Petro Fedorovych Tkachenko (December 21, 1878 in Syniavtsi – January 3, 1919) was a prominent 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 ...

Biography

Petro Fedorovych Tkachenko-Halashko was one of the more outstanding

s of the Chernihiv region. He was born on December 21, 1878, in the village of Syniavtsi, Sosnytsia county near Chernihiv. At the age of 9 he became blind. At the age of 16 he began an apprenticeship with the kobzar Andriy Hayduk (Haydenko) and after a short period continued with Tereshko Parkhomenko under whom he studied for three years. (Kornievsky states that he was partially sighted). Tkachenko's repertoire consisted mainly of songs. Opanas Slastion wrote in 1906 that he knew three '' dumy'' (sung epic poems): * The duma about the brother and sister * The duma about the widow and her three sons * The duma about the captives' lament These ''dumy'' were performed by Tkachenko rarely, and as a consequence some ethnomusicologists state that he did not know any ''dumy'' at all. Regarding his bandura technique, he played quite well. Although his voice was not the most exciting, he sang with passion and was able to move the listener. Petro Tkachenko was widely traveled, performing in the cities of Chernihiv, Nizhyn, Konotop,

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

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 ...

, Lokhvytsia, Pryluky, Pryiatyn,

Kremenchuk Kremenchuk (; , , also spelt Kremenchug, ) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. The city serves as the administrative center of Kremenchuk Raion and Kremenchuk urban hromada within ...

, Mykolayiv and others. In 1905 he lived for two months in the home of the director of the Yekaterinoslav Historic Museum – academic Dmytro Yavornytsky, playing for the visitors of the museum, as an illustration for public lectures by this eminent historian. Tkachenko died during the prime of his life living only 40 years, after a difficult illness (

Typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...

) on 3 January 1919. For his noted accomplishments he was included in a list of prominent international cultural figures to be celebrated by

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 ...

in 1977–78.

Sources

* Mishalow, V. and M.- Ukrains'ki kobzari-bandurysty - Sydney, Australia, 1986 * Polotay, M - Kobzar Petro Tkachenko - Narodna Tvorchist' ta Etnohrafiya, 1978 #5 p. 71-2 1878 births 1919 deaths People from Chernihiv Oblast Bandurists Blind musicians Musicians from the Russian Empire {{ukraine-bio-stub Kobzars