Postcard from Bishkek

Today. 21st March, happens to be World Poetry Day.  The day was inaugurated by UNESCO in 1999 to recognize the  unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind.

The Day is also intended to support linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their communities; to encourage a return to the oral tradition of poetry recitals; to promote the teaching of poetry; to restore a dialogue between poetry and the other arts such as theater, dance, music and painting … and to support small scale publishers - creating an attractive image of poetry in the media, so that the art of poetry will no longer be considered an outdated form of art, but one which enables society as a whole to regain and assert its identity.

A;though it it totally unconnected with the choice of the date to commemorate World Poetry Day, today also happens to the be the birthday of Alykul Osmonov was a Kyrgyz poet and writer, (March 21, 1915 – December 12, 1915).  His works embody a love of life and his motherland, and he has been called the “Kyrgyz Pushkin”  His portrait appears on the 200 som note.

Osmonov was a talented lyrical poet and is credited with boldly introducing new themes and imagery into Kyrgyz poetry … whilst, at the same time, managing to keep within the requirements of socialist realism, transforming poetry from an oral tradition to a literary one.

He was born in the village of Kaptal Aryk, (near Kara Balta in what was then called the Kalininskoe Rayon of the Chui oblast – which is now called Panfilov Roayon), about 75 kilometers to the East of Bishkek.

He was orphaned at an early age, being brought up in orpahanges in Pishpek (as Bishkek was called at the time) and Tokmok.  He attended the  Pedagogical Technical School in Frunze, (as Bishkek was called at that time), where he learned Russian in addition to his mother tongue, Kyrgyz.  Unfortunately, he had contracted Tuberculosis at one of the orphanages and had to leave before graduating.

He had begun writing poems early in life – his first published poem, (Kyzyl Juk - Red Strings of Wheat), appearing in the newspaper Sabattuu bol when he was only 20 – although one source suggests that it was when he was just 15.

He turned to journalism and began working on the magazine Chabuul, (Attack), and the newspaper Leninchil Jash, (Lenin’s Youth), and Kyzyl Kyrgyzstan, (Red Kyrgyzstan – which is still published under the title Kyzyl Tuusu).

A few years later his first collection of poems was published, and in 1945 the collection which is regarded as his masterpiece, “Mahabat” (“Love”) appeared.  He published about 500 poems throughout his short life.

Her became a member of the Writers Union and served for a short time as its General Secretary.

He was very fond of Lake Issyk Kul and lived in Cholpon Ata – many of his works describe the lake in its different seasons and moods – and are considered to combine his love for his homeland and its natural beauty and an admiration for the ordinary working people of Kyrgyzstan.

Apparentlym several of his poems were inspired by events in his personal life.  For example, his romance with his first love, (a woman named Aida), and his troubled marriage as well as other personal tragedies such as the death of his parents and his daughter.

As well as being a poet, he was also a dramatist and between 1943 and 1948 he wrote several plays, including Kooman the Ranger, (1947), Abulkasym Dzhanbolotov, (1948), and the comedy-drama You Must Go to Merke, (1949).

I understand that he also wrote a novel - A Knight in Tiger’s Fell - but I haven’t been able to find any details about it.

He wrote in both Kyrgyz and Russian and he also translated many poems, stories, legends and fairy tales from Kyrgyz into Russian.  He also translated many classical literary works into Kyrgyz, (including Pushkin’s “Evgeny Onegin”, Shakespeare’s “Othello” – which was used by Moldobasanov and Moldybaev as the libretto for their opera – and “Twelfth Night”), fairy tales like Red Riding Hood and Puss in Boots.

In turn, some of his works have been translated into English – in particular by Walter May who translated the Sagymbay version of the Manas epic, and a collection published in 1995 by the Soros Foundation.  Some of his poems have also been translated into Japanese and also into Hungarian.

 

He suffered from severe lungs disease and died  of Pulmonary Pneumonia when he was just 35, (on 27th December, 1950), in Frunze.

He received a number of awards, such as the Stalin Prize – otherwise known as the USSR State Prize, and the Lenin Prize (some 17 years after his death).

There is a statue of him outside the National Library in Bishkek erected in 1997, and their are several museums dedicated to him and his work – for example in Kaptal Aryk – his birthplace, 75 km West of Bishkek – Bishkek, Tokmok and Cholpon Ata.  There i even a mountain named in his honour, a 4060m peak).

His portrait appears on the 200 som bank note complete with a short verse about Issyk Kul:

Issyk Kul

Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, wave-lapped lake
Young girls on our shore much merriment make
Coral bracelets, lost long centuries since
Seem to shine in your depths, and brilliance wake.

 

Here’s a short poem by Osmonov, (translated into English), that I came across the other day, and that seems particularly appropriate for someone working in Tourism:

Be Our Guest

Our house is waiting for the guest with open doors,
The tastiest dishes for guests – that’s understood.
If you are greedy – ask my head – it’s yours
If you are vengeful – kill me – but taste our food.
For guests we have dainties of the best!
Hey, traveler,
Please drop in, and be our guest.

 

Tags: For_the_Record, History, Kyrgyzstan, People