This year we celebrate a bright date in the literary horizon: the 175th anniversary of the birth of an outstanding scientist, thinker, poet, enlightener, founder of new national literature, translator, and composer Abay Kunanbaev. He left an indelible mark on the history of the country. His verses and verbal words reflected being, life, worldview, character, soul, religion, mentality, language, the spirit of the people, and then all this turned into a unique phenomenon — the world of Abay.
President of our country Kassym — Zhomart Tokayev in his article “Abai and Kazakhstan in the XXI century, noted that even though times have changed, the world has changed, people are not disappointed with Abay. With each new era, new facets of its greatness are revealed, creativity plays with new colors. Abai will always live together with his native people and for centuries will appeal to the Kazakh country and people to new heights and achievements. If we want to modernize national consciousness and create a competitive nation, we must carefully read the works of Abai. His views on various processes in society are very useful for modern Kazakhstan. I believe that in every house there should be Abay’s books and Mukhtar Auezov’s novel “The Way of Abay”. Future generations should follow the path of Abai, we must take all the best from his ideas and thoughts.
The first President of the country, Nursultan Nazarbayev, wrote: “The world of Abay is our guiding star. She will not let us go astray. By it, we determine our main landmarks. ”
Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation: “Abay was not only the creator of the Kazakh literary language but also the person who discovered Russian culture for Kazakhs. Abay translated into Kazakh about 50 works of the great Russian writers — Pushkin, Lermontov, Krylov. This was a man who made a huge contribution to the formation of spiritual interaction between the Kazakh and Russian people.
Abay did not divide humanity into races, religions, political formations, he said that it is necessary to love all people as brothers. This thesis characterizes Abai as a great personality and elevates him to the top of spiritual thought.
Abay’s creative heritage is relatively small — 170 poems, many of which he transferred to music, 56 translations, several poems, and a volume of prosaic “Words of edification”. But all facets of the Kazakh soul found their embodiment in it: its subtle lyricism, its doubts, and desperate searches, its bitter sarcasm, and all-conquering faith in the creative potential of its people.
Abay was born at the end of the first half of the XIX century in the family of the famous Bay Kunanbay Oskenbayev in the territory of the present East Kazakhstan region. From the father, the future writer adopted the best male features: determination, courage, humanity, and justice. It was his father’s example that became a guide for Abay in life and work. I must say that the name "Abai" (‘careful’), known in the literary world, is just a nickname given to the boy by his grandmother Zera. At the birth of the future poet was called Ibrahim. If the father taught the boy to be a man, then his mother in many ways instilled in him a love of creativity. Ulzhan was a wise, kind, and sharp-tongued woman. She came from a noble family of shanshar, which has long been famous for its wit. She told her son ancient legends, tales of the exploits of the batyrs, sang songs.
However, the grandmother influenced the creative inclinations of little Ibrahim to a greater extent. Together they spent a lot of time. Zere told her grandson stories and tales, while Abai was always little. He enthusiastically listened to the tales of the life of great people. For the future poet, grandmother became the first mentor and teacher. He owes it to her and his mother to the ability to speak interestingly and beautifully.
Abay Kunanbaev was a mystery for his age, but for us, it is completely clear — the light of Kazakh literature, the sun of Kazakh poetry. Three great sources nourish the creativity of the wise poet with their juices. One of them is the ancient Kazakh culture, captured in the oral and written monuments of the past, created by the people themselves. In the process of deep and close communication with the poetic heritage of the native people. Abay managed to absorb all the best and valuable from this treasure, enrich his poetry.
Another source is the best examples of oriental culture: Tajik, Azerbaijani, Uzbek classical poetry. This appeal to the culture of neighboring peoples was undoubtedly a positive phenomenon for the Kazakh culture. The third source is Russian, and through it, world culture. For the Abay era, the very appeal to this source — mainly to the heritage of the great Russian classics, who were completely unknown to the Kazakh people before it — was a fact of great progressive significance. This moved forward the Kazakh culture of that time and was the key to its future prosperity, therefore Abai is dear to each of us.
The contribution of Abay Kunanbayev to the development of the culture and community of the Kazakh people is difficult to overestimate.
It is incredible how close to ordinary people was a person who belonged to the upper class. Contemporaries of Abai said that he was far ahead of the environment that gave birth to him, and one cannot disagree with them.