PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — In times of trouble, musicians who play a rare Ukrainian instrument are trying to keep its sound alive.
The bandura is a 60-string wooden instrument that’s only played by roughly 200 people in the U.S. and Canada. Bandurists can actually play melodies on two hands, merging the techniques of the lute and the harp and mimicking the sounds of the harpsichord.
A North American chorus, with some players based in Philadelphia, is working its hardest to ensure that the “voice of Ukraine” lives on.
“We know that situation in Ukraine right now. The narrative has been, from the Russian government, that Ukraine doesn’t have its own identity. That’s false,” said Anatoli Murha.
He works full-time for the Ukrainian Selfreliance Federal Credit Union, but in his spare time, he serves as president of the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus of North America.
“It has been targeted in the past to be eliminated. We want to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he said.
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The ensemble was originally founded in Ukraine in 1918 but disbanded during World War II. Some members ended up in displaced persons camps in Germany but eventually made their way to the U.S. and Canada, where they decided to play again.
It has since regrouped and continues to travel the world with a chorus singing along to the music of the unique bandura.
“They knew that they had a mission,” said Murha. “That they could not allow that voice and that soul of Ukraine to be diminished or never heard from again.”
Murha, a Ukrainian American who lives in Philadelphia, learned how to play the bandura as a child. With the ongoing crisis, he said they are making sure its music continues to play for generations to come.
“Right now, we’re deeply concerned that, given the war, it may not be heard from again. So right now, our role is, we’re the guardians of the bandura and the voice of Ukraine.”