Roza Baglanova

Roza Tazhibaykyzy Baglanova (; January 1, 1922 – February 8, 2011) was a Soviet and Kazakh soprano opera and pop music singer, who was honoured with many awards throughout her career, including the People’s Artist of the USSR (1967) and the Order of Lenin. She was also deemed a National Hero of Kazakhstan.
Early life.
Childhood and schooling.
Baglanova was born in Kazalinsk, in Kyzylorda Region. The Baglanov family consisted of grandmother Kundey, father Tazhibay, mother Akkurush, Tazhibai’s second wife the Tatar Maryam, and older brother Idris. Roza spent her whole childhood on the left coast of the river Syr Darya. From the earliest years of her life, she dreamed of being a great singer. Her grandmother Kundey was a talented woman and she was the person who taught the child to sing. The grandfather also loved singing, together with the wife they used to perform on feasts. Her two mothers liked singing and playing on accordion. Thus they brought love to art into the heart of the future great singer. Later Roza became an active member of the art club in the local theatre.
In the years of school Baglanova participated a lot in the school, district, region, republican concerts, competitions in Kyzylorda, Almaty, Orenburg. With the help of her sonorous childish voice, Roza was the darling of the people and often got the prize places.
One day came the news that father-scout Tazhibay Baglanov passed away performing service duty. The family was left without the only breadwinner. Grandmother Kundey had a lot of remains of rich property. She exchanged jewellery, dishes, trays, spoons, belts, and bracelets from the clear silver for bread, tea, flour. Also, grandmother and mothers sewed clothes and sold them to stand on their own feet and feed the children. Famine in the Kazakh steppe began in 1932. It worsened the situation side by side with the death of the head of the family. When the winter started with its frosts and winds, Roza had nothing to wear out of warm clothes. There were no roads but only a steppe with impenetrable snowdrifts. Tiny Roza, muffled into blankets from the feet to the head, wearing on the head woollen scarf, on the feet - homemade boots from the large felt mat, in the weather of blizzard went every day to school 6 kilometres from home and back.
Roza Baglanova studied at the from 1939 to 1941. She dropped studying in the university in the third year since the material situation of the family worsened. The pension for the dead father stopped coming.
Years in Uzbekistan.
Roza decided to go to Tashkent to the relatives where she would live better, work, and feed the family. The Textile institute suggested a good variant for combining studying with work, providing free food, and living in a dormitory.
However, the destiny prepared for Baglanova something more significant than just being an ordinary weaver. One morning, absolutely in a random way there was a meeting with the soloist of the Tashkent Opera House and the director of the Uzbek philharmonic Mukhitdin Kari-Yakubov. He was passing the house where Roza lived when she stood at the gates and sang. Kari-Yakubov stopped there and listened to the singing of a young woman. He liked it. After Roza finished her song, the director approached her, expressed the feeling of adornment to her voice, and suggested going to the audition in philharmonic.
On the following day, the young artist sang on the stage of the Uzbek philharmonic not only to the Kari-Yakubov but to the other members of the jury. All of them liked the beautiful voice of Roza and accepted her to the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Uzbek Philharmonic. From 1941 to 1947, she was a soloist. In that period the leader of the Woman ensemble was Tamara Khanum.
In Tashkent on one of her first big concerts, which was dedicated to the cotton growers, Roza was noticed by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan Usman Yusupov. He was amazed by her talent too. Yusupov provided Baglanova with a five-room apartment in the centre of the city with all the other conditions for a comfortable living and brought her left relatives to Tashkent. In the summer of 1941, on the coast of the reservoir in the village Kattakurgan there was the second concert of Roza within the ensemble. Usman Yusupov attended it, and all the first department sang only Roza. After the concert, he came to the singer and gave her 1000 roubles with a ticket to studying in the Moscow Conservatory.
Singer in the front.
With the start of Roza Baglanova’s career, the Great Patriotic War began. The ensemble went to the war front to lift the spirit of the fighting soldiers of the Soviet army. Spending 4 years at the war Baglanova with the artists gave about thousands of concerts performing on the front line with the soldiers of the Red Army. She had to pass 15 kilometres a day in full uniforms, with the weapon on the shoulder and holding the costumes for the performance. Having thirty-third size of foot she had to wear thirty-ninth size of the military boots, the smallest size, filling them with foot cloths and rags. The clothes were so large for her that she sewed them twice.
