The Cossack Songs of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Which Cannot Be Sung Without a Starter and a High Voice

The first singer starts the words, a second takes up the melody in a high voice, and the rest support it in the middle and low voices. When there are no men, the women deepen and thicken their voices to sing the men’s part. The “Cossack songs,” handed down by elderly singers in villages of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine, were inscribed in 2016 on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding (the Urgent Safeguarding List).

The following is based on the nomination file Ukraine submitted to UNESCO (signed 3 March 2015), the decision of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee, the 2020 periodic report, and the national inventory of Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture. The number and ages of the bearers are as of the time each document was written.

2016: Onto the Urgent Safeguarding List

The 11th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 28 November to 2 December 2016, inscribed “Cossack’s songs of Dnipropetrovsk Region” on the Urgent Safeguarding List under Decision 11.COM 10.a.5. This is a separate list from the Representative List, which includes Petrykivka decorative painting from the same oblast (see the article on Petrykivka’s flower paintings, made freehand with cat-hair brushes); the Urgent Safeguarding List is for elements whose survival is at risk and that need immediate safeguarding. Borshch cookery culture is also on this list (see the article on the Ukrainian table — borshch’s UNESCO inscription and the dish’s regional variations).

The Committee gave as its reasons for inscription that the singers narrate the tragic and heroic history of the land and give local people a sense of continuity and identity. At the same time, it cited as reasons the element’s survival is threatened the fact that only three active choirs remain and that the number of bearers has fallen sharply, with transmission from generation to generation almost stopped.

005 in the National Inventory

Within Ukraine, Order No. 16 of the Ministry of Culture, dated 21 January 2015, added “Cossack songs of Dnipropetrovshchyna” (Козацькі пісні Дніпропетровщини) to the inventory created by Order No. 1521 of 2012. This can be confirmed from a copy of the order attached to the nomination file. In the Ministry of Culture’s published “National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Ukraine,” the registration number is “005.нкс,” and the element was entered on this list by Order No. 105 of 12 February 2018. The list gives its domains as “oral traditions and expressions” and “performing arts,” and names the oblast administration and the oblast folk-art centre as the bodies responsible for safeguarding.

What Kind of Songs Are They?

According to the nomination file, the Cossack songs originated among the Cossacks, or in settlements founded by them, in the 17th–18th centuries, when Ukrainian Cossacks were most active; for the bearers, the mark by which they recognise these songs is the appearance of the word “Cossack” in the lyrics. The file states that what is now Dnipropetrovsk Oblast contained hundreds of Cossack-founded settlements, as well as the Zaporozhian Sich (the Cossacks’ main stronghold) (on the history of the Sich, see the article on the 220 years from the Sich’s founding to its destruction, and Japan’s move from the Warring States period to Edo).

The nomination file explains that the songs do not glorify violence or hatred of enemies; even the war songs speak of the tragedies of war, such as the grief of those who lost family members, and many of the songs are about love between a Cossack and a young woman. The tempo is slow, and melismatic ornamentation between syllables makes each line long, which is why the singers also call them “long-drawn-out songs.”

The songs are not performed for an audience; they are sung for the singers themselves. The nomination file states that while singing, the performers “withdraw into themselves,” their eyes taking on the look of someone lost in memory.

The Roles of Each Voice

According to the nomination file, each choir is built around two central singers.

• First singer: knows the words to every song and starts each one alone
• Second singer: leads the melody in a high voice, a role the singers call “vyvodyty” (виводити, “to lead”)
• Other singers: divide into middle and low voices according to temperament and musical ability. In the village of Bohuslav, the high voice is called “vyvodyty,” the middle voice “vtoryty” (вторити), and the low voice “basuvaty” (басувати)

The high voice requires a bright, light delivery that still resonates from the chest, and starting a song requires temperament and a good ear, the nomination file states. If no one can start a song, or sing the high voice, that song can no longer be sung.

Three Village Choirs

In 2014, at the request of the oblast council, researchers surveyed 13 settlements in the oblast and confirmed the songs in 9 of them (the oblast has 1,504 settlements). The nomination file names three choirs among these as the bearers.

Written consent to the inscription was collected from 24 people across the three choirs (7 from Pershocvit, 8 from Boguslavochka, 9 from Krynycya). According to the nomination file, the bearers are around 80 years old, most had no more than a fourth-grade education, and many dictated their answers because of poor eyesight, but all signed the consent forms themselves.

Why “Urgent”?

The nomination file divides the threats to the element’s survival into external and internal factors.

• External factors: little interest from administrative bodies, the media and educational institutions, so that most residents do not know these songs. None of the choir members’ own children have joined any of the choirs. Because folk songs are rarely broadcast on television or radio, young people are unfamiliar with the folk singing style and, influenced by pop music, find it “odd and unappealing”
• Internal factors: the songs work only as a choir, and cannot be sung without someone to start them and someone to sing the high voice. The high voice requires a natural aptitude plus long training. There is no school in the oblast that teaches this style of singing; it can be learned only at three educational institutions in Kyiv

In inscribing the element, the Committee asked Ukraine to ensure that the community can take part in implementing the safeguarding plan and in drawing up future plans, and to measure the plan’s effectiveness by whether the number of bearers increases. It also recommended that, when presenting these songs internationally, the lyrics be translated into a widely spoken language.

The 2020 Report

For elements on the Urgent Safeguarding List, states submit a report to UNESCO every four years. Ukraine’s report of 15 December 2020 (covering 2016–2020) lists the following efforts.

• 19 field surveys were conducted in the oblast in 2017–2019, recording more than 560 Cossack songs in over 40 hours of audio and video. New bearers were found in more than 11 villages
• The oblast’s association of local self-government bodies has held an annual oblast “Cossack Songs” festival every year since 2017
• The M. Glinka Music College in Dnipropetrovsk (its name at the time of the report) has had a folklore and ethnography laboratory since 2016, which has held more than 30 workshops and over 50 lectures for students and young people
• Self-study recordings based on the bearers’ singing, songbooks and a website have been produced, and several new groups of young people have formed

The same report states that, as of 2020, at Pershocvit 2 members had died or become unable to perform because of age while 7 had learned the songs; the figures were 4 and 7 at Krynycya, and 2 and 6 at Boguslavochka. The oblast council approved a safeguarding plan for 2021–2024 on 27 March 2020.

On the Name of the Oblast

UNESCO’s inscription uses the name “Dnipropetrovsk Region,” and this article follows the oblast name as given in the Constitution. A draft constitutional amendment (No. 9310-1) to rename the oblast “Sicheslav Oblast” (Січеславська) was registered with the Verkhovna Rada on 23 November 2018 and sent to the Constitutional Court on 7 February 2019. In its opinion of 2 April 2019 (No. 2-в/2019), the Constitutional Court found that the draft did not conflict with the constitutional amendment requirements, but the Verkhovna Rada has not adopted it. As of September 2026, Article 133 of the Constitution still names “Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.” Article 157 of the Constitution provides that the Constitution cannot be amended under martial law. The renaming of the oblast capital is covered in the article on the 987 towns and villages that changed their names under Ukraine’s two place-name laws.