Cossack Mamay (Kozak Mamay, Ukrainian: Козак Мамай) is a Ukrainian folkloric hero, one of standard characters in traditional Ukrainian itinerant puppet theater, the Vertep. Mamay eventually became the national personification of Ukraine and Ukrainians.

Cossack Mamay is encountered in legends, folk stories and proverbs. These became widely popular after the dissolution of the Zaporizhian Sich in 1775. Cossack Mamay is one of the most common characters in Ukrainian folk painting, from late 17th century to present time. In the hundreds of surviving paintings, Cossack Mamay is usually shown with a kobza – a lute-like musical instrument that is the symbol of Ukrainian soul; a horse, which represented both freedom and fidelity; and an oak with his weapons hanging on it symbolizing the people's strength. The paintings from the time of Koliyivschyna sometimes portray Mamay on the background of violent incidents involving Poles or Jews.

On the 1997 coin minted by National Bank of Ukraine, Cossack Mamay is dressed in a rich coat with fur and sits with his legs crossed, smoking a pipe and playing a kobza. Traditional depictions of Cossack military life are around Mamay: a horse with the rich harness, tied to a spear planted in earth with a small flag on its top; a green oak-tree with a sabre hanging from it; a pistol and a stone powder case; high Turkish hat and a bottle of "okovyta" (Ukrainian vodka).

Mykola Vitaliyovych Lysenko (Ukrainian: Мико́ла Віта́лійович Ли́сенко, 22 March [O.S. 10 March] 1842 – 6 November [O.S. 24 October] 1912) was a Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor and ethnomusicologist.

Lysenko was born in Hrynky, Kremenchuk Povit, Poltava Governorate, the son of Vitaliy Romanovych Lysenko (Ukrainian: Віталій Романович Лисенко). From childhood he became very interested in the folksongs of Ukrainian peasants and by the poetry of Taras Shevchenko. When Shevchenko's body was brought to Ukraine after his death in 1861, Lysenko was a pallbearer. During his time at Kiev University, Lysenko collected and arranged Ukrainian folksongs, which were published in seven volumes. One of his principal sources was the kobzar Ostap Veresai (after whom Lysenko later named his son).

Lysenko was initially a student of Biology at the Kharkiv University, studying music privately. On a scholarship which he won from the Russian Music Society he pursued further professional music studies at the Leipzig Conservatory. It is there that he understood the importance of collecting, developing and creating Ukrainian music rather than duplicating the work of Western classical composers.