Stepan Pasiuha

In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Artemovych and the family name is Pasiuha.

Stepan Pasiuha Степан Пасюга
Pasiuha (left) in 1912
Background information
Born	(1862-12-11)11 December 1862 Velyka Pysarivka, Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine)
Died	1933 (aged 70–71)
Genres	Folk
Occupations	Kobzar Bandurist
Instrument	Bandura

Portrait of Stepan Pasiuha by Opanas Slastion, 1910

Stepan Artemovych Pasiuha (11 December 1862 – 1933) was a Ukrainian kobzar.

Biography

Stepan Pasiuha was born in the town Velyka Pysarivka, Bohodukhiv County, in the Kharkov Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine). He learned to play the bandura from Dmytro Trochenko. He had seven dumy (sung epic poems) in his repertoire:

• 1. Marusia Bohuslavka
• 2. The Widow and Her Three Sons
• 3. The Sister and Brother
• 4. Oleksiy Popovych
• 5. Captives lament
• 6. Ivan Konovchenko, the Widow's Son
• 7. The Escape of the Three Brothers from Oziv

The first three dumy were recorded on a phonograph by Opanas Slastion and sent to Filaret Kolessa in Lviv. Filaret Kolessa wrote that : "In his recitations, sung with a nice baritone, we hear the importance of the recitative above the melody. The singing and playing of Stepan Pasiuha makes a nice artistic impression."

Yehor Movchan was a student of Pasiuha, and highly praised him as a teacher of singing and playing, and also as a kobzar who demonstrated great artistry in his performance of dumy. He often spoke: "there probably was never such a kobzar like Pasiuha and in the future there never will be."

In 1915, Pasiuha was arrested and spent time incarcerated.

From graphic sources his bandura had:

• Portrait 1 – 4 basses and 14 treble strings (16 pegs)
• Portrait 2 – 6 basses and 14 treble strings

Students

• Hryhory Kozhushko
• Yehor Movchan
• Heorhy Tkachenko

Sources

• Mishalow, V. and M.: Ukrains'ki kobzari-bandurysty, Sydney, Australia, 1986