Stepan Artemovych Pasyuga (29 November 1862 - 1933) was a kobzar.
Stepan was born on 29 November 1862 in the village of Velyka Pysarivka (urban-type settlement) in Eastern Slobozhanshchyna (now Sumy region of Ukraine).
He lost his eyesight in his youth.
Together with P. Hashchenko, he studied with kobzar Dmytro Trochenko from the village of Liutovka, Bohodukhiv district.
After receiving their "odklinshchyna", they went to improve their skills with a kobzar from the village of Murafa, Bohodukhiv district, Stefan Yakovych Bidyl.
According to Stepan Pasyuha, he was greatly influenced by his workshop master Khvedir Vovk.
Although S. Pasyuha did not show any particular desire for concert performances, Ukrainian intellectuals gladly invited the kobzar to perform on stage.
In 1911-1912, together with P. Hashchenko and P. Drevchenko, he performed at many concerts organised by Ukrainian intellectuals in Kharkiv, Kyiv, Poltava, Odesa, Myrhorod, Okhtyrka, and other cities.
There are memories of S. Pasyuga's performances at the South Russian Industrial and Agricultural Exhibition in Katerynoslav (1910); a concert in the Katerynoslav Historical Museum (1911); and the Artisanal Exhibition in St. Petersburg (1916).
S. Pasyuha was related to the last kobzar master (successor of Khvedor Vovk) - Ivan Kazan.
He played bandura and lyre.
He knew a lot of dumas and old songs, but he sang only four of them "in public" (for the intelligentsia) - "The Lament of the Slaves", "The Three Ozovski Brothers", "The Widow and the Three Sons", and "Konivchenko".
He received the highest marks from both kobzars and musicologists.
"There has never been and will never be a kobzar like Pasyuga!" recalled Yevhen Movchan, "His voice had no end. He knew almost all the dumas, sang a huge number of folk songs. As for his kobza playing, there is nothing to say about it."
"In his recitations, sung in a beautiful, baritone voice, we notice the predominance of recitative over melody. Pasyuha's singing and playing add up to a good artistic whole," said F. Kolessa.
Stepan Pasyuha lived a very simple life, despised "worldly delights" and adhered to the cherished strictness in relation to his students.
S. Pasyuga had a great influence on Heorhiy Tkachenko, who conveyed to his contemporaries the manner of old world kobza performance.
He died in 1933 from starvation. He was buried in the village of Borysivka in the Russian Federation.
Some of S. Pasyuha's recordings are kept in the funds of the Institute of Music and Performing Arts (Kyiv).
Opanas Slastion made two portrait sketches of the kobzar.
Contents
1 Pupils
2 Notes
3 Sources
4 References
Pupils[edit
From 1904 to 1906, he taught Hryhorii Kozhushko; in 1905-1907 - Zakhar Benshyi; in 1911-1913 - Yehor Movchan.
Ivan Kuchuhura-Kucherenko, a student of P. Haschenko, was also a "transit" student of S. Pasyuha.