Roza sang everywhere, but mostly in the places where everyone could see her. The stage could be the truck body, the tracks of the tank, the wagon. Sometimes even the place of performance could be 600 meters from the front line. The young star sang about 15 hours a day without a break despite the bad weather, blood, and flying bullets. 
Thanks to the military period in the career of the artist, her collection of songs was fulfilled with many military and folk compositions. The most popular song was “Ah, Samara-gorodok” from the repertoire of Lidia Ruslanova. Later Ruslanova liked how Baglanova performed the song and gave it to her, because “Ah, Samara-gorodok” was already the “name card” of the Kazakh artist. Baglanova sang in 20 various languages. It included all the languages that were spoken by soldiers from all the Soviet countries. She wanted to remind them by singing in their native languages about the homeland and bring some light memories despite the horrors of on-going war. 
In 1943, Roza got injured in the eyes when there was mortaring. Six operations were made to save her health. And even after getting the wound she came back to the battlefield and helped medical staff to carry and bandage the soldiers. 
Roza Baglanova was the only Soviet artist who was awarded twice with the medal “For Military Merit” in the period of the Great Patriotic War. Marshal Ivan Konev awarded her with the first medal on 1 May 1943. On 22 February 1945, there was the release of Warsaw from the fascists. The ensemble of Tamara Khanum with Roza Baglanova and other members went to the city to perform to the seriously wounded soldiers who laid on the ground in the half-ruined buildings. After the victory in releasing the city, on the same day in 18:00, Konstantin Rokossovsky awarded Roza with the second medal “For Military Merit” in his residence.
On 2 May 1945, the singer came back to Moscow not reaching Berlin 90 kilometres from it. In the capital, she met the victory of the USSR and gave the concerts with her ensemble. 
Later life.
During the times of World War II, Kazakh poet Zhuban Moldagaliev meets Roza Tazhibaykyzy in Moscow and asks her to return to her motherland from Uzbekistan. After four years, in 1949, with the help of the chief secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan – Zhumabay Shayakhmetov, and with the permission of the chief secretary of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan – Usman Yusupov, Roza Baglanova returns to Kazakh SSR.
Coming to Almaty, beginning in 1949, she became a singer with the Kazakh State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet named after Abay, then the Jambyl Kazakh State Philharmonic (1960) and was a leading master of the Kazakh state concert association "Kazakhconcert". During her career, she performed in Poland, the German Democratic Republic, Belgium, Hungary, Austria, Czechoslovakia, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, India, Burma, Canada, and other countries. One of her passions was singing in the language of the country she was performing in, and so performed traditional folk songs in Russian, Kazakh, Uzbek, Tatar, Mongolian, Korean, and others. Among them: "Ah, Samara-gorodok", "Dark Is the Night", "Vasya-Vasilek", "Ogonyok", Korean folk song "Doradi", Finnish folk song “Tuku-tuku”, Indian folk song “You stole my heart”, Kyrgyz folk song “Perizat-ou”, Uzbek folk song “Tam basynda turgan kyz” and more others.
In 1949, the head of the USSR Stalin turned seventy years old, she took part in a big concert in the Kremlin dedicated to his anniversary. She sang two songs. Stalin got up from his place and his guests of honor followed after him: Mao Zedong, Jacques Duclos, Wilhelm Pieck, Klement Gottwald, and others. 
In 1955, during a tour in India, she was awarded the high title "People's Artist of the Kazakh SSR". In 1967 when she gave concerts in Semipalatinsk, she was awarded the highest title at that time "People's Artist of the USSR". She traveled all over the Soviet Union. She was with the builders of the Baikal-Amur Mainline, in the Kuril Islands with fishermen, on the island of Sakhalin. She had been in every corner of Kazakhstan: at the Baikonur cosmodrome (on April 12, 1961, She was giving concerts in the city of Kostroma. On this day, she shortened the concert by 40 minutes and dedicated it to the one who took off from Baikonur, the first cosmonaut of the Earth), with the fishermen of the Aral Sea, with livestock breeders in the most distant districts, on many stages of the Houses of Culture. Also, she sang in auls, villages of the republic, sometimes right under the open sky, and on moonlit nights and hot days.
