Yevhen Adamtsevych

In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Oleksandrovych and the family name is Adamtsevych.

Yevhen Oleksandrovych Adamtsevych (Ukrainian: Євге́н Олекса́ндрович Адамце́вич; 1 January [O.S. 19 December 1903] 1904 – 19 November 1972) was a Ukrainian blind bandurist.

Yevhen Adamtsevych Євген Адамцевич
Background information
Born	(1904-01-01)1 January 1904 Solonytsia [uk], Russian Empire (now Ukraine)
Died	19 November 1972(1972-11-19) (aged 68) Kholmivka [uk], Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Ukraine)
Genres	Folk music
Instrument	Bandura
Years active	1927–1972

Biography

Yevhen Oleksandrovych Adamtsevych was born in the village of Solonytsia on 1 January 1904, not far from the town of Lubny, in what is now Ukraine's Poltava Oblast.^[1] His father, who came from Snovsk, worked at one time at the railway station at Solonytsia [uk], possibly as the station master. His mother was Maria Mykhailivna (née Bilan), the middle class daughter of a tailor whose five children were all educated at home.^[2]

Adamtsevych became blind at the age of two.^[1] He was educated at a school for the blind in Kyiv.^[3] He lived in Romny where from 1925 he was apprenticed to the kobzar Musii Petrovych Oleksienko [uk], who taught him to play the bandura.^[4]

Adamtsevych began to perform as a soloist in 1927,^[4] where he led a group of bandurists.^[5] In 1927 he married Lidia Dmytrivna Paradis; her relatives did not approve of this marriage and were only reconciled years later.^[2] During the 1930s, he was a travelling kobzar.^[5] In 1939 he participated in the conference of kobzars which took place in Kyiv, and he participated in a 1940 conference on folk singers in Moscow.^[4]

During the Second World War, Adamtsevych travelled around Ukraine, performing patriotic songs, including his own composition, the song "Unwillingly".^[4] During the 1950s and 1960s, he and other bandurists gave concerts in Ukraine and Russia.^[5]

In October 1972, Adamtsevych and his wife moved to live with their daughter in the village of Kholmivka, Bakhchysaray District, Crimea.^[4] Three weeks later, he was hospitalized with acute pain caused by a stone in his gall bladder, but died during the early hours of 20 November whilst on the operating table.^[2] He bequeathed his bandura to the Taras Shevchenko Museum [uk] in Kaniv.^[2]

Playing and singing style

Adamtsevych acted as a bearer of the national Ukrainian traditions of singing and playing the bandura, which he learned his repertoire directly through oral transmission. A characteristic feature of Adamtsevych's singing style was his ability to highlight syllables or words; the range of his voice covered two octaves.^[4] he was known for being able to easily memorize the music and lyrics of any songs that he listened to.^[2]

Personality

Adamtsevych's daughter recalled her father as being was energetic, cheerful, and neat. He did not have a haircut, but shaved his head "according to Kotovskyi". According to his daughter, "He did everything himself: he sawed and chopped firewood, repaired the house, built it, even roofed the house himself with iron, dug cellars and covered it with bricks."^[2] Adamtsevich attempted unsuccessfully to teach his daughter Tetyana to play the bandura.^[2]

Repertoire

Adamtsevych's repertoire included many historic Ukrainian folk songs, but lacked any authentic dumy (sung epic poems).^[6] Yevshan-Zillia, the single epic work in his repertoire, was structured like a duma.^[4]

Adamtsevych composed the "Zaporizhian March",^[2] which was orchestrated by Viktor Hutsal [uk].^[7] The march was played regularly by the Ukrainian State Orchestra of Ukrainian Folk Instruments in Kyiv.^{[citation needed]} Other compositions include the songs "In Captivity" (1941), and "Thoughts about I.F. Fedka" (1966).^[3]