The Mariposa Museum and World Culture Center, 26 Main St. in Peterborough, will present “Bless My Homeland Forever” on Sunday, May 25, at 6 p.m.
The program celebrates the historic and traditional music of Ukraine, with performances by JurijFedynskyj, a Ukrainian-American luthier, researcher and musician dedicated to reviving the kobzar and torban playing traditions. The kobzars were blind traveling bards in Eastern Ukraine from the 1700s to the early 20th century, known for performing moral, historic and patriotic songs using harp-lutes such as the bandura and kobza.
The tradition was nearly lost when Soviet leader Joseph Stalin targeted kobzars for extermination in the 1930s. In 2023, UNESCO recognized the kobzar tradition as a heritage of humanity.
Fedynskyj has given over 600 free concerts in Ukraine and on the front lines in the past three years. His U.S. tour includes 50 cities and marks his first family tour, with his wife and five children. The family lives in the village of Kryachkivka in Ukraine’s Poltava region, where Fedynskyj leads the Poltava Kobzar Guild and organizes the DrevoRoduKobzarskoho summer music festival.
Their performance will include Kozak polyphonic village songs, Baroque spiritual hymns, dance tunes and historical songs of freedom from both Europe and the United State
Admission is free, and donations are welcome. To attend, register at mariposamuseum.org or call 603-924-4555.