Abai Poems

[Fe Kittner]

Abaiwas born in Karauyl village in Chingiz volost of Semipalatinsk uyezd of the Russian Empire (this is now in Abay District of East Kazakhstan). He was the son of Qunanbai and Uljan, his father's second wife. They named him Ibrahim, as the family was Muslim, and he stuck with the name for the first few years of his life.Ibrahim first studied at a local madrasah under Mullah Ahmed Ryza. During his early childhood years in Ryza's tutelage, he received the nickname "Abai" (which means "careful"), a nickname that stayed with him for the rest of his life. His father was wealthy enough to send Abai to a Russian secondary school in Semipalatinsk. There he read the writings of Mikhail Lermontov and Alexander Pushkin, which were influential to his own development as a writer. Moreover, he was fond of reading eastern poetry, including the Shahnameh and One Thousand and One Nights. [citation needed]

Abai's main contribution to Kazakh culture and folklore lies in his poetry, which expresses great nationalism and grew out of Kazakh folk culture. Before him, most Kazakh poetry was oral, echoing the nomadic habits of the people of the Kazakh steppes. During Abai's lifetime, however, a number of important socio-political and socio-economic changes occurred. influence continued to grow in Kazakhstan, resulting in greater educational possibilities as well as exposure to a number of different philosophies, whether Russian, Western or Asian. Abai Qunanbaiuly steeped himself in the cultural and philosophical history of these newly opened geographies. In this sense, Abai's creative poetry affected the philosophical theological thinking of educated Kazakhs.

Abai is featured on the Kazakhstani Tenge,[4] a subway station in Almaty is named after him,[5] along with a street, a square, a theater, and many schools.[6]In 1995, the 150th anniversary of Abai's birth, UNESCO celebrated it with the "Year of Abai" event. A film on the life of Abai was made by Kazakhfilm in 1995, titled Abai. He is also the subject of two novels and an opera by Mukhtar Auezov, another Kazakhstani writer.[citation needed]Another film describing his father's life was made in December 2015, titled "Qunanbai".[7] In 2016, Qunanbai film has been selected for the 12th Kazan International Muslim Film Festival.[8] Only 60 of 700 applied films from countries passed the official selection.[9]In 2016, Abai Qunanbaiuly was chosen as one of the nominees in the "proposed candidates" category of the national project El Tulgasy (Name of the Motherland) The idea of the project was to select the most significant and famous citizens of Kazakhstan whose names are now associated with the achievements of the country. More than 350,000 people voted in this project, and Abai was voted into fifth place in his category.[10]

On 29 April 2022, a monument created by a Georgia sculptor was opened in Tbilisi, the image of a Kazakh thinker and educator will always remind of the friendship of the two peoples. The avenue next to the square where the monument was erected will also bear the name of Abay Kunanbayev.[18]

On 26 May 2022, a monument dedicated to the friendly relations between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan was unveiled in Bishkek. The opening of the monument was attended by the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and the President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov[19]

Abai also translated into Kazakh the works of Russian and European authors, mostly for the first time. Translations made by him include poems by Mikhail Lermontov, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Lord Byron, Ivan Krylov's Fables and Alexander Pushkin's Eugene Onegin.

On 9 May 2012, after two days of protests in Moscow following Vladimir Putin's inauguration as President of the Russian Federation for the third term, protesters set up camp near the monument to Abai Qunanbaiuly on the Chistoprudny Boulevard in central Moscow, close to the embassy of Kazakhstan. The statue quickly became a reference point for the protest's participants.[22] OccupyAbai was among the top ranking hashtags on Twitter for several days thanks to Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny who set up a meeting with his followers next to Abai Qunanbaiuly's monument in Moscow that he called "a monument to some unknown Kazakh". This spurred a wave of indignation among ethnic Kazakhs who highly esteem Abai. This also brought Abai's poetry into the top 10 AppStore downloads.[23]

In his didactic poems, Abai takes on the role of a teacher of life who explains to his listener, or reader, the rules of which principles they are to follow and which to avoid. The generalizations of these poems appear quite authoritative. However, the arguments expressed to the listener/reader are not normative in the conventional sense, verbalizing officially sanctioned rules for life. Rather, they are derived from what Abai himself learned in life, such as in the following poem written in 1889:

People lay flowers at the monument of Abai Kunanbaev in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Aug. 10, 2020. Kazakhstan on Monday celebrated "Abai Day" for the first time to mark the 175th anniversary of the birth of Kazakh poet, philosopher and composer Abai Kunanbaev. (Photo by Kalizhan Ospanov/Xinhua)

Across the country, over 100 commemorating events were held online, including a marathon of reading Abai's poems in eight languages, seminars and international conferences on Abai's works, and virtual tours at the Abai museum in his hometown Semey.

