{September 23rd, 2018} Julian Kytasty
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"The instrument in question is the bandura, a unique stringed beast which is part Central Asian lute, part medieval Kievan lap harp. Its sound is magical, especially as plucked, strummed, and tapped by Julian Kytasty... Kytasty represents an unbroken link with a buried historical tradition. Kobzari were blind singers who travelled through Ukraine in the pre-Soviet days: Stalin and his friends regarded them as dangerously nationalist and did their best to abolish their tradition--sometimes by summary execution, sometimes by "re-education". As a result the kobzar repertoire was largely lost. But not quite: Kytasty's father and grandfather continued to play and sing it, and Kytasty also found one of the last great kobzari, Heorhiy Tkachenko, who gave him many tutorials before his death aged 95 in 1993." --Michael Church, BBC
This concert is made possible in part by grants from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
