Lirnyk
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The lirnyk (Ukrainian: лірник; plural лірники - lirnyky) was an itinerant Ukrainian musician who performed religious, historical and epic songs to the accompaniment of a lira, the Ukrainian version of the hurdy-gurdy.
Lirnyky were similar to and belonged to the same guilds as the better known bandura players known as kobzars. However, the lirnyk played the lira, a kind of crank-driven hurdy-gurdy, while the kobzars played the lute-like banduras. Lirnyky were usually blind or had some major disability. They were active in all areas of Ukraine from (at least) the 1600s on.
The tradition was discontinued in Eastern/Central Ukraine in the mid-1930s during a campaign against Ukrainian culture and intellectuals after Stalin's reversal of Ukrainization (see also: Korenizatsiya, Russification), although some lirnyky 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.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- Humeniuk, A. - Ukrainski narodni muzychni instrumenty - Kyiv: Naukova dumka, 1967
- Mizynec, V. - Ukrainian Folk Instruments - Melbourne: Bayda books, 1984
