Tertiaryi (Tereshko) Makarovych Parkhomenko (28 October 1872 - 23 May 1910) was a Ukrainian kobzar, a famous personality from Chernihiv Polissia, who studied with kobzar Andrii Haidenko.
He was born in 1872 in the village of Voloskivtsi, Sosnytsia district.
According to the descriptions of M. Speransky, who devoted special chapters to Parkhomenko in his book "South Russian Song and Its Modern Carriers," as well as other researchers such as A. Malynka and H. Hotkevych, Tereshko Parkhomenko was a talented bandura player, a master of his craft. He knew eight dumas, historical songs about Morozenko, about Savva Chaly, twenty-eight spiritual poems and psalms, several satirical songs typical of the kobza repertoire - "Khoma and Yarema", "Dvoryanka", "Mishchanka", "Mother-in-law", "Shchyhlovyi vesnya", dances "Kozachok", "Dudochka", "Tetiana". He had a high voice and expressively phrased his singing to the accompaniment of a bandura. According to the available description, his bandura had 6 metal covered basses on the neck and 14 strings on the body. He played in the so-called Chernihiv way, which involves using the left hand exclusively to play the bunts (basses), the bandura is placed between the knees facing the body, the right hand plays exclusively the strings, and mainly uses two fingers - the index and middle ones.
The singer also played the lyre. Parkhomenko, by his own admission, did not shy away from printed literature. For example, he adopted "Slave Cry", "Fedir Bezrodnyi", "Cossack Holota", "Death of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi", "Thought about Sister and Brother" from B. Hrinchenko's edition of "Dumy Kobzarski" (Chernihiv, 1887). He was acquainted with M. Lysenko, from whom he adopted the "Pochayiv Psalm", which the composer recorded. Others, such as "To St Nicholas", "The Dream of the Virgin", and "The Miracle of Pochayiv", were taken from the recordings of P. Chubynskyi and P. Bezsonov.
The kobzar treated the text freely. Allowing himself some changes, he noted that "everyone sings in his own way". A well-known fragment of musical recitation from T. Parkhomenko, in particular, "Duma about Fedir Bezrodnyi" is almost identical to the one recorded by M. Lysenko from kobzar Ostap Veresai. Avram Hrebin (1878-1961), a lyre player from the village of Berezny, Chernihiv province, who became blind at the age of 16, studied with T. Parkhomenko. He knew kobzars M. Kravchenko from Poltava region, P. Drevchenko, H. Honcharenko, and S. Pasyuga from Kharkiv region, from whom he learned the dumas "Slave's Cry", "About the Azov Brothers", "About Marusya Bohuslavka", and "About the Cossack Banduryst".
His students included Mykhailo Domontovych, Vasyl Potapenko, and Nikon Prudkyi.
His performing culture was highly appreciated by well-known folklorists, ethnographers, and writers - I. Franko, M. Sumtsov, M. Speransky, A. Lysovsky, Olena Pchipka, and many other researchers of Ukrainian art, although they were somewhat reserved in their assessment of the observance of traditional performance and transmission of repertoire.
Parkhomenko's art was of great importance for the further development of bandura playing in Ukraine. He had many followers. In particular, his former guide V. Potapenko (1888-1934) later became a concert kobzar, organiser and head of one of the kobza schools in Kyiv.
During his last concert in Uman in the winter of 1910, the kobzar was beaten by gendarmes for performing a rebellious song, which eventually led to his death.
He died on 23 March 1910 in the village of Voloskivtsi (now Chernihiv region).
Repertoire
Dumas: (8)
"The Azov Brothers",
"Slave Lament",
"The Widow and Three Sons,
"Fedir Bezrodnyi,
"Cossack Holota",
"The Death of Bohdan Khmelnytsky,
"A Thought about a Sister and a Brother",
"On the Death of a Cossack Bandura Player".
Historical songs:
About Morozenko,
About Savva Chaly,
Spiritual poems and psalms (28)
Satirical songs:
"Khoma and Yarema",
"The Noblewoman",
"The Bourgeoisie",
"Mother-in-law",
"A Shiglovy Wedding".
Instrumental dances:
"Cossack",
"Dudochka",
"Tatiana"
