Duma (epic)

Historically, dumy were performed by itinerant Cossack bards called kobzari, who accompanied themselves on a kobza or a torban, but after the abolition of Hetmanate by Catherine II of Russia the epic singing became the domain of (blind) itinerant musicians who retained the kobzar appellation and accompanied their singing by playing a bandura (rarely a kobza) or a relya/lira (a Ukrainian variety of hurdy-gurdy).

Dumy were songs built around historical events, many dealing with military action in some forms.

[2]: 573  The dumy rather impart a moral message on how one should conduct oneself properly in the relationships with family, community, and church.

Ukraine fell under the control of the Catholic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, that imposed discriminatory measures on the Eastern Orthodox Church.

[2]: 571–4  Pavlo Zhytetsky suggested that the style of duma's evolved as a unique combination of folk and educated cultures.