Fedir Avramovych Zharko (b. 4 (17) June 1914, Mykhailivka village, now Kamianskyi district, Cherkasy region - 17 July 1986, Kyiv) was a Ukrainian folklore collector and bandura player, performer of Ukrainian folk dumas. Since 1965, he has been an Honoured Artist of Ukraine.
He was born in the village of Mykhailivka (now Kamianka district, Cherkasy region).
In 1936, he graduated from Cherkasy Pedagogical Institute with a degree in mathematics. He worked as a teacher in Baryshiv village school in Kyiv region. During the war near Kyiv, he was taken prisoner by the Germans, but was released because one of the school teachers recognised him and said that he was her husband. In Baryshivka, during the German occupation, he had to work because he had the status of a prisoner of war and if he refused, he and his family could be shot. From 1944, he participated in all-Union music competitions, and after winning one of the competitions held at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, he was appointed soloist of the Dumka Academic Chapel. From 1946-1974, he was a soloist of the Kyiv Bandura Choir.
In 1946, he was arrested and exiled for 10 years on the denunciation of his friend Anatolii Khoroshailo. He was imprisoned in the Irkutsk region and in Kolyma. He was released in 1953.
Discs with his unique voice were released both as personal recordings and as a number on the discs of the State Bandura Choir of the Ukrainian SSR, under the direction of People's Artist of the USSR O. Minkivskyi. He compiled a collection of Ukrainian folk songs for voice accompanied by bandura (1967, 1969).
Works
Bandura artist (H. Tkachenko) // Music. 1978, part 2.
Ukrainian folk songs for voice accompanied by bandura. 1967, 1969.