On December 13 1979, during one of the concerts in the city of Pavlodar her eyes darkened and she stopped seeing. The injuries of the past made themselves felt. But the singer did not stop the concert and continued performing. Although she has been treated until April 1980, her vision was not restored. On April 5, 1980, at the Palace of the Republic, the big festive concert took place, and she performed sing at the stage with the help of son. Because her eyes could not see anymore. She began the concert with her favourite song “Dark Is the Night”. While performing it, she tried to convey to the audience the inner anguish and bitterness of war. That concert breathed new life into her. After that, she immediately flew to Moscow for an operation. She underwent three operations at once. The surgeons told her they needed another operation and explained the reason for that. It turned out that one of the fragments from the mine was still in her head. The operation was completed successfully. 
In November 2005, her eye disease worsened again. She was in the hospital. The singer underwent one more operation. According to her words, she got well thanks to her pray to god before the operation.
Becoming an International Artist.
1949 was one of the brightest parts of the singer’s life. The “World Festival of Youth and Students” which made Roza Baglanova well-known for the entire USSR and beyond took place in that year. The competition where the talented youth of 80 countries of the world participated was held in Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Roza Baglanova took part in the competition from the name of Kazakhstan among the famous singers of that time such as I. Petrov, Z. Dolukhanova, A. Izmaiylova, M. Plisetskaya, D. Oistrakh, and M. Rostropovich.
Roza Tazhibaykyzy performed the song of Y. Brusilovsky written on the words of I.Esenberlin, “Qyz armany” (“The dream of a girl”) on the big stage of the theatre. Then she continued with the Kazakh folk songs such as “Eki zhiren” (“Two horses”), “Qaratorgay” (“Starling”) as well as the song of People’s Compositor of Kazakhstan B.Baikadamov, “Dombyra”. She ended her performance with the Russian folk song “Ah, Samara - gorodok” (“Ah, Samara - little town”) which later becomes the public’s favourite song in the singer’s repertoire. Roza Tazhibaykyzy returned from the competition with first place being the laureate of the “World Festival of Youth and Students” of 1949 in Budapest.  
The magazine “Ogoniok” wrote in November of 1949: ‘The voice of the small beautiful lady makes listeners experience wonderful feelings. Be it Kazakh, Russian folk songs or the works of contemporary composers, Roza Baglanova gave the songs new lives’ whereas the newspaper “Za chest’ Rodiny” pointed out: ‘There are many singers of the song “Ah, Samara - gorodok”. But none of them could give such feelings as Baglanova.’
People’s Artist of the USSR Maya Plisetskaya in her interview states:
"‘…The citizens of Budapest did not know the song “Ah, Samara - gorodok” before that competition. But after the festival, they did not only accept the song but began to love listening to it. And this is the proof of the real singer… Before that year we did not know much about your country. Because of the war, there were not as many festivals and concerts in Almaty as nowadays. And we got introduced to Kazakhstan thanks to Roza.’" "     "
After that, she among other competitors gave a concert in Margaret Island. The concert was wonderful as always. Maya Plisetskaya danced the “The Swan” of Saint-Saёns whereas Roza Baglanova concluded the concert. The city of Budapest had a huge impact on the further professional development of Roza Tazhibaykyzy. It became a very close name to the singer and it continued to be even till the last days of her life. After that Festival in Budapest, she had the opportunity of visiting 49 countries of the world and performing there.
Right after the Festival, Roza Baglanova among other winners of the contest had concerts in the countries of Europe such as Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Poland. When she was back in Kazakhstan continued her work as a singer and performed in 54 countries of the world in more than 30 languages. Roza Baglanova liked singing songs in the language of the country she was visiting. She always started her performance with Kazakh songs and ended with, mostly, folk songs of the local nation.
