Bandura In Duet with Jazz

They met each other long ago in 1992. Di Miola was enchanted by the sounds of the musical instrument he had never heard before. By then he had his big audience of jazz lovers, had produced about a score of albums, of which six million copies had been sold. He differed from other guitarists in his experimentation, uniting jazz with other genres, and cooperating with leading musicians from other countries. Di Miola was immediately interested in Roman’s works, for Roman Hrynkiv is also a unique personality in the music firmament of Ukraine, and not only here. In Ukraine he is known as an experimenting bandura player, composer, and music theoretician, while the rest of the world knows him as a virtuoso bandura player. He has given concerts in ten of the world’s largest cities, including New York. His technique and repertoire are different from that of a traditional bandura player. Also, he performs classical, traditional Ukrainian, and European music. In addition, Hrynkiv has upgraded the bandura as an instrument, extending its acoustic characteristics. In fact, when meeting each other, the American and Ukrainian immediately found common language as music innovators. This gave birth to Winter Song, a so far unheard combination of bandura music and jazz. Thus, American Di Miola is introducing the Ukrainian folk instrument to his fans throughout the world.