KALKAMAN AND MAMYR

Biography

Ballet in 3 acts with a prologue.

Composer - Vasily Velikanov. Libretto - Mukhtar Auezov based on the poem of the same title by Shakarim Kudaiberdiyev based on a folk legend. Choreography and staging - Leonid Zhukov. Production designer - Ural Tansykbayev. Production conductor - Fyodor Kuzmich.

The premiere took place on June 24, 1938 at the Abay SAOBT.

Characters and performers: Mamyr - Gulshara (Shara) Zhienkulova, B. Sayfutdinova; Kalkaman - G. Izmailov, Leonid Zhukov; Mamyr's friends- Nursulu Tapalova, R. Gurileva, A. Idizova, V. Gavrilenko.

In the center of the story there is the desire of the girl Mamyr who lost her groom, for a new and happy life. The brave Mamyr stubbornly resists the laws of levirate - amangerism which is imposed on her by the elders of the aul, when the right to inherit the bride or wife of the deceased groom passes to his closest relative. She meets Kalkaman, a young man who gives her hope for liberation from tribal oppression. The old man Eskine, whom Mamyr was supposed to marry, and the harsh bai Kokinai are trying to brutally deal with the lovers. But despite all the intrigues, the young people gain freedom and begin a new life, in which there is no place for the prejudices of the patriarchal society.