On April 17, 2019 at 11.00 a.m. in the Exhibition Hall named after N. Dauletova literary evening "Kazakh zhyraulary", dedicated to the spiritual leaders - zhyrau, who played a special role in strengthening the Kazakh Khanate and promoting the unity of the people was held.
Zhyrau (zhyr - song, poem) is a folk poet and singer in Kazakh poetry and is not only a performer, but also the author of works.
The zhyrau singers are considered the ancestor of Kazakh literature. They were talented in many ways. Many of them, who lived in the XV-XIX centuries, were poets, batyrs and clan chiefs. The poetry of zhyrau was the peak of verbal art of nomadic Kazakhs and it still amazes with its perfection, testifying not only to the high level of development of Kazakh literature of late Middle Ages but also to the wealth of spiritual world of our people in the distant past.
The evening was moderated by A. Adilbekov, an honored worker of culture of Kazakhstan, a performer of zhyrau and terme. In his speech he emphasized historical significance of the today's event and told about the history of origin of jirau genre and its importance for the people. Famous journalist-ethnographer and researcher of Kazakh folklore T. Dairabay told about historical personalities, akyns zhyrau and underlined that zhyrau were carriers of special ancient knowledge of history of Kazakh clans and tribes - shezhire. Candidate of philological sciences, associate professor and professor of Kazakh National University named after al-Farabi T. Kydyr and Candidate of philological sciences, professor and lecturer of Abay State University M. Bekbosynov told about the role of zhyrau and answered questions of the students. As part of the evening, the guests performed the terme and cuisines of famous Kazakh zhyrau performers.
The purpose of the literary evening was to promote the life and creative heritage of Kazakh zhyrau, educating the younger generation a sense of patriotism and humanism, oratorical culture on the example of the works of historical figures.
The guests of the evening expressed their great gratitude for the organized event.
A book exhibition "XV-XIX g. kazak zhyraulary" from the fund of the National Library of the RK was organized during the evening. It presented materials about the life of Kazakh zhyrau, poets-improvisers, poetry of zhyrau and akyns of XV-XIX centuries and a slide show of photos with a short description of life and activities of Kazakh zhyrau.
The guests of the evening were scientists-historians, teachers of universities, performers of zhyrau and terme, pupils of boarding school № 2 for gifted children named after Abay of Almaty, employees and readers of the library.