Ergash Dzhumanbulbul-Ogly

Born 1868 in the kishlak (hamlet) of Kurgan, in what is now Nurata Raion, Samarkand Oblast; died May 12, 1937, in the kishlak of Kushtamgali, Nurata Raion, Samarkand Oblast. Soviet Uzbek folk poet and improvi-sational performer.

Ergash Dzhumanbulbul-ogly was the son of the famous folk singer and poet Dzhumanbulbul (1818–86). He learned to read and write in Bukhara. From 1885 to 1922 he traveled from kishlak to kishlak performing dastans (romantic epics). In 1925 a center for transcribing folk dastans was established in the kishlak of Kirkshodi, near Samarkand. The most important works in the repertoire of folk performers were transcribed there from 1926 to 1928. Among these works were eight dastans by Ergash Dzhumanbulbul-ogly; of these, the dastans Ravshän, Kunduz and Yulduz, Dalli, Kuntugmïsh, Khushkeldi, and Khaldarkhan were published.