By Vestnik Kavkaza
This year, the Russian intellectuals celebrate two round-dates connected with Rasul Gamzatov - 90 years from the date of birth and the 10th anniversary of his death. On the Yauza Quay in Moscow the unveiling ceremony of a monument to the outstanding poet and Russian public figure Rasul Gamzatov took place. The ceremony was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, acting mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin, a senator of the Federation Council from Dagestan Ilyas Uhmanov, acting head of Dagestan Ramazan Abdullatipov and Acting Head of the Republic of Ingushetia, Yunus- Bek Yevkurov. Relatives of Gamzatov and public intellectuals also attended the ceremony.
“I think every citizen of Dagestan, every educated person will come to this monument, to read his poems”, Ramazan Abdullatipov said.
Aleksandr Dzasokhov, ex-president of North Ossetia, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Council on International Affairs, supported him: “I have the impression that today, after the opening of the monument to Rasul Gamzatovich, young people will come here to get lessons from this great Caucasian poet and great citizen of Russia. We very emotionally perceive that which is close to us, which is familiar to us. Of course, we congratulate the people of Dagestan, and all the people of our great Russia, that in the capital of our country, with the participation of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, a monument to Gamzatov has been erected. I am sure that from this day until the day of his 90th birthday to be celebrated in his native land and throughout our country, we will refer to his spiritual heritage. Caucasians and North Caucasians, and the citizens of the Transcaucasian republics have much to learn from this wise man. His giant poetic talent overshadows his equally bright characteristics of statesman, a wise man who could see events in their strategic dimension”.
“The opening of the monument to Rasul Gamzatov is a sign that we are gathering our people, we are gathering Russia”, - Denga Khalidov, vice-president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, a member of the Russian Congress of Peoples of the Caucasus, said. “It is no chance that the first person of the country and the first person of Moscow are here. Rasul Gamzatov is a symbol of the unification and consolidation of the peoples of both the Soviet Union and Russia. Now, when there are a lot of problems inside the country and outside the country, such a union, such a warm, emotional attitude to the peoples of the North Caucasus is very important. So we are very grateful to Vladimir Putin that he noted this fact. Rasul Gamzatov's monument in Moscow is a step in the direction of the consolidation of the peoples of Russia, rather than splitting, exclusion, bias, or separatism. It is very important to us”.
The monument was initiated by the International Foundation of Rasul Gamzatov. A team of sculptors worked from Moscow and Dagestan, including Igor Novikov, Shamil Kanaygadzhiev and Alexei Tikhonov, contributed to its creation.”It's a creative process, with numerous sketches and options”, Alexei Tikhonov said. “We have had a standing figure. As a result of our collaborative work, and the Foundation of Gamzatov helped us very much to look this way, the result was born in the form of the image that we are presenting to the public today. He was a very brave man, not afraid to voice his opinions to those in power, and about people in power. He was not afraid. He seems to be a heavy-built man, calm, but inside him everything was boiling. And at the same time, he is a poet, although in general he does not look like a poet, just a good-natured man. But when people got to know his nature and poetry as we know it, it turns out, poets can be of this shape as well. Looks don't determine a poet, it's the inner peace, content, mind and thoughts. This is what we have tried to convey here”.
Note for Information (by VK)
Rasul Gamzatov was born on September 8, 1923 in the Dagestan ASSR. He worked as a teacher, assistant director of the Avar State Theater, head of the department and the staff reporter of the Avar newspaper " Bolshevik of Highlands", editor of the Avar programs for Dagestan Radio Committee. He began writing poetry at the age of 10 and became a member of the Union of Soviet Writers at the age of 20. After the war he studied at the Moscow Gorky Literary Institute, was chairman of the Union of Writers of Dagestan, where he worked until his death in November 2003.
In Avar and Russian languages, in many languages of Dagestan, the Caucasus and the world dozens of poetry, prose and nonfiction books were published. Gamzatov translated into Avar the poems by Pushkin, Lermontov, Nekrasov, Shevchenko, Blok, Mayakovsky, Yesenin. Many poems by Rasul Gamzatov became songs. Composers Yan Frenkel, Oscar Feltsman, Polad Bul-Bul Oglu, Raimonds Pauls, Yuri Antonov, Alexandra Pakhmutova worked with him.
Rasul Gamzatov was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Dagestan ASSR, Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of DASSR, deputy and member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, member of the Dagestan Regional Committee of the CPSU.
