Akin, storyteller, manaschi, collector of Kyrgyz folklore I. Abdyrahmanov was born in 1888 and passed away on April 12, 1967, in the village of Chirak in the current Jety-Oguz district of the Issyk-Kul region, in a peasant family.
From the age of seven, he studied literacy with the village mullah. In 1905, he graduated from a seven-year Tatar school in the city of Przhevalsk (formerly Karakol). He attended short-term teacher training courses in 1920 in Almaty, and in 1926-1927 and 1928 in Frunze. In 1939, he completed a two-year teacher training course at the pedagogical institute in Frunze.
From 1905 to 1916, he worked as a teacher at a primary school in Jety-Oguz, and from 1916 to 1920 in At-Bashi. He was one of the first teachers of the Soviet school in this area. From 1935 to 1960, he was a research associate at the Kyrgyz Research Institute of Language and Literature.
I. Abdyrahmanov began collecting samples of Kyrgyz oral folk art in the early 1920s. In 1922, at the request of the Turkestan Scientific Commission, he started recording the epic "Manas" from the storyteller S. Orozbakov and completed it in 1926.
He also recorded a version of the epic "Manas" from the storyteller S. Karalaev (150 pages), and the epic "Toshtuk." He invested a lot of effort into the publication of the "Manas" series: based on S. Orozbakov's version, he prepared the episodes "Childhood of Manas" (1940), "Khan Alooke" (1941), "Div Makel" (1941), "The First Campaign" (1944). From S. Karalaev's version — "The Legend of Kanikei" (1944), from A. Rysmendeev's version — "Urgench" (1944); from Togolok Moldo — "The Return of Semetey from Bukhara to Samarkand" (1941). I. Abdyrahmanov made a significant contribution to the collection of materials on oral folk art: epics, dastans, tales, proverbs, sayings, riddles, anecdotes, and ditties, as well as their scientific processing and systematization. He recorded information about the lives and works of folk singers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and their works, around 100 titles of works by Togolok Moldo (40 pages).
I. Abdyrahmanov is one of the storytellers of the epic "Manas." His version is noted by folklorists as one of the best in terms of ideological and artistic value. He was an unparalleled storyteller of the lyrical-epic dastan "Janyl-Myrza." He also created a number of original poems and poems. His scientific research on the genesis of the epic "Manas" is one of the interesting hypotheses about the origin of this epic.
He has been a member of the USSR Writers' Union since 1948.
He was awarded the medals "For Labor Valor," "For Labor Distinction," and Honorary Certificates from the Supreme Soviet of the Kyrgyz SSR.
SEPARATE PUBLICATIONS
In Kyrgyz
Togolok Moldo's women in memories: Essays, articles. — Frunze: Kyrgyzokupedmambas, 1960. — 164 pages. Memories of Togolok Moldo.