Roza Baglanova herself says about one of her performances abroad: "‘In 1957, I performed in the stage of the USA. There was a huge feast for the singers of the Soviet Union. When I entered the event with my national dress about 100 musicians started to play “Ah, Samara - gorodok”. I started the song right away and sang it in three languages: Russian, English, and French. The public was amazed, and applauded with compliments."'
Roza Baglanova visited many countries with state delegations. She was in India twice with the delegation of N. Khrushchev. The prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru himself gave a bouquet to the singer after her performance of the favourite song of Nehru’s mother “You took my heart” in Hindi. In this travel, Roza Tazhibaikyzy also visited the house of Indira Gandy twice and got to know her personally.
Death.
Roza Tazhibaykyzy Baglanova died of a heart attack at the age of 89 in Alma-Ata.
Family and children.
Roza Tazhibaykyzy Baglanova married twice in her life. The first husband was the Hero of the USSR - Sadyk Abdizhapparov with whom she lived for 7 years. The second was Satybaldy Zhappayev. They were together for almost 10 years. But the fate of the singer did not go along with both of them. Roza Tazhibaykyzy herself said in her interviews that no man would be satisfied with her lifestyle which was full of different tours and the attention of the people. But the singer had a child who becomes the meaning of her life. Roza Baglanova gives birth to little Tazhen at the age of 47. Later she could see a couple of grandchildren (Akerke, Tazhibay) from Tazhen and his wife Maral one of whom she named herself with the name of her father - Tazhibay. More lately after the death of the singer her son and daughter-in-law gave the name “Urbiybi” to their next daughter after her grandmother (the real name of Roza Baglanova was “Urbiybi”).          
Social Activism.
Opposing the government requires not only charisma and clear vision, but also courage and physical stamina. Voice of the nation, a legend in her own time, Roza Baglanova, possessed these qualities in abundance.
Even though often portrayed as a miniature and elegant woman, with a soprano singing voice as soft as a whisper of summer breeze, Roza Baglanoza, a formidable figure in many countries, who commanded a great deal of respect, dared to challenge the authority’s decisions and was a strong lady, with no hint of fragility. Thus, she was able to use her fame and talent advantageously to fight for a cause – gaining equality, justice, and independence for an ordinary citizenry at a national level. Our hero exuded astonishing courage and stubbornness during her rousing speeches, full of passion and anger. Worried about the future of her country, as a real patriot, Roza Baglanova was not afraid of any plausible consequences. Nonetheless, she was never alone in thinking that the officials could do more, receiving handwritten letters with words of support from all parts of her homeland. When she reached the apex of her career, the flow of such letters was indeed on-going. Not only faithful listeners, completely mesmerised by her performances, would endorse her views, but also once utterly indifferent citizens began to change their attitude towards many things after strong statements made by this brave woman. 
Interestingly, Roza Tazhibaykyzy was one of the first civil rights activists, who succeeded in capturing the attention of the whole Soviet Union and drawing it to the environmentally harmful effects of some projects. To be precise, delicate questions, concerning two major ecological disasters of the 20th century - the Aral Sea problem and the Semipalatinsk Test Site, also known as “The Polygon”, were about to be addressed and publicly discussed.
"Look, what our “great scientists” along with a “highly respected” government have done to us! How can I talk about advanced innovations and the country’s progress towards science, when they are literally killing and ruthlessly destroying the whole nation. We must get to the root of this problem," - she said, swept by patriotic fervour, at a conference in 1988, where the point at issue was the development of the state. 
""There is a testing venue for the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons in Semipalatinsk. There is a spaceport, the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in the Kyzylorda Region. The Aral Sea, which once was a unique closed water reservoir, is practically on the verge of complete disappearance. Kazakhs are struggling, expiring… How can we live peacefully? If something similar had happened abroad, there would not have been any deathly silence. I have been there, in underprivileged and ailing places of our country. It breaks my heart to see human beings, dealing with the anguishes of serious illnesses, caused by your policies. Children have no other choice but to live without eyes, arms, legs… Who is responsible for that? Who is responsible for the constant pain and grief of the whole nation?" "
After her speeches, people commenced making sure that they were proactively involved. However, it was hard to fundamentally alter the government’s practices, since Roza Baglanova, despite having a ray of hope, played no crucial part in the daily decision-making. What she really could do to change the world step by step was to organise charitable concerts and festivals. The contributions were sought for ecological funds to ensure that all needed people would receive proper help. Thus, even though, there were many priorities at stake, helping people and raising questions of poor living conditions were paramount to Roza Baglanova. 
