Vocalist Valery Viter, a student of the Kyiv Art Institute and a former soloist of the amateur ensemble "Berezenʹ," was invited especially for this purpose.
[5] The recording was attended by: Oleksandr Zuev (keyboards), Konstantin Novitsky, Volodymyr Kushpet (bandura players),[6] Alexander Rogoza (bass guitar), George Garbar (flute), Valery Viter (vocals) and Anatoly Lyutyuk (drums).
"[7] Then "Kobza" was led by musicians of the ensemble - bass guitarist and singer Oleg Lednev and bandura player Konstantin Novitsky.
From 1977, Yevhen Kovalenko, a graduate of the Rostov Conservatory, keyboardist and vocalist, who had previously written for the ensemble arranging and processing folk songs, took the place of first musical and later artistic director.
The ensemble also tours abroad: Czechoslovakia (1977, 1979, 1983), Italy (1977), Mongolia (1979), Cuba (1980), Finland (1981), Germany (1981, 1984), Canada (1982), Yemen (1983), Poland (1985), and Japan (1985).
In 1982, during a tour of Canada with the host country "National Concert Agency," the vinyl giant record "KOBZA" was released.
O. Lednev left the ensemble to form a family duo "Two Colors" with the singer Lyudmila Grimalskaya (the first performer of the popular hit Vadim Ilyin "Music Lessons").
A little earlier, bandura player V. Kushpet left the ensemble and later created the "School of Kobzar Art" in Kyiv region.
Artistic director Yevhen Kovalenko gathered musicians who had played in Kobza, some time after 1980, and found refuge in "Ukrkoncert," and later in "Kyivconcert."