Roza Baglanova Would Have Turned 100

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Roza Baglanova, People's Artist of the USSR and Kazakhstan, National Hero, Soviet and Kazakh opera and pop singer.

Roza Baglanova was born on January 1, 1922, in the Kazaly region of Kyzylorda Oblast.

In 1941, she graduated from the Kyzylorda Pedagogical Institute and began her artistic career as a singer in the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Tashkent Philharmonic. As part of this ensemble, she performed on the front lines during World War II and participated in the Victory Concert in Berlin on May 9, 1945.

From 1947 to 1949, she was a singer at the Kazakh Opera and Ballet Theater, from 1949 to 1960 at the Kazakh Philharmonic, and from 1960 at Kazakhconcert, making a significant contribution to the development of national vocal art.

In 1946, she became a diploma winner of the All-Union Contest of Pop Singers in Moscow, and in 1949, a laureate of the 2nd World Festival of Youth and Students in Bucharest. She was awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner of Labor, and "Friendship of Peoples," as well as the "Shapagat" medal.

Roza Baglanova passed away on January 8, 2011, in Almaty at the age of 89. Songs performed by her are preserved in the Kazakh Radio fund: Abai's "Zhelsiz tunde zharyk ai," composer M. Tolebayev's "Kaktagan ak kumistei ken mandaily," S. Mukhamedzhanov's "Zhark etpes kara konglim ne kylsa da" and "Kiyystyryp maktaisyz." Songs in her performance were repeatedly recorded on gramophone records and became part of the golden fund of Kazakh musical culture.