Pavlo Denysovych Miniailo (*1896 Poltava Province, Russian Empire - †1973 USA) was a bandura player of the Poltava Bandura Chapel (since 1925), the State Bandura Chapel of the Ukrainian SSR (since 1935), and the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Bandura Chapel (now in Detroit, USA) (1942-1973). He mastered the technique of the Kharkiv method of playing the bandura, which was developed by Hnat Khotkevych. He had a strong, beautiful, original bass-baritone tone.
Biography.
He received his initial musical education before the 1917 revolution at the Poltava Theological Seminary, where he studied to become a priest.
After the establishment of Soviet power in Poltava region, he worked in a printing house.
Before joining the Poltava Bandura Choir, he sang with Yosyp Panasenko in the Cathedral and National Choirs in Poltava. Together with Volodymyr Kabachok, he travelled to Kharkiv for consultations with Hnat Khotkevych.
After the authorities liquidated the Poltava Bandura Choir in 1934, he moved to Kyiv (1934), and for a short time some members of the choir were attached to the choir under the direction of Nestor Horodovenko (the Dumka Choir).
In October 1935, he became a member of the United Bandura Choir under the direction of M. Mykhailov, where he worked as a soloist until the outbreak of the Second World War. As a tenor, the soloist recorded a number of pieces on discs accompanied by the bandura band.
At the beginning of the war, he was mobilised to the Red Army and trained as a radio operator. He was captured but managed to escape on his way to a prisoner of war camp.
From the end of 1941, he joined the Taras Shevchenko Bandura Band.
He went through the whole path of the Chapel from the beginning to the end. He did not go on a tour to Europe (1958) because of his advanced age, but later performed in local concerts.
From the memoirs of Petro Kitastyi: "Pavlo Minyaylo had an innate sense of musical phrase. He deeply felt the Ukrainian song and skilfully combined words and melody. In other words, he sang artistically. And this is the greatest compliment to a vocalist. He gave his whole soul to the song. His timbre and his singing adorned the Chapel. As did the singing of all the other luminaries. He loved the poetry of Taras Shevchenko. I will not forget how at one of Shevchenko's performances, standing invisible behind a large portrait of Shevchenko in the centre of the stage, he inspiredly and touchingly recited a selection of poems from the Kobzar in his beautiful, resonant voice, creating the impression that the poet himself was speaking."
He moved to America with his wife Olena Mykolaivna and daughter Nina.
He was buried at the Ukrainian cemetery in Bavdn Brook, in the plot allocated for members of the Bandura Band.
After the war, his brother Serhii remained in Kyiv and continued to play in the State Bandura Chapel of the Ukrainian SSR. The brothers kept up an active correspondence and exchange of materials from one continent to another.
