[bad word] turkicworld

[bad word] turkicworld

Language(s) Kyrgyz
Instrument(s) Jew's Harp; Komuz
Composer: Atai Ogombaev
Text: Jusup Turusbekov (1910-1943)
Performers: Tengir-Too, Toktobek Asanaliev, vocal solo

Atai composed “I Remember” in the 1930s, after coming to Bishkek to work in the Philharmonia Society, the government cultural organization that managed and booked performing artists. According to Nurlanbek Nyshanov, Atai was illiterate when he arrived in Bishkek, and Philharmonia officials sent him to adult education school. “He was a terrible student,” Nurlanbek recounts. “He couldn’t learn either to read or write. Once a teacher brought a Kyrgyz newspaper and read the text of this song. The author, Jusup Turusbekov, was then a young poet who had just started to write like a Russian or a European. When Atai heard the text, he liked it, and asked the teacher to give him the newspaper. That’s when he learned to read. He memorized the poem, and composed a melody based on it. But the more literate he became, the less he created. Reading and writing didn’t help him. They sent Atai to the Moscow Conservatory, and when he returned, he never did anything more in music.”
When summer reached its peak
On the hilly mountain,
She chose one of the many flowers and picked it.
I remember that tranquil girl.
We agreed to entrust our fate to one another;
We agreed to pick the flowers of this life together.
I remember the days when we talked about this,
As the meaning of life grew deeper.
Recall your vow and make a choice;
My passion for you did not cool.
Let modern, merry youth
Have a life-partner like you.