Markevych, Oleksander A.

Markevych, Oleksander A. [Markevyč], b 9 April 1894 in Troitske, Vasylkiv county, Kyiv gubernia, d 5 February 1978 in Kyiv. (Photo: Oleksander A. Markevych.) Folk singer and kobzar. After losing his eyesight in the First World War, he learned to play the kobza and bandura and developed an extensive repertoire of dumas, historical songs, psalms, and musical renditions, often his own, of poems by Taras Shevchenko, Stepan Rudansky, and Leonid Hlibov. In 1939 he took part in the First Republican Conference of Kobzars and Lirnyks and joined the State Kobzar Ensemble. In the 50 years of his career he visited almost every village of the Kyiv region.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]