Korkyt Ata's legacy: epic culture and music Inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List in 2018. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey.
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey. Korkyt's name is associated with the appearance of the kobyz. The legend widely spread among the people says that Korkyt was a great performer of cues and a master-maker of various musical instruments, respectively, he created the kobyz himself.
In general, Korkyt is a common for Turkic peoples thinker, zhyrau-storyteller, poet, composer, legendary personality, widespread in the folklore of the Turkic world. He is the main character and author of one of the most ancient cultural monuments of the Turkic-speaking peoples - "Kitabi dәdem Korkyt" ("The Book of Korkyt Ata"). These songs have come down to us in the form of two manuscripts. The first version was discovered in the Dresden library in 1815, and the second in the Vatican archives at the end of the twentieth century. According to legend, Korkyt lived in the 8th-9th centuries on the bank of the Sardarya River. The burial place is located on the territory of Kyzylorda region. Later in 1952 the grave was washed away after the Syr Darya flood. In general, many legends-tales and song lines have been preserved about Korkut. One of them is devoted to his birth.
When Korkyt was born,
The black sky was covered with water,
Black earth was covered with sand,
Before his birth the people were in sipuga,
After his birth the people were in joy.
Before his birth the people were in sipuga,
After his birth, the people were in joy.
"Frightening states are characterised by a deep philosophical outlook, elegiac mood and lyricism. In his works kyushi reflects on the fate, the future of his people and country, reflects on the troubles of people, shares sorrows. He reflects with awe on the meaning of a happy life.
"His kobyz pours out songs about eternal life and beauty, about sorrow and sadness of fate" - says the researcher of Korkyt kuis researcher Musabek Zharkynbekov.
The heritage of Korkyt-Ata, proposed by Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkey, was inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (Port Louis, Mauritius, 26 November – 1 December 2018).
