Alymkul Usenbaev (1894—1963) — an improvisational poet, komuz player, People's Artist of the Kyrgyz SSR (1939), member of the Union of Writers of the USSR (1938). He was born in the village of Kara-Archa in the Talas region into a poor family. At the age of 12, he became an orphan. By the age of 14, he began to sing and play the komuz, and within about ten years, he was well-known throughout Talas. Toktogul Satylganov highly valued his talent and played a crucial role in his development as a akyn (poet).
In 1936, Alymkul participated in the first All-Kyrgyz Olympiad of Folk Music Creativity. A. Zataevich recorded four akyn songs performed by him: "Against" ("Kaim"), "Peer" ("Kur-bum"), "Dream," "Greeting Song" ("Uchurapguu"). After the Olympiad, he was accepted into the Kyrgyz State Philharmonic as a soloist. It was then that his best songs "Issyk-Kul," "My Komuz" ("Komuzum"), and others emerged.
In 1938, Alymkul Usenbaev, along with other masters of folk music, was sent to Moscow to record works at the Cabinet for the Study of the Music of the Peoples of the USSR at the Moscow Conservatory. From Alymkul, the "maktoo yry" ("Election to the Supreme Soviet") was notated and subsequently published in Kyrgyz and Russian.
Alymkul Usenbaev made a significant contribution to the collection of the song and poetic heritage of Toktogul. In 1940, 13 works of the akyn were notated in his performance, including "kerbezy," "armany," "aytyshy," lyrical songs, and dastans "Kurmanbek" and "Sarynji-Bekey."
During the Great Patriotic War, Alymkul Usenbaev was a member of one of the concert front brigades serving the Soviet Army units. These brigades gave more than two and a half thousand concerts.
V. Vinogradov, who conducted the musical notation of Toktogul's heritage, vividly characterized Alymkul Usenbaev's performance style: "Alymkul possessed a remarkable creative talent — the ability to interpret the same melody differently depending on the content of the words... The singer introduced new subtle shades, changed themes, and individual intonations... Such performance ability... should be attributed to the school of the highest mastery of the akyn."
Since 1938, about 30 collections of poems by Alymkul Usenbaev have been published in Kyrgyzstan. They leave no doubt that Usenbaev was not only an outstanding musician but also a remarkable poet.
