The appeared in
Kievan Rus' no later than the mid-11th century, but
fresco depictions of musicians in the
Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv date to the 11th century. Their art was related and addressed to the common people and usually opposed the ruling groups. They were considered not just useless but even ideologically detrimental and dangerous by both the feudalists and the clergy. were persecuted in the years of the
Mongol yoke (1230s), when the church strenuously propagated ascetic living. Their art reached its peak in the 15th to the 17th centuries. Their repertoire included mock songs, dramatic and satirical sketches, called () in Russian or () in Ukrainian, performed in masks and dresses to the sounds of
domra,
balalaika,
gudok,
bagpipes, or
buben (a kind of
tambourine). The appearance of
Russian puppet theatre was directly associated with performances. In the 18th century, art gradually died away; passing on some of its traditions to the () and (). == See also ==