–32 * Bazhul, H. "З бандурою по світу", ''Бандура'', 1984, №9/10, pp. 46–52

Notes

References

;General * Dutchak V. - "Bazhul, Hryhory Ivanovych", i
''Українська музична енциклопедія'' – том. 1
(''Ukrainian Music Encyclopedia'' Vol. 1),

, Kyiv, 2006 p. 118 ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Bazhul, Hryhory Bandurists Kobzars 1906 births 1989 deaths Australian people of Ukrainian descent Soviet emigrants to Australia