Cossack Song

The Cossack song is a thematic stratum of Ukrainian folk song that arose in the era of the Zaporozhian Sich and the Cossack wars (16th–18th centuries) and celebrates military life, campaigns, valor, and the tragedy of the Cossack. Cossack songs combine heroic pathos with deep lyricism: alongside marching campaign songs sound songs of farewell to one's mother, death on the battlefield, and a widow's grief. The images of the horse, saber, eagle, steppe, and grave dominate. Famous examples are 'Oh, on the Hill the Reapers Reap' and 'A Sycamore Stands over the Water.' The Cossack songs of Dnipropetrovsk Region are inscribed on UNESCO's List of Intangible Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding (2016). Cossack melos inspired Mykola Lysenko, and images of the Cossacks inspired the historical prose of Panteleimon Kulish and the poetry of Taras Shevchenko.