Background
Kuzhamyarov was born on May 21, 1918, in the modern village of Kaynazar in Enbekshikazakh District, Almaty Region, Kazakhstan. His father died when he was just 3 months old.
Kuzhamyarov was born on May 21, 1918, in the modern village of Kaynazar in Enbekshikazakh District, Almaty Region, Kazakhstan. His father died when he was just 3 months old.
He is best known for his Muqam melodies, often composing in 12 muqams. Notable compositions include Nazugum, regarded as the first Uyghur opera, Zolotyegorye (The Golden Mountains) (1960) and his Taklimakan symphony. From a young age he was distinguished by discipline, commitment, lack of youthful frivolity and common weaknesses.
He did not smoke, drink, and was innocent of the temptations in life.
Kuzhamyarov was admitted to the College of Music and Drama in Alma-Ata, despite not yet being 16 years old. First he went to college studying the violin, then switched to the piano, where he began composing music
He passed the examinations for the composition faculty of the Moscow Conservatory. However, due to World World War II he had to postpone his studies.
He was drafted into the army.
In 1943, he joined the Communist Party. After demobilization, he returned to Alma-Ata, and in 1951 he graduated from the Alma-Ata Conservatory, under professor Yevgeny Brusilovsky, who cited Kuzhamyarov as a very important Uyghur musician. He finally left Alma-Ata and attended the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Professor V. Shebalin from 1953.
He taught in the years 1957–1967 years and became rector of the Alma-Ata State Conservatory in 1968, receiving the title of professor in 1965.
He is credited with creating the first Uyghur opera Nazugum (1956), Zolotyegorye (The Golden Mountains) (1960) and the ballet "Chinese Tomur" (1967). He composed many chamber, instrumental and choral works, songs and ballads, and music for dramatic productions.
Strongly interested in the history of the Xinjiang region, he also wrote the Taklimakan symphony which according to him is "an expression of.. the irrigation and cultivation of the desert", its disappearance by sandstorm, and then "a foreshadowing of the future, in which the flourishing past will return." He was a participant in international festivals in Tehran in 1961 and Baghdad in 1964. Towards the end of his life he composed a "Children"s Album" consisting of 15 piano pieces based on his childhood memories, and other lyrical works.
In 1992 he lectured in the art college in Urumqi, China on Muqum music
He was a member of the Union of Composers of Kazakhstan and from 1955-1959 was its chairman. In the years 1959-1966 he was a member of the Committee on Lenin and Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics State Prize in Literature and Artist He was elected a member of the Communist Party of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (1961–1967).
