Kobza

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Kobza (Ukrainian: кобза) is a traditional Ukrainian stringed musical instrument, from the lute family, and more specifically a relative of Central European mandora.

Cossack with a Kobza

The term kobza is first mentioned in 1331, but lute-like instruments are known to have existed in the territories now known as Ukraine even earlier, either from the sixth century, brought there by Bulgars, or possibly somewhat later by Polovetsians and Khazars. The term has a Turkic origin: "kobyz" or "khomus". It acquired widespread popularity in the 16th century, with the advent of the Hetmanate (Cossack state).

A kobza was usually played by a bard or minstrel called kobzar (earlier kobeznik), to accompany the recitation of a Ukrainian sung epic called duma. Kobza was also a term for any regional lute-like instrument used by court musicians in Central-Eastern Europe, which might not have been a kobza proper.

The kobza became extinct early in the 20th century, but currently there is a revival of kobza playing in Ukraine, due to the efforts of the "Kobzar Guild" in Kiev and Kharkiv. There are a number of types in current use: the authentic traditional kobza with six strings strung along the neck and six treble strings strung along the treble side of the instrument, as well as several attempts at kobza modernization (the four-stringed orchestral kobza in various sizes using violin tunings, and the six or seven-stringed kobza using several guitar tunings). The kobza revival is impeded by the complete absence of the museum specimens. All evidence is entirely iconographic.

The kobza was often referred to in historical sources as bandura (from Latin Pandura, via medieval Polish Barduny, i.e. a lute). The terms were interchangeable until about 1800. Eventually the unfretted "starosvitska" bandura (developed ca. 1800) appropriated the bandura name, but still was often referred to as kobza among the common folk, because of the name's historical cachet.

The cobza is also an unrelated type of four-course folk lute found in Romania and Moldova. In Hungary and Transylvania the same instrument is called the koboz. Both are now increasingly rare, as traditional music is being superseded by popular.