Fedir Avramovych Zharko (4(17)/VI/1914-17/VII/1986), Merited Artist of Ukraine (1965). Fedir Zharko was one of the most renowned singers of dumy (sung epic poems) in Ukraine. He was born in 1914 in village of Mykhailivka, Cherkasy province. From 1931 to 1936 Zharko studied at the Cherkasy Pedagogical Institute, completing his studies in Mathematics and Physics. Here he also became acquainted with the bandurist Vusatyj from the city of Chyhyryn, who inspired him to learn to play the bandura. From 1936 to 1940 up until World War II he worked as a village school teacher in Kiev Oblast (province).