Fedir Avramovych Zharko Merited Artist of Ukraine (1965).

Fedir Zharko was one of the most renown singers of dumy

Duma (epic)

A Duma is a sung epic poem which originated in Ukraine during the Hetmanate Era in the sixteenth century...

(sung epic poems) in Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

. He was born in 1914 in village of Mykhailivka, Cherkasy

Cherkasy

Cherkasy or Cherkassy , is a city in central Ukraine. It is the capital of the Cherkasy Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Cherkasky Raion within the oblast...

 province. From 1931-36 Zharko studied at the Cherkasy Pedagogical Institute, completing his studies in Mathematics and Physics. Here he also became acquainted with the bandurist Vusatyj from the city of Chyhyryn

Chyhyryn

Chyhyryn is a city located in Cherkasy Oblast of central Ukraine. In 1648 to 1669 the city was the capital of Ukraine .- Location :...

, who inspired him to learn to play the bandura

Bandura

Bandura refers to a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. It combines elements of a box zither and lute, as well as its lute-like predecessor, the kobza...

. From 1936-1940 up until World War II he worked as a village school teacher in Kiev Oblast

Kiev Oblast

Kyiv Oblast, sometimes written as Kiev Oblast is an oblast in central Ukraine.The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Kyiv , also being the capital of Ukraine...

 (province).

Initially he learned to play the bandura from Fedir Hlushko. After World War II he spent six years incarcerated in Irkutsk

Irkutsk

Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...

 and Kolyma

Kolyma

The Kolyma region is located in the far north-eastern area of Russia in what is commonly known as Siberia but is actually part of the Russian Far East. It is bounded by the East Siberian Sea and the Arctic Ocean in the north and the Sea of Okhotsk to the south...

 for being a village elder during the German occupation

Reichskommissariat Ukraine

Reichskommissariat Ukraine , literally "Reich Commissariat of Ukraine", was the civilian occupation regime of much of German-occupied Ukraine during World War II. Between September 1941 and March 1944, the Reichskommissariat was administered by Reichskommissar Erich Koch as a colony...

 of Ukraine.

In 1945, after singing at a concert he was invited to join the Dumka chorus in Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

. In 1948 he became a member of the Kiev Bandurist Capella

Kiev Bandurist Capella

The Kiev Bandurist Capella is a male vocal-instrumental ensemble that accompanies its singing with the playing of the multi-stringed Ukrainian folk instrument known as the bandura....

 where he spent some 25 years performing with the group until his retirement in 1974.

Repertoire

From 1958 he recorded a large number of dumy and historic songs for the Melodia company, and published a number of collections of songs and dumy.(1967, 1969)

His repertoire included the following dumy (ten authentic and four contemporary dumy):

1. The Duma about the death of the Kozak Bandurist (Hlushko)
2. The Samara Brothers (Hlushko)
3. Captives lament (Hlushko)
4. Storm on the Black Sea -
5. The Oziv Brothers -
6. Kozak Holota -
7. Fedir the one without kin
8. Marusia Bohuslavka
9. About the sister and brother
10. About the poor widow and her three sons

Contemporary dumy-songs

1. About Lenin
2. It is not the Wind
3. Blood is not water
4. Freedom is coming

Zharko has also been the author of a number of songs and dumy.

Publications

Ukrains'ki narodni pisni dlia holosu v suprovodi bandury

Yuni spivaky-bandurysty

Sources

• Omelchenko, A. F. - Banduryst Fedir Zharko // NTE, 1975 #3
• Omel'chenko, A. F. - Poklykannia // Muzyka, 1979 #2, p.24
• Nemyrovych, I. - Vziav by ia banduru - Kiev, 1986