Improvisational Poet Toktonaly Shabdanbaev

The improvisational poet T. Shabdanbaev was born on August 15, 1896 — February 18, 1978, in the village of Jaiylma (now the Kant district of the Kyrgyz SSR) into a peasant family. Until 1917, he worked as a laborer for the wealthy. From 1918 to 1921, he voluntarily joined the ranks of the Red Army and fought against Kolchak, participated in the defeat of the Bukhara Emirate, and fought against the Basmachis in the Fergana Valley and southern Kyrgyzstan. After being demobilized from the Red Army, T. Shabdanbaev joined an agricultural artel in his native village, worked in the poor committee, and was the chairman of the Karl Marx collective farm in the Kant district. From 1936 to 1965, he was a soloist of the Toktogul Satylganov Kyrgyz State Philharmonic.

T. Shabdanbaev's song and poetic creativity awakened early. Initially, while playing the komuz, he sang about his hard orphaned fate, poverty, and suffering. With the arrival of Soviet power, he celebrated the new bright life and freedom it brought to the common people.

By 1921, he was known throughout the Chui Valley as an improvisational poet. At this time, he composed songs on pressing contemporary themes and performed them himself accompanied by the komuz. The first collection of T. Shabdanbaev's works was published in 1949 under the title "Women's Songs." A significant part of the poet's work consists of aitys — competitive songs, with which he performed alongside his partner I. Boronchiev. In 1969, a poetry collection titled "Golden Gates" was published in Russian. The poet also authored memoirs about his famous colleagues in creativity, published in the books "I Praise My Homeland" (1973) and "Heritage" (1981).

People's Artist of the Kyrgyz SSR (1958).

Awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, medals for "Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War," "For Labor Distinction," "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow," "For Valorous Labor. In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of V. I. Lenin," and "Veteran of Labor." Honorary certificates from the Supreme Soviet of the Kyrgyz SSR.

SEPARATE PUBLICATIONS

in Kyrgyz:
Women's Songs. — F.: Kyrgyzmambas, 1949. — 68 p. Poems of Victory.
Inextinguishable Ray: Songs. — F.: Kyrgyzmambas, 1951. — 80 p. Unquenchable Ray.
What I Saw: Songs and Aitys. — F.: Kyrgyzmambas, 1958. — 131 p. What I Saw.
Golden Gate: Songs and Poems. — F.: Kyrgyzstan, 1965. — 202 p. Golden Gates.
Selected Works: Songs, Aitys, Poems. — F.: Kyrgyzstan, 1969. — 206 p. Selected Works.
I Praise My Homeland: Memories and Songs. — F.: Kyrgyzstan, 1973. — 266 p. I Praise My Homeland.
Selected Works: Songs and a Poem. — F.: Kyrgyzstan, 1976. — 230 p. Selected Works.
Heritage: Songs, Memories. — F.: Kyrgyzstan, 1986. — 112 p. Heritage.
in Russian:
Golden Gates: Poems. — F.: Kyrgyzstan, 1968. — 80 p.