Abai Qunanbaiuly

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## Biographic Information

### Born

August 10, 1845
Abay District, East Kazakhstan, Russian Empire

### Died

July 16, 1904 (aged 58)
Abay District, East Kazakhstan, Russian Empire

### Parent(s)

Qunanbai Uskenbayuly
Ulzhan Asanova

### Spouse(s)

Shukiman (Aygerim)
Erkezhan

### Children

Magauiya Qunanbaiuli
Akylbai Qunanbaiuli
Turaqul Kunabayev
Gulbadan Qunanbaiuli
Abdrakhman Qunanbaiuli

### Profession

Poet, educator, philosopher, musician, political figure

## Military Information

**Abai (Ibrahim) Qunanbaiuly** (Kazakh: **Абай (Ибрахим) Құнанбайұлы**; August 10, 1845 – July 16, 1904) was an Kazakh teacher, poet, educator, founder of written Kazakh literature, Kazakh literary language, philosopher, musician, translator, political figure, relying on his liberal views on Islam, Russian and a reformer from the Kazakh ethnic group. Under the influence of Russian classical literature, he oriented Kazakh literature on the path of critical realism. His lyrics, inspired by folklore ("Oh, my Cossacks!", "I don't write verses for pleasure", etc.) enraged the feudal and bureaucratic aristocracy; they contributed to awakening the national consciousness of the Kazakh people. Qunanbaiuly is considered the founder of Kazakhstan's national literature.

## Biography

### Early life and education

He was born on August 10, 1845, in Karauyl village in what is now Abay District, East Kazakhstan. Son of Kunanbai and his second wife Ulzhan. He was named Ibrahim, but was soon given the nickname Abai (meaning "wise"), which he carried throughout his life for his cleverness.

After years of studying at a madrasah under the mullah Ahmed Riza, he attended a Russian school in his youth, partly because of his father's economic status. Abai encountered the works of Mikhail Lermontov and Alexander Pushkin at the Semipalatinsk school.

> Stupidly studying, I missed life.
>
>
>
> I caught myself, but it's too late. Here it is, halt!
>
> Semi-knowledgeable - I thought I was a sage
>
> And arrogantly waited for awards and praise.
>
> He dreamed of leading the rest,
>
> And they led me astray.
>
> I am alone, and you can’t count the impudent ignoramuses,
>
> And ridiculous jokes are now in honor.
>
> I have no friends, no lover.
>
> I sing wearily at the end of my years.
>
> Oh, how vast the world seemed
>
>
>
>
> That time, as I met the dawn of life!
>
> by A. Steinberg

### Contributions

Abai's main contribution to Kazakh culture and Kazakh folklore was to arouse a great deal of nationalism and create a folk culture for the Kazakh people. Kazakh poetry used to be mostly oral literature, reflecting the customs of Kazakh nomads living in the steppes. However, a number of important socio-political and socio-economic changes took place during Abai's lifetime. As Russian influence continued to grow in Kazakhstan, opportunities for education expanded as well as exposure to many different philosophies, whether Russian, Western or Asian. Abai Qunanbaiuly immersed himself in the cultural and philosophical history of these newly opened regions. In this sense, Abai's creative verse influenced the philosophical thinking of educated Kazakhs.

## Death

The poet's health was affected by the death of close relatives and children one after the other, as well as being tracked down and persecuted. In 1891, Abai lost his younger brother, Ospan. In 1895, the eldest son Abdirahman died. In the spring of 1904, another of his son, Magauiya, passed away. 40 days after Magauiya's death, Abai himself died, and buried in Semey Region.

## Vocabulary

As the basis of the Abai language is the common folk speech and oral literary language of the Kazakh people, its lexicon-phraseological treasury consists, first of all, of native Kazakh words, followed by a layer of Arabic-Persian and Russian words in a small amount. The Abai language clearly shows the changes and innovations that took place in the Kazakh vocabulary due to the political-social, cultural-economic situation of the Kazakh society during its time. For example, if some names become old and fall out of use, Abai often uses such words to describe antiquity or as an image.

## Book of Words

Abai's artistic, social humanistic and religious views are deeply known work - Book of Words. Abai's book of words (Ghakliya) is a prose work written in the classical style, which shows the great poet's artistic power in the art of speech, and his wisdom in philosophy. Abai's black words, consisting of forty-five separate works in total, are not written in the same direction in terms of subject matter, they are diverse. Six or seven of his samples are short, but some of them are extensive in terms of content and subject matter. In his black words, Abai paid attention not only to the lightness of the work, but also to its depth and logical meaning.

Thus, through artistic skill and scientific intelligence, he combines artistic consciousness and philosophical consciousness. Humanist, enlightened, social thoughts in Abay's black words, together with his opinions on religion, form a philosophical concept of the entire Kazakh people. Abai's dark words have also become a noble word shared by the entire human race.

Some of his book of words were first published in 1918. It was published in "Abai" magazine published in Semipalatinsk. Later, Abay's black words were Russian, Chinese, French, etc. translated into many world languages.

## Musical legacy

The great poet and educator Abai left a legacy in the field of music. If he wrote down his noble poems and dark words on paper and left them for future generations, he did not have such an opportunity in terms of music. After all, when Abai lived, there was no written culture of music in Kazakh, and folk music was in a traditional form. That's why Abai's songs, like other Kazakh folk songs, passed from mouth to mouth, from time to time. Despite the lack of a written culture in the field of music, the reason why Abai's songs have reached us is that they were works of quality that could be preserved in the hearts of the people, because they had an indelible place in the minds of the people. The uniqueness of Abai's songs is in the novelty of the melodic and rhythmic aspects, and the openness of the ideological content. At first glance, this difference was not clear to everyone who listened, nor was it going to be. In the feudal situation, which hindered the development of culture, for some, the new languages ​​of those songs could seem to be a departure from the tradition of Kazakh folk songs. But Abai, who was a fighter of new, progressive culture, did not back down. Seytip and Abai's songs first began to spread to his surroundings - villages and regions, and then to the Kazakh people as a whole. Since Abai's songs were nourished by the folk roots, rooted in folk songs, they became the benefit of the masses, even when there were no musical notes. The reason for this was the creation of a verse text with a new sharp language that had never existed in the musical tradition of the people.

## Moscow protests in May 2012

On May 9, 2012, following 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 Qunanbaiuli 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. OccupyAbai was among the top ranking hash-tags in Twitter for several day thanks to Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny who set up a meeting with his followers next to Abai Kunanbayev’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.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://bigenc.ru/literature/text/660097