Zhambyl Zhabaev (Kazakh: Жамбыл Жабайұлы; 28 February 1846 — 22 June 1945) was a Soviet and Kazakh traditional folksinger (Kazakh: akyn).
Life
editAccording to a family legend, his mother, Uldan, gave birth to him near Mt. Zhambyl, close to the headwaters of the Chu River while fleeing an attack on her village. His father, Dzhabay, then named his son after the mountain.
As a boy, Zhambyl learned how to play the dombra and at age 14, left his home to become an aqyn. He learned the art of improvisation from the aqyn Suyunbai Aronuly. Zhambyl sang exclusively in the Kazakh language.
Many patriotic, pro-revolution and pro-Stalin poems and songs were attributed to Zhambyl in the 1930s and were widely circulated in the Soviet Union.
Jambyl Jabayev died on 22 June 1945, at age 99. He was buried in Alma-Ata in a garden which he cultivated with his own hands.
The Kazakh city of Taraz was named after Zhambyl from 1938 to 1997. Jambyl Region, in which Taraz is located, still bears his name.
Authorship controversy
editIt has been claimed that the authors of Zhambyl's published poems were actually Russian poets, who were officially credited as "translators."[1][2][3]
Poet Andrey Aldan-Semenov claimed that he was the "creator" of Zhambyl, when in 1934, he was given the task by the Communist Party to find an aqyn. Aldan-Semenov found Zhambyl on the recommendation of the collective farm chairman, the only criterion of choice was that the aqyn be poor and have many children and grandchildren. After Aldan-Semenov's arrest, other "translators" wrote Zhambyl's poems.[4]
In a different account, according to the Kazakh journalist Erbol Kurnmanbaev, Zhambyl was an aqyn of his clan, but until 1936 was relatively unknown. In that year, a young talented poet Abilda Tazhibaev "discovered" Zhambyl. He was directed to do this by the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, Levon Mirzoyan, who wanted to find an aqyn similar to Suleyman Stalsky, the Dagestani poet. Tazhibaev then published the poem "My Country", under Jambyl's name. It was translated into Russian by the poet Pavel Kuznetsov, published in the newspaper "Pravda" and was a success. After that, a group of his "secretaries" - the young Kazakh poets[5] worked under Jambyl's name. In 1941-1943, they were joined by the Russian poet Mark Tarlovsky.[6]
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USSR stamp (1971) commemorating the 125th anniversary of the birth of Zhambyl Zhabayaev -
Kazakhstan stamp (1996)
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Films
edit- 1953 — «Джамбул» (Jambyl) film director Efim Dzigan.
- 1994 — «Жамбыл: Адамзатың ұлы жыршысы» (Jambyl: The Great Singer of Mankind) documentary film director Kalila Umarov.
- 2021 - The filming of a new film titled “Zhambyl. A New Era” has started in Kazakhstan. The historical film is being made in honor of the 175th anniversary of the Kazakh poet. [7]
References
edit- ^ Дм. Дм. Шостакович. Воспоминания.
- ^ Виталий Петрановский, Дмитрий Гузевич. «Виртуальный» Гумилёв, или аналитические воспоминания
- ^ Информация о Тарловском на сайте «Век перевода»
- ^ Виталий Петрановский, Дмитрий Гузевич. «Виртуальный» Гумилёв, или аналитические воспоминания
- ^ Ербол Курманбаев. Несчастный великий Джамбул “Свободa Слова”, №3, 25 января 2007 Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Витковский Е., Резвый В. Под копирку судьбы // Марк Тарловский. Молчаливый полет. Стихотворения. Поэма. Составление, послесловие и комментарии Е. Витковского и В. Резвого. М., 2009. [1]
- ^ December 2021, Zhanna Shayakhmetova in Culture on 4 (2021-12-04). "Filming of Historical Film Dedicated to Acclaimed Kazakh Poet Zhambyl Zhabayev to Resume Next Spring". The Astana Times. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
External links
edit
- Jambyl Jabayev biography at EXPATsite
- "Żabajew Żambył". Internetowa encyklopedia PWN. Retrieved 2006-11-17.