9 February marks the 90th birthday of Mukagali Makatayev, a renowned Kazakh poet, writer and translator.
Makatayev was born in a little village of Karasaz, situated at the foothills of the Khan Tengri mountain. He wrote his first poem at the age of 17, but his first book of poems was published when he was 33 and he had only 12 years to live. He created over 4,000 poems in the two months he spent in a hospital due to a serious illness.
Only a fraction of his poems saw the light of day during his life. Most of his poems were published after his death. Mukagali Makatayev was the most loved poet of his age.
He was officially recognised only after his death. He received the highest state titles, orders and honours in 2006, thirty years after his departure.
He is often referred to as the Kazakh Pushkin of our times. His colleagues said about him: “He dashed into literature like a lighting and bedazzled all of us….” Makatayev is easily recognised by the flow of his poetic lines and by his unique poetic voice. He expressed deep human feelings and emotions that he communicated in clear and simple words that reached the hearts of everyone who loves poetry.
From his diary: “The days without poems for me are lifeless. Thanks to God for giving me this consolation. A poet has his own world, his own society, and his own universe. I live for this and fight for this.”
He was also one of the first poets who brilliantly translated into Kazakh the pieces of world classical literature: Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Dante’s The Divine Comedy among many others.
His life was full of ordeals, experiencing homelessness and joblessness, severe Communist censorship, harassment from fellow poets and expulsion from the Writers’ Association of Kazakhstan.
His last poem was called Requiem to Mozart. Makatayev was fascinated by Mozart’s music and was shocked to learn that there were no proper last rites served for the great musician. It seems that Makatayev took over this mission and read the last rites for him by writing Requiem to Mozart.
Article partially taken from www.adebiportal.kz