January 1, 2022 is the 100th birthday anniversary of Roza Baglanova, a world-famous singer and People's Artist of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Roza Baglanova’s creative life is an example of selfless service to the people, love of music and boundless respect for the audience.
The singer started her career at the State Women's Song and Dance Ensemble of the Uzbek Philharmonic Society. She was later sent to the Moscow Conservatory, but when the Second World War broke out, she went to the war front together with the ensemble. As part of the cultural brigade, she performed her songs for the Red Army soldiers: she sang in dugouts, at railway stations, on tanks and even on the wings of aircrafts. During the Second World War, Roza Baglanova not only raised the fighting spirit of soldiers, but also proved to be a hero - helping to carry soldiers away from the battlefields.
On May 9, 1945, Baglanova took part in the Victory concert in Berlin. The singer was awarded with many military awards for her contribution during the war and the most valued were two medals, presented by Marshals Ivan Konev and Konstantin Rokossovsky.
Roza Baglanova’s calling card was “Ah, Samara-town”, a famous song from Lidiya Ruslanova’s repertoire, who liked her performance as an aspiring singer at that time.
Having returned to the stage after the war, Roza Baglanova became the first Kazakh singer to gain nation-wide recognition in the USSR. Roza Baglanova’s repertoire included world opera, folk songs of different countries and modern composers.
Roza Baglanova is a national symbol of the whole epoch: she was on the same stage with Alexander Vertinsky, Galina Ulanova, Maya Plisetskaya, Igor Ilyinsky, Arkady Raikin, Sviatoslav Richter, Daniil Shafran. The singer performed in Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Austria, Czechoslovakia, China, Korea, India, Burma, Canada, Sweden, Belgium, and other countries.
Roza Baglanova also met many prominent people: Stalin, Kim Il-Sung, Mao Tse - Tung, Choibalsan, Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Khrushchev, Brezhnev and the heads of many states. During her stay in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as part of a government delegation, Kim Il-Sung specially allocated his plane to Roza Baglanova, and she toured the Republic for 10 days.
In India, the singer attended a reception hosted at Jawaharlal Nehru's house, where she met Indira and Rajiv Gandhi.
In 1949 she starred in “The Youth of the World”, the Soviet-Hungarian documentary film. In 2006 the presentation of “Ah, Samara town”, a documentary film took place in Almaty city.
In 2021, “Khabar” television channel released “Bulbul”, a biographical feature program about the life and work of the singer.
An autobiographical book of Roza Baglanova “Aynalayyn khalkymnan yerkeletken” (I am grateful to my people for pampering me) was published in 2007.
Many books and paintings were published about Roza Baglanova, and numerous poetic works were released. Her name is included in “Who is Who”, an Anglo-American encyclopaedia, along with such great women as Margaret Thatcher, Elizabeth Taylor, and others.
“Kazakhfilm” film studio shot “Our Rose”, a documentary about Roza Baglanova, which is about the great creative path of the singer.
She has been presented with numerous titles and awards for the popularization of Kazakh art.
On November 23, 2021, by the resolution of UNESCO 41st general conference, a Calendar of memorable dates for 2022-2023 was adopted. The 100th anniversary of Roza Baglanova, the singer, was included in it by the recommendation of Kazakhstan with the support of Russia and Uzbekistan. To keep the memory of the outstanding Kazakhstan singer, several events are planned in 2022 in Kazakhstan and abroad, as part of her 100th anniversary celebration.