A master flute maker, whose instruments were featured at Eurovision, has passed away

Taras Loshak, an outstanding master of traditional Ukrainian wind instruments from the city of Dolyna in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, died suddenly at the age of 46. His death was announced by historian and religious scholar Taras Antoshevsky.

A second-generation craftsman, Taras Loshak was a lawyer by profession, but he devoted more than ten years to preserving the family business, which his father, Yaroslav, had founded in the late 1980s. He crafted sopilkas, Boiko-style whistles, and other folk instruments from rare types of wood using traditional, authentic techniques.

The master’s unique instruments gained worldwide fame thanks to collaborations with well-known Ukrainian bands, including TaRuTa, “KoraLi,” Go_A, and Kalush Orchestra. It was on a sopilka crafted by Taras Loshak that the band Go_A performed the song “SHUM” at Eurovision 2021, and it was also used by the winners of the 2022 song contest—Kalush Orchestra.

Source: Taras Antoshevsky on Facebook.

As a reminder, the prominent Ukrainian émigré artist Zoya Lisovska-Nyzhankivska has passed away.

On the night of July 21, Oleksandr Garbarchuk, soloist of the “Zhyttia” Dance Theater and Honored Artist of Ukraine, passed away. He had been battling cancer for a long time.