Vasyl Hryhorovych Nechepa (*1 September 1950, Nosivka) is a Ukrainian kobzar, lyre player, folk singer, winner of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize, People's Artist of Ukraine (2008).
Education and career
He received his first lessons in his family, and a little later - from a local talent, folk violinist Oleksandr Sopiha (1892-1971). In his youth, he studied at a music school and college in Chernihiv, where his best teacher was Honoured Artist of Ukraine Leonid Pashyn (1925-2004). Later, Vasyl Nechepa's talent was further honed by the lessons of People's Artist of Ukraine S. Kozak, a professor at the Kyiv Conservatory. He learned to play the kobza and lyre from the world-famous master Oleksandr Korniievskyi, who, in turn, learned the secrets of kobza and lyre-making from the famous Tertiaryi Parkhomenko.
Together with the People's Deputy of Ukraine Anatoliy Yermak, he stood at the origins of the All-Ukrainian Nestor Makhno Society "Gulyai-Pole". In recent years, since 2003, he has been working at the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management (IAPM).
Creative work
Since 1967, V. Nechepa has worked in many collectives. He was a soloist of the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Soviet troops in Germany, the Honoured Folk Choir "Desna", performed in the Chernihiv Folk Choir and in the folklore ensemble "Siversi" at the Chernihiv Philharmonic, which he created himself. Since 1985, he has been performing as a kobzar-lyricist-singer. He has brought dozens of "Sokoliks" of the Chernihiv group of kobzarists to the professional stage.
In addition to his amazing performance of folk songs, his repertoire is impressive. Some pieces date back to the times of Homer's Iliad, or even the Indo-Aryan Ramayana. For example, the song "Oh, come down, moon..." tells of a girl's wooing of a boy, who is lured away by her mother, who is not favourably disposed to her, with a raven horse.
Publications
Vasyl Nechepa is the author and compiler of the artistic and journalistic work "The Majestic Cossack Family", which was published in 2011 by the EMMA Publishing House. The introduction to this book was written by the third President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, and the foreword was written by Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Mykola Zhulynskyi. The book was published in 1,000 copies and is 560 pages long.
The Kobzar School
Vasyl Nechepa is a unique singer and musician, currently the only representative of the old world (but developed by him!) Chernihiv kobza school, which Hnat Khotkevych, a recognised authority on the history of kobzars, considered the oldest in Ukraine. He is the direct heir and successor of T. Parkhomenko and his luthier pupil A. Hreben.
The instrument
Vasyl Nechepa's kobza is unique because it has frets on the boutons and halftone switches on the strings. The string of this kobza is diatonic: 7 bunts and 16 strings. This makes it possible to play a diatonic instrument in many keys. Nechepa's kobza was made according to his personal drawings from Parkhomenko's kobza by Mykola Yeshchenko, a world-renowned craftsman.
Vasyl Nechepa's lyre was made to his order at the Melnytsia-Podilska Experimental Musical Instrument Factory, modelled on ancient Ukrainian wheeled lyres. It is enhanced with a chromatic keyboard that allows playing in minor and major without tuning.
Honours and awards
For his concert programme "In the murmur, the sob of banduras" he received the Taras Shevchenko State Prize of Ukraine (2006).
People's Artist of Ukraine (2008).
Laureate of the I. Nechuy-Levytsky Literary and Art Prize
