Collecting Music among the Kharbintsy

In 1923, a young woman named Bella Tarakhovska͡ia arrived in Seattle aboard the SS President Jackson . She had sailed from Yokohama, Japan but her voyage to America had begun much further away. Born in Melitópol’ Ukraine, she had lived in East Asia, and was now on her way to join her older brothers in Detroit, Michigan. Tarakhovska͡ia (1903–1983) was not only well-traveled but also deeply musical: she carried with her two bound volumes of print and manuscript scores that she had collected for her personal use. These albums documented her own development as a musician and her awareness of artistic tastes within the Ukrainian diaspora. They also capture her experience of musical life in Harbin, China, a place that attracted numerous émigrés and refugees in the early twentieth century. The kharbintsy, as these residents became known, were a highly diverse group. In the early 1920s, Harbin transitioned from Russian rule to local control. Tarakhovska͡ia’s collection offers a rare surviving example of amateur musical interests during an important period of change. Her music represents an expansive network of international music printers, publishers, and sellers, suggesting the remarkable paths of transmission through which Western repertoire was disseminated among émigrés in East Asia. It reveals the continuing influence of Imperial Russia and features some of the Jewish (and non-Jewish) artists who sought to establish their careers amidst a new, tumultuous context. Perhaps most importantly, the music reflects the complicated political and social relationships that shaped Harbin’s artistic landscape. Like the city itself, Tarakhovska͡ ia’s collection shows that it was possible for musical life to flourish among the kharbintsy even in the midst of upheaval and uncertainty.