Songs.
Roza Baglanova has fashioned a kaleidoscope of layered instrumental textures, combining modern, national, symphonic, and culturally diverse melodies in her repertoire. Being familiar with Kazakhstan’s acclaimed artists and leading composers, ranging from Zhubanov and Baikadamov to Zhamakaev and Espaev, she had a unique opportunity to enlarge an assortment of musical numbers from them. 
It is indisputable that songs such as “Aq tamaq”, “Asyl arman” and “Qyz armany” commenced shining in new splendour thanks to Roza Baglanova’s brilliant performances and individual style. Nonetheless, it was “Ah, Samara - Gorodok”, the Russian folk song, once just a mundane composition, that turned her into a world-famous singer. Eventually, the song got a new lease of life, being the talk of the town for many years. 
Throughout her career, Baglanova performed in many countries all around the globe, including Poland, China, Korea, India, Canada, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, France, and Spain. Even in remote corners of states and on small-scale stages, the singer put her heart into what she was doing and charmed everyone with her magnetic sound. She once explained, "“It is crucial to put your whole mind, soul, and heart into songs.” "
Inputs to Kazakh Music.
Roza Baglanova has dedicated almost all her lifetime, 70 years, to be precise, to music and her country. Many of her songs have become new classics. She was the first singer that introduced solo performances and concerts to Kazakhstani musicians and the public. 
Baglanova had a decisive and prominent impact on the further development and popularisation of Kazakh music. She managed to transcend traditional musical categories and impress an audience that has never been confined to one country. Even today, the bulk of composers, including young singers, draw much inspiration from the voice of the nation - Roza Baglanova.
The Name of the Singer in Publications.
In the United States of America, since 1899, the reference edition "Who's Who" founded by N. Marke has been published. Such an encyclopaedia is very popular in all corners of the planet and has brought great prestige to its owner and organizer. This cycle found its continuation in the book "Women of the World", published in 1995. Baglanova was also included in the first edition of "Women of the World" in the Anglo-American encyclopaedia, "Who's Who". In many parts of the world, people are interested in learning biographical details from the busy life of the singer, who has travelled all over the continents with concerts. This significant fact speaks volumes, and most importantly, that Roza Tazhibaevkyzy, as a bright representative of the art of Kazakhstan, can be safely called the ambassador of peace and goodwill of Kazakhstan. To take pride of place in the famous book of biographies is also recognition of her high talent and enormous contribution to the world treasury of culture.
Unusual information about the singer got into the magazine "Prostor" in August 1996. The article "Unusual People among Us" was written about her. In particular, this interesting article stated that V. Bondarev masterfully photographed the bioplasmographic features of the fingers of the great singer. As a result of deciphering and studying the bioplasmography of the singer's fingers, it turned out that the structure of the emitted aura is unique and differs from that of ordinary people.
Tributes and Memory.
Tributes have been pouring in from all over the country for Roza Baglanova, who died almost a decade ago. A great number of people and government officials delivered the eulogy. Moreover, a few channels used to collect a skilful piece of research and compile information in order to make documentaries, focused on covering her long life. 
Nowadays, some places and monuments in Kazakhstan have been named in honour of a remarkable artist. Most notably, the central street and a cultural centre of the Aiyteke town.
In addition, in 2015, a marble bust of Roza Baglanova was erected and unveiled in her own home town in the Kazaly region. The author of the creation is Bakhytzhan Abishev, one of the best-known and celebrated sculptors of Kazakhstan. The completed work is approximately 142 centimetres high. 
From latest news, on January 2021, the President of Kazakhstan – Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, posted a tweet with an assurance to the country to build a historical monument in order to memorialise Baglanova and commemorate the 100th anniversary of the singer’s birthday. 