The lirnyks ( Ukrainian: лірник; plural: лірники – lirnyky) were itinerant Ukrainian musicians who performed religious, historical and epic songs to the accompaniment of a

lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current Turkish lira, currency of Turkey and also the local name of the Lebanese pound, currencies of Lebanon and of Syrian pound, Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, ...

, the Ukrainian version of the

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...

. Lirnyks were similar to and belonged to the same guilds ( tsekhs) as the better known

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 ...

and

kobza The kobza (), also called bandura () is a Ukrainian folk music instrument of the lute family (Hornbostel-Sachs classification number 321.321-5+6), a relative of the Central European mandora. The term ''kobza'' however, has also been applied to ...

players known as

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 ...

s. However, the lirnyk played the lira, a kind of crank-driven hurdy-gurdy, while the kobzars played the lute-like banduras or kobzas. Lirnyks were usually blind or had some major disability. They were active in all areas of Ukraine from (at least) the 17th century on. Though the tradition was violently ended in Eastern/Central Ukraine in the mid-1930s, some lirnyks were seen in the regions of Western Ukraine until the 1970s and even the 1980s. Today, the repertoire of the instrument is mostly performed by educated, sighted performers. Notable performers of the lira include Mykhailo Khai, Vadym "Yarema" Shevchuk, Volodymyr Kushpet and Andrii Liashuk. In 2024, the Safeguarding programme of

and wheel lyre tradition was inscribed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

References

Sources

*Humeniuk, A. - ''Ukrainski narodni muzychni instrumenty'' - Kiev:

Naukova dumka Naukova Dumka ( — literally "scientific thought") is a publishing house in Kyiv, Ukraine. It was established by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in 1922, largely owing to the efforts of Ahatanhel Krymsky, a prominent Ukrainian ling ...

, 1967 *Mizynec, V. - ''Ukrainian Folk Instruments'' - Melbourne: Bayda books, 1984 {{Authority control 17th-century establishments in Ukraine 1980s disestablishments in Ukraine Blind musicians Hurdy-gurdy players Kobzarstvo Occupations in music Obsolete occupations Ukrainian blind people

See also

References

Sources