Bazhul Hryhory

Hryhory Ivanovych Bazhul ( _uk. Григорій Бажул) (January 22, 1906 Poltava Ukraine, - October 17 1989 Sydney, Australia) was a Ukrainian bandurist.

Biography

Born in Poltava province to a family of a railroad engineer his family moved to Kharkiv in 1911. In Kharkiv he completed his studies at the Institute of Grain Culture and was employed as an agronomist.

In the 1920s he was arrested and spent his time in the Berdiansk agronomic penal colony. On his return to Kharkiv he became interested in the bandura after hearing the blind kobzar Keleberda playing on the streets of Kharkiv. He enrolled in bandura classes and studied bandura with Hnat Khotkevych in the second group at the worker's conservatory. After the closing of the classes he continued to study bandura privately with Khotkevych and soon became one of the closer friends to the family.

In the early 1930s he was once again arrested and spent two years in exile in Siberia where he worked professionally in Siberia, northern Caucasus and Taishent. (He had improperly given out bread ration coupons to the Khotkevych family during the period of the Famine-Holodomor).

After serving his sentence he returned to Kharkiv.

Germany

During the Nazi occupation of Kharkiv H. Bazhul published a number of inflammatory anti-Soviet articles in the occupational press and attempted to organize a bandurist capella in Kharkiv.He also began performing with solo concerts in and around Kharkiv (under the non-de-plume of Keleberda). With the return of Soviet forces Bazhul moved West. In Western Ukraine he performed in a bandura trio with Zinoviy Shtokalko and Volodymyr Yurkevych.

In Germany, Bazhul joined the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus and at one time was in the administration of the Chorus. He became one of the moving forces to bring in Volodymyr Bozhyk and many professional singer non-bandurists. He resigned from the Chorus and started and directed a bandura quintet called the Veresai Brotherhood which toured Germany to great acclaim until 1948.

Australia

At the end of the war Bazhul moved to Australia where he performed solo and later started up a bandura ensemble that grew into the Hnat Khotkevych Bandurist Ensemble. The Ensemble was the moving force for the development of bandura art in Australia. It had numerous performances by itself and with the Boyan Choir under the direction of Vasyl Matiash. Later on the basis of the Ensemble he organized a school of bandura playing in 1970.

Bazhul published a number of articles about Khotkevych and his life as a bandurist in numerous magazines. He had a collection of some 60 of Khotkevych's manuscripts given to him by Khotkevych's wife in order that the manuscripts could escape confiscation after Khotkevych's arrest in 1938.

Articles

*Бажул, Г. Про бандуру // Нова Україна, 25.ХІІ.1942. - С.4
*Бажул, Г. Спогади про Гната Хоткевича – Інтерв’ю на плівці 1984 р. (90 хв)
*Бажул, Г. Гнат Хоткевич // Альманах "Новий Обрій", №2, Мельбурн, Австралія. 1960, - С.142-149
*Бажул, Г. Кобзарське мистецтво в Австралії //Вільна Думка, № 51(1047) Сідней, Австралія, 21.XII.1969
*Бажул, Г. Альфа і омеґа мистецької одиниці в Сіднеї // Вільна Думка 13.VI.1982, а також // Бандура, 1985, №13-14 - С.27-32
*Бажул, Г. З бандурою по світу //Бандура, 1984, №9/10 - С.46-52

ources

Дібрівний, І. Григорій І. Бажул (некролог) // Вільна Думка, Сідней, Австралія, 12.ХІ.89