Stepan Zharko (21 July 1877, Kanivska - 16 March 1943, Mariinsk) was a baritone kobzar, violinist, public figure, teacher; artistic director of the men's bandura band in Kanivska, director and actor of the musical and dramatic village theatre, and artist of the Kuban Symphony Orchestra (1844-1909).
Since 1904, he played several banduras, including the bandura of O. Korniievskyi. Virtuoso improviser. He taught music and singing in village schools. He also played the clarinet, violin, and trumpet. Founder and leader of the school symphony ensemble, school, church and secular choirs.
Organiser of the men's bandura chapel in Kanivska village, initiator of the production of banduras by local craftsmen (H. Husar, P. Smolka, etc.), in particular, the first known chromatic bandura in the Kuban was designed by him (1923). He was a master of tailoring men's Cossack clothes. All his bandura players and choristers used sheet music. He made instruments for the chapel for 2 - 3 banduras, and choral scores for 4 - 6 voices. A symphony ensemble accompanied dramatic performances and operas. Secular choirs performed cantatas by Mykola Lysenko, the poem "Ukraine", suites by Hryhorii Davydovskyi, and others. In his own repertoire, he had dumas, historical and Cossack songs, and instrumental music. He wrote poetic works ("The Legend of the Ataman", etc.) and music to them. He gave many concerts, mostly in the Kaniv district of the Kuban.
Arrested during a concert in front of wounded Red Army soldiers in a military hospital. On 24 July 1943, he was sentenced by the military tribunal of the NKVD troops of the Krasnodar Territory under Article 58-2 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to 7 years in prison. He died in Mariinsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, in a camp for the disabled. On 29 September 1989, the Prosecutor of the RSFSR issued a ruling according to which Zh. was not subject to rehabilitation.
