In 1986 the singer Zeinep Koishybaeva recorded a song framed as a question: Aqquym Oraldyn Ba Aidynyna — My Swan, Have You Returned to Your Waters? The music was written by Kenzhebek Kumysbekov, the words by the Kazakh poet Kakimbek Salykov. Three names on one recording: composer, poet, singer.
Four more song recordings survive beside it: another voice in the same song, Zhas Omir, Ayaly Mekenim and the duet Zheneshe. All five recordings are available today in the Altyn Qor electronic archive. Four songs, four writers of words, five voices. Who gave Kumysbekov his words, and whose voices carried his songs to an audience?
Four songs — four poets
Not one lyricist in this sequence appears twice. Zhas Omir — Young Life — sets words by the poet Amanzhol Shamkenov. Ayaly Mekenim, My Dear Land, sets words by the poet Tumanbai Moldagaliyev. Zheneshe — the Kazakh form of address for an elder brother’s wife — sets words by Sh. Mukhamedzhanov. And Aqquym Oraldyn Ba Aidynyna sets words by Salykov. Kumysbekov has no permanent co-author here: a new poet arrives with each song.
Three of these four belong to a much longer sequence. In her list of the composer’s vocal works, his biographer Altyn Imanbayeva names texts by Saken Seifullin, Mukagali Makatayev, Gafu Kaiyrbekov, Mariyam Khakimzhanova, Amanzhol Shamkenov, Kakimbek Salykov, Tumanbai Moldagaliyev and Yerkesh Ibragim. Eight poets across one body of songs — and words by three of those eight were set to music in the recordings discussed here.
The first of the five voices is the singer Kurmanbek Baikuatov, who performs Ayaly Mekenim. On this recording the names gather in full: poet, composer, singer, with none of the three replacing the other two.
One song — two voices
Aqquym Oraldyn Ba Aidynyna survives twice. Koishybaeva first sang it in 1986; in a separate recording the singer Maigul Kazturganova performed the same song. One text by Salykov, one piece of music by Kumysbekov — and two women’s voices. The song did not remain with one performer.
One voice — two poets
Kazturganova returns to this sequence once more. Beside the song set to words by Salykov, she sang Zhas Omir to words by Shamkenov: one voice and two different poets. Of the five singers, she alone performs Kumysbekov twice.
A duet in a single recording
Zheneshe, with words by Sh. Mukhamedzhanov, required two singers at once — Yermek Abildayev and Zhumat Makhambetov. Both voices sound in one recording, the shortest of the four songs at 2 minutes 29 seconds. Here the song has four names instead of three.
Listening note · Arman. Beyond the sequence of songs, the instrumental Dream survives: the dombra player Karshyga Akhmediyarov performs Kumysbekov’s 2-minute 21-second kui, a Kazakh instrumental piece.
The swan in the 1986 song asked whether it had returned to its waters. The song itself returned, in Kazturganova’s second voice. The same singer brought a second poet to Kumysbekov, while Zheneshe required two performers at once. Four songs linked Kumysbekov’s music to four poets and five voices. On every recording, all three contributors are named: composer, poet and singer.