Shamshi Kaldayakov

Shamshi Kaldayakov (Kazakh: Шәмші Қалдаяқов, Şämşi Qaldayaqov) (Russian: Шамши Калдаяков, Šamši Kaldajakov) (August 15, 1937 in Temirlanovka, South Kazakhstan Province — February 29, 1992 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, aged 56) was a Kazakhstani composer. He was born Shamshi Donbaiev, but ran away from school and changed his name to avoid the police.^[1] He started playing music aged 17 and mainly wrote songs in a waltz style,^[1] but in 1956, he composed the music to the patriotic song My Kazakhstan.^[2] It was adopted in 2006 to be the Kazakhstan national anthem by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev after a few modifications in the lyrics.^[3]

References

1. 1 2 Marshall, Alex (2015). Republic or Death! Travels in Search of National Anthems. London: Random House Books. pp. 140–144. ISBN 9781847947413. He was born Shamshi Donbaiev, but ran away from school and, wanted by the police, had to change his surname. He chose Kaldayakov, meaning 'he has a mole on his foot, because his own father did indeed have one. 'He was the first person in the world to be called that,' [his son] Mukhat cries out when telling this story. 'That's how much of a born composer he was. He even composed his name!' 
2. ↑ Embassy of Kazakhstan in New Delhi, India : Weekly News
3. ↑ http://www.kyzmet.kz/?lang=ru&id_1=45 (Russian)

External links

• Biography (Russian)