Kuban Bandurists - Early 20th Century

Early 20th Century

After the 1902 Archeological conference in Kharkiv, Ukrainian Intellectuals seized the opportunity to use tha bandura as a tool for fighting aspsects of the Tsarist regime and as a tool for Ukrainianization. Such prominent writers as Olena Pchilka and Hnat Khotkevych noted the importance of using the bandura as a way of affirming national rights. A a result, the Imperial government officials in the Kuban negatively reacted to the rise in the popularity of the bandura.

In the 1920 and early 30s however the bandura flourished in the Kuban. A significant number of Kuban bandurists who had emigrated to the West continued to perform. However, as part of the de-ukrainisation of the Kuban that was implemented in 1930, many of the bandurists such as Svirid Sotnichenko, Konon Bezchasny, Mykola Bohuslavsky were arrested and received terms of imprisonment of 5–10 years or exile. Many more were purged in the Yezhovschina wave of repressions in 1937-38.