Play about Zhambyl Zhabayev’s life staged in Taraz

TARAZ. KAZINFORM – A play dedicated to the life and creative art of great Kazakh akyn Zhambyl Zhabayev was staged at a theater in Taraz city. The event is timed to the 175th anniversary of Zhambyl, Kazinform correspondent reports.

The play directed by Olga Izbasarova was staged at the Regional Russian Drama Theater in Zhambyl region.

At the beginning, the play takes the audience to the younger years of Zhambyl when he finds his talent and becomes an akyn. It also depicts him falling in love and then going through a heartbreak as he will never be able to be with the one he loves. The play tells about his inner world, thoughts and priorities.

The name of Zhambyl is well-known outside the borders of Kazakhstan as it was him who inspired the people of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) to survive during the Siege of the city during the WWII. His poem ‘Leningratsy, deti moi’ (The residents of Leningrad, my children) infused the hearts of Leningrad residents with hope during the Siege.

Zhambyl region was named after the akyn who is considered to be ‘the Homer of the 20^th century’. Before the year of 1996 the city of Taraz was called Dzhambyl after Zhambyl Zhabayev.