Heorhy Tkachenko

Heorhiy Kyrylovych Tkachenko (Георгій Кирилович Ткаченко; 5 May 1898 in Hlushkovo, Kursk region of the Russian Empire – 1993 in Kyiv, Ukraine) was a Ukrainian bard and bandurist.

Biography
Tkachenko was able to complete his secondary education in the Kharkiv Art School before continuing his education in Moscow. He completed his tertiary education in Moscow Vkhutemas graduating as an architect in 1929. He continued to live in Moscow where he designed many of the parks around the city centre. He also professionally worked as a painter, teacher of aquarelle at the Moscow Architectural Institute before he moved to Kyiv in 1964.

Tkachenko was also known as a bandurist. He was the last living example of the Slobozhan bandura tradition playing on a traditional folk bandura. His repertoire included many spiritual works and dumy. He had a significant following amongst the Ukrainian intellectuals from the mid 1960–1990s and is considered the founder of a movement of authentic performance practice on Ukrainian folk instruments.

Tkachenko studied the kobzar art from Slobozhan kobzar Petro Drevchenko. Tkachenko's repertoire included eight dumy (sung epic poems), five psalms, twelve historic songs 29 folk songs and 5 dances.

Recordings
Numerous non-professional recordings have been released on CD and a number of Tkachenko's performances have been recorded on film and video. A number have been uploaded to YouTube.

Publications

 * Ткаченко Г. Зустріч з Єгором Мовчаном // Народна творчість та етнографія (Київ). – 1978. – № 3. – С. 49-54.
 * Акварелі Георгія Ткаченка.– К.: Мистецтво, 1989. – Комплект із 15 листівок з передмовою та коментарями укр. і рос. мовами. – Упорядник і автор тексту М. Селівачов.
 * Ткаченко Г. Струна до струни // Україна (Київ).. – 1988. – № 19, травень. – С. 24-25.
 * Георгій Ткаченко: Автобіографія. Школа гри на народній бандурі. Репертуар / Упорядкував М. Селівачов // Родовід. – 1995. – № 11. – С. 111-114
 * Ткаченко, Г. К. Струна до струни / Г. Ткаченко // Егор Мовчан. Спогади. Статті. Матеріали. – Суми: Собор, 1999. – 64 с.
 * Ткаченко, Г. К. Основи гри на народній бандурі / Г. Ткаченко // Черемський К. Повернення традиції. – Х.: Центр Леся Курбаса, 1999. – С.224-225