Mykhailo Kravchenko

Mykhailo Stepanovych Kravchenko (1858-1917) was regarded as one of the most outstanding kobzars of Poltava province of the late 19th early 20th century.

Kravchenko was born in Velyki Sorochyntsi, Myrhorod county in 1858. At the age of 15 he caught scrofula and lost his sight. At the age of 17 he began to learn to sing psalms from Samiylo Yashny. Under whom else he studied we do not know. Literature states that he spent 9 months studying under Fedir Hrytsenko-Kholodny, but in his discussion with Hnat Khotkevych, Kravchenko made no mention of this. It is assumed that he spent time with other kobzars after his apprenticeship with Yashny.

He was very poor because he not only supported his own family, but the family of his sick brother. In order to support two families he would also weave ropes for sale. This was a common occupation for the blind, but one which negatively influenced the art of the kobzar - "When you weave a ropes for a month - Kravchenko stated - from your fingertips 20 layers of skin would come off - how can you play?"

The Myrhorod artist Opanas Slastion became interested in Kravchenko in 1900. Slastion highly praised the artism of Kravchenko and wrote about him in an article published in "Kievan Antiquities." The article made Kravchenko famous among folklorists throughout Ukraine and beyond. The Russian Geographical Society invited Kravchenko to Saint Petersburg to take part in an artisans exhibition in 1902. In the fall of that same year he was invited to Kharkiv to the XIIth Archeological Conference. He also performed at the XIIIth Archeological Conference in Yekaterinoslav (modern Dnipropetrovsk) in 1905, and in 1906 at the artisans exhibition in Kiev. He was also invited to Moscow, where he performed at academic gatherings and ethnographic concerts.

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