Kobza [кобза]. An ancient string instrument of the lute family popular in Ukraine. Of eastern origin, it was first mentioned in 1303 in Codex cumanicus. Presumably, the early kobza had 3 strings; modern instruments have from 4 to 14 strings. Kobza is played mainly by pressing down and thus shortening the strings on the neck and plucking at the strings. It became popular in eastern Ukraine in the 16th century and was played by itinerant musicians known as kobzars who often used their instruments to accompany the recitation of epic poems, the dumas.

Kobza is considered the antecedent of the bandura. Often the terms ‘kobza’ and ‘bandura’ are used synonymously. Today the term is more specifically applied to instruments with few strings and wooden tuning pegs. Instrumentalist Mykola Prokopenko suggested that the 4-stringed orchestral domra popular in Ukraine should be renamed kobza. The kobzar Ostap Veresai was considered a kobza player despite referring to his instrument as a bandura. The term kobza was also used for other musical instruments in Ukraine such as the bagpipe in Volhynia, and for the hurdy-gurdy (lira). The term is also used for a mandolin-like instrument in Moldova, Romania, and Hungary.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Diakowsky, M. J. ‘The Bandura,’ The Ukrainian Trend (1958)
———. ‘A Note on the History of the Bandura,’ Annals of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the United States, no 3–4 (1958)
Haydamaka, L. ‘The Kobza-bandura – National Instrument of Ukraine,’ Guitar Review, no 3 (New York, 1970)
Horniatkevyč, A. ‘Kobza-Bandura: Sproba istorychnoho pidsumku,’ in Hursky, J. Tribute to Hryhorij Kytasty on his Seventieth Birthday (New York 1980)
Samchuk, U. Zhyvi struny – bandura i bandurysty (Detroit 1976)
Mizynec, V. Folk Instruments of Ukraine (Melbourne 1984)
Kononenko, N. Ukrainian Minstrels ... and the blind shall sing (Armonk, NY 1998)
Mishalow, V. ‘A Short History of the Bandura,’ East European Meetings in Ethnousicology 6 (1999)
———. Kharkivs'ka bandura (Kharkiv–Toronto 2012)

Victor Mishalow

[This article was updated in 2026.]