Recently, the Lviv kobzar workshop received a new instrument – a kobza, as a gift from the Charitable Foundation “MHP-Hromadi” and a grant for a teacher in order to pass on knowledge to future generations and to help those who want to master the art of kobzar.
This presentation took place on October 11 in Lviv during the charity evening “Kobzarsko-lirnitska Tradition”, which was attended by kobzars, lyre players and bandurists: Yaroslav Krysko, Taras Dorotskyi, Andriy Siletskyi, Lajosh Molnar and Oles Sanin.
“Back in the spring, our Charity Fund “MHP-Community”, one of whose donors is the MHP company, announced the launch of a grant for craftsmen in kobzar workshops, of which there are three in Ukraine: Kyiv, Lviv and Kharkiv. In order to motivate them in this way to continue the work of preserving and passing on our common cultural heritage to the next generations. Also, taking into account the high cost of high-quality musical instruments, the “MHP-Hromadi” Foundation gives each workshop one kobzar instrument for training. One was handed over in Kyiv to the Museum in Pirogov for the Kyiv workshop, another one was handed over to Lviv. The next step is the handover in Kharkiv,” says Svitlana Myhal, manager of national projects of the BF “MHP-Hromadi”.
Today, artists have turned into cultural activists, Ukrainian mouthpieces, because they not only collect funds to help their wounded brother, Taras Kozub, a well-known lyre maker, a brother of the Lviv Kobzar workshop, but also tell the world about our rich cultural heritage and traditions.
“This music was played a long time ago, this music should be played now. It inspires, makes you think about life,” said Yaroslav Krysko, workshop master of the Lviv Kobzar workshop.
Also, during the event, the audience was presented with a documentary film created by director Oles Sanin and producer Andrii Rizol, with the support of the “MHP-Community” Charitable Foundation, which was created in order to include the Cossack-lyric tradition in the UNESCO register of best practices for the protection of cultural heritage.
“This is a very old tradition that dates back more than 300 years in Ukraine. The very tradition of transmitting this knowledge of Cossack art is oral. It’s not only about the ability to play, but also about singing old historical events or stories and making the instrument itself, as well as passing on this knowledge,” shared Oles Sanin.
In the case of the Charitable Fund, there are also other cultural projects, because it is through culture that Ukrainians create and spread values that are important to us.
“The charity fund implements such projects as “Cinema for Victory!”, “Let’s sing for victory”, “Culture vs war”, and also supports local museums, small communities, and their cultural festivals. For 2022, the fund has invested about 24 million hryvnias in the development of projects related to cultural heritage,” said Iryna Semko, head of the social development group of BF “MHP-Hromadi”.
The organizers gave all proceeds from ticket sales to Taras Kozub, a smith of the Lviv Kobzar workshop, who was seriously injured and lost an arm while defending Ukraine.