Dzhoomart Bokonbaev

Born May 16, 1910, in the village of Mazar-Sai in present-day Toktogul’ Raion; died July 1, 1944, in the village of Chon-Saryoi, in Issyk-KuP Raion. Soviet Kirghiz poet and dramatist.

Bokonbaev was born into a peasant family. He began to publish in 1927. In his verses he celebrated the new life of the Kirghiz people under the conditions of socialist construction—“Kokosh Opened His Eyes” (1928), “The Heart Gladdens” (1931), “In Lenin’s Path” (1931), and “Blossoming Life” (1939). Bokonbaev was the first to introduce the images of workers and miners into Kirghiz literature. He wrote about the construction sites of Kirghiz (in the poems Kyzyl Kyia, 1932; Suluktu, 1933; Turksib, 1930–32; and others). He recreated pictures of the past (Poverty, 1928, and The Desert of Life, 1930). During the Patriotic War he wrote the verses and poems Moscow Fortress, The Spirit of the Great Lenin, My Heart Is a Red Banner, Above the Lake, and others. He combines the passion of an agitator with a deep lyricism. Bokonbaev also wrote for the theater: the musical drama Altyn Kys (1937), the play Kargasha (1939), and the librettos of the operas Toktogul (1939) and Aichurek (1937; based on motifs of the epos Manas, written with K. Malikov and Dzh. Turusbekov).