10 Facts About Opanas Slastion

Opanas Slastion was born in the port town of Berdiansk on the Berdyansk Gulf of the Sea of Azov.

Opanas Slastion studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg, Russia, researched the Cossack documents in the archives of the Russian ministry of defense, and later worked as a teacher at the Arts and Crafts School in Myrhorod.

At the time Slastion was growing up, there were opportunities for some Ukrainians to have their talents recognized in the Imperial capital and in Western Europe.

Opanas Slastion was one of the most active propagators of the artistry of the kobzars.

Later in his life, in the early 1930s, Opanas Slastion designed the shape of the standard Kyiv bandura.

In 1876 P Martynovych and his colleague Slastion travelled to Lokhvytsia and recorded the duma parody by kobzar Ivan Kravchenko.

In 1887 Slastion made an engraving of kobzar P Siroshtan.

In 1906 Opanas Slastion met the kobzar Zhovniansky, recorded his performances of dumy, and painted his portrait.

In 1908 in Yalta the technically savvy Opanas Slastion helped Lesia Ukrainka and her husband Klyment Kvitka make live recordings of the dumy performed by the blind virtuoso Hnat Honcharenko, as part of the major project of the preservation of kobzar music.

In 1909 Opanas Slastion made recordings of the repertoire of kobzar Hovtan, including the duma "The Widow and Her Three Sons".