A prominent figure in Kazakh literature, Qunanbaiuly is well-known in many countries. With his books translated into many languages, Qunanbaiuly not only made contributions to Kazakh culture and folklore but also to world literature. Most of the books containing Qunanbaiuly's works in foreign languages were published in 1995 on his 150th birth anniversary under the auspices of UNESCO.

At the time, the book "Abai's Works and Thoughts" was published in Iran and the "Selected Poems of Abai Qunanbaiuly" in Pakistan. The books were also translated and published in several other countries, including Mongolia, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Poland and Turkey.

While the memory of Qunanbaiuly is preserved at the state level, his written works are studied at schools and universities. The study of Qunanbaiuly, his life and his work has even developed into a separate scientific field called Abaevedenie or Abaittanu in the curriculum of Kazakh universities.

His philosophical essays and poems are periodically published in the Kazakh language and those of other countries. Qunanbaiuly's works are believed to hold an important place in the foreign reception of Kazakh literature.

SEOUL, Oct. 8 (Yonhap) -- Kazakhstan, the largest country in Central Asia, this year celebrates the 175th birth anniversary of Abai Kunanbaev (also spelled Abay Kunanbayev), a world-renowned Kazakh poet.

Abai was born on Aug. 10, 1845, in the Genghis mountains of the Semipalatinsk region. He was known for observing human nature keenly, studying it deeply and sharing his insights through numerous poems.

Philosophical essays, pieces of poetry and poems of Abai are periodically published not only in the Kazakh language but also in the languages of other countries. In this regard, Abai's works occupy an important place in the process of foreign reception of Kazakh literature, it said.

At that time, the book "Abai's Works and Thoughts" was published in Iran and "Selected Poems of Abai Kunanbayev" in Pakistan. The book "Abai Kunanbayev. Selected Works" came out in Mongolia, while a collection of selected poems by Abai was published in France in 1995. A similar book was published in Turkey in the same year. In the 2000s, more books were published in Germany, Bulgaria and Poland.

"The work of the great Kazakh poet and thinker Abai has received well-deserved recognition from foreign researchers and writers; they highly appreciate his works, compare them with outstanding personalities of their peoples," said the Kazinform release.

"In their opinions, Abai is a classic not only of Kazakh, but of all world literature. So, in conclusion we can state that the positive reception of Abai's creativity helps to strengthen the spiritual and intellectual image of Kazakhstan," it said.

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Many Chinese got to know the great steppe country of Central Asia through this founder of modern Kazakh literature and enlightener of modern thought, and the statue in Beijing has become a microcosm of cultural and people-to-people mutual understanding between China and Kazakhstan.

As an important cultural symbol, Abai is increasingly known by the Chinese people. In the 10 years since the statue was erected in Beijing, many readers have gathered here on every Abai anniversary to recite his classic poems.

The poet built a bridge of cultural exchanges between China and Kazakhstan, and has been mentioned and affirmed by the leaders of the two countries many times. In 2013, when President Xi Jinping gave a speech in Kazakhstan, he quoted Abai's famous saying, "The world is an ocean. Time, like the wind, drives waves of generations replacing each other." In 2022, when President Xi visited Kazakhstan, he once again mentioned this great poet in his signed article.

When I walked in the streets of Kazakhstan, I could see Abai everywhere, because there are lots of streets, theaters and schools named after the great poet. According to the data released by Kazakhstan's Bureau of National Statistics, nearly 20,000 citizens in the country have the same name as Abai. The Kazakh government also signed a decree to officially establish Aug 10 every year as the Day of Abai.

More than 10,000 Kazakh students are studying in China, and thousands of Chinese students are studying in Kazakh universities. Five Confucius Institutes have been set up in Kazakhstan, and five universities in China offer Kazakh language majors.

I deeply felt during the interviews that the common language between Chinese and Kazakh people is increasing, and I met more Kazakh people who had been to China than on the last time I visited the Central Asian country.

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