Ostap Veresai
Veresai, Ostap Nikitovich
Born 1803; died 1890. Ukrainian kobzar’ (a folk singer who plays on the kobza, a stringed instrument). Born into a serf family.
Blind from early childhood, Veresai lived in the village of Sokirintsy in the Poltava region. His repertoire contained folk ballads (dumy), which were performed as solo recitatives to the accompaniment of a musical instrument, as well as historical, satirical, and comical songs. Veresai was arrested a number of times for performing the satirical song “On Truth and Falsehood.” The composer N. V. Lysenko organized Veresai’s St. Petersburg recital in 1875. The kobzari of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th developed the traditions of Veresai’s song work.