Immortal Music of Korkyt-ata
The unusual memorial dedicated to Korkyt-ata is located in the Kyzylorda steppe, 70 kilometres from the Baikonur cosmodrome. It is dedicated to Korkyt, the creator of the Kazakh national musical instrument called a kobyz. He was also a composer, akyn (poet), philosopher, storyteller and sage of the 9th century.
The monument to this great musician was built in 1980 and was the inspiration of the architect Bek Ibrayev and the physicist Sovet Issatayev. It features four kobyz-shaped, vertical pillars pointing to the four points of the compass. Each one contains 40 metal tubes. When the wind passes through the pipes they sound like a kobyz.
The people called this musician and storyteller Korkyt-ata, and he had a long life with a venerable old age. His life is the stuff of legends, from the story of his birth to his life and death. Korkyt’s mother is said to have carried him under her heart for three years and nine days. On the day of his birth there was an incredibly strong thunderstorm and the thunder and lightning was so terrifying that the baby born in the midst of it was called ‘Korkyt’, which means ‘the one who frightens others’. This baby boy was unusual in that he was reputed to have gone on to live for three hundred years.
Korkyt searched for the elixir of immortality all his life, in the hope of escaping the transient reality of existence. He travelled far and wide in his search, but wherever he went he was always reminded of the existence of death – in the rotten tree that fell or a faded feather on the grassy steppe. Everything reminded him that the same end comes to us all. On his travels he would meet people digging graves, and when he asked them who the grave was for, they would say it was for him. In despair, Korkyt returned to his native steppe. He sat down under a tree and suddenly a voice from above spoke to him. If he wanted to avoid death he needed to make a magical musical instrument and play it without stopping. So Korkyt created a kobyz by cutting it out of a piece of wood, covering it with camel leather, and tightening the strings he had made from horsehair. The instrument sounded wonderful. While Korkyt played, time came to a halt and death was kept at bay. However, one day the old man fell asleep, the kobyz stopped playing, and a snake approached him stealthily and bit him.
Korkyt-ata passed away, but his magical instrument and his melodies remain with us forever.