In Kazakhstan, the musical talent of Amre Kashaubaev is well known. Thanks to him, European audiences were introduced to the live melodies of Kazakh music when Kashaubaev performed Kazakh songs at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts of 1925 in Paris.

As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, the first recordings of Kazakh music were made between 1903 and 1909 during the travels of the German explorer Richard Karutz in Turkestan. His book, Among the Kirghiz and Turkmens in Mangyshlak, published in 1911 in Russia, was edited by Vasily Radlov, a renowned ethnographer, archaeologist, and educator of German origin, who was also a pioneer in Turkology. However, it was only in 1925, thanks to Kashaubaev’s talent, that Europeans could hear Kazakh folk songs performed live.

The fate of this man is very similar to the destinies of thousands of talented individuals in the early years of the Soviet Union, whose creative works could not fit into the “Procrustean bed” of communist ideology.

Amre Kashaubaev and his wife Orazke, Kzyl-Orda, 1926.

Amre Kashaubaev was born in 1888 in the Abraly district of the Semipalatinsk region. His first professional attempt to become a singer was a public performance at a fair near the village of Koyandy, not far from the modern city of Petropavlovsk, at a festival of Kazakh oral art. Through his songs, Kashaubaev’s art became famous throughout Kazakhstan. Anatoly Lunacharsky, then the People’s Commissar for Education, personally invited him to participate in concerts at the International Exhibition in Paris. Kashaubaev also actively participated in the creation of the first Kazakh professional theater.

In April 1927, he gave a concert in Moscow, followed by a performance in Frankfurt. He frequently performed on the radio, singing Kazakh folk songs and enchanting listeners with the beauty and depth of his voice. His theatrical performances also garnered great interest.

Today, archival institutions and museums in Kazakhstan hold only a few photographs and documents depicting Kashaubaev. This is because many documents were destroyed by his colleagues and relatives due to his political persecution by the Bolsheviks. His trip to Paris proved to be fatal for the singer since it drew the attention of the Soviet state security agencies.

During the Paris exhibition, the talented singer met Kazakh political dissident Mustafa Shokay, who in 1917 had been the Chairman of the Kokand Autonomy — a state entity that lasted for six months in the Turkestan region of the Russian Empire. Moreover, Shokay was an active member of the Alash Party, which the Soviets deemed bourgeois and whose members were subjected to repression. Although Kashaubaev was not imprisoned for his ties with political opponents of the Bolsheviks, he faced significant pressure from the authorities. On December 6, 1934, he was found dead on the streets of Alma-Ata. The cause of his death remains unknown.

Within the archival fonds of The Central State Archive of Film, Photo Documents, and Sound Recordings of the Republic of Kazakhstan, we believe there is an original group photograph that features Amre Kashaubaev.

A group of Kazakh delegates at the XIII-th All-Russian and IV-th All-Union Congress of Soviets. Moscow, April 15, 1927 A.Kashaubaev first left in the last row.

In the photograph, Kashaubaev is seen in the back row, appearing deeply pensive and sorrowful. This expression may well reflect his feelings about being forced to participate in Soviet party events and congresses. Following his return from Paris until his final days, Kashaubaev gave the impression of being a broken man. The photograph depicts participants of the 4th Congress of Soviets of the USSR in Moscow, where Kashaubaev was a delegate from the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. His participation in this event is confirmed by a delegate voting card issued in April 1927 by the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, the original of which is now preserved in the Central State Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Voting card

There is still no clear evidence that the person in the photo is indeed Amre Kashaubaev. However, comparing it with his remaining photographs, it seems almost certain that it is him.