Rasul Gamzatov
Rasul Gamzatovich Gamzatov (Avar: ХӀамзатил Расул, IPA: [ħamzatil rasul]; Russian: Расу́л Гамза́тович Гамза́тов, IPA: [rɐˈsul ɡɐmˈzatəvʲɪtɕ ɡɐmˈzatəf]; 8 September 1923 – 3 November 2003) was a popular Avar poet. Among his poems was Zhuravli, which became a well-known Soviet song.
Life
Gamzatov was born on 8 September 1923 in the Avar village of Tsada in the north-east Caucasus. His father, Gamzat Tsadasa, was a well-known bard, heir to the ancient tradition of minstrelsy still thriving in the mountains. He was eleven when he wrote his first verse about a group of local boys who ran down to the clearing where an airplane had landed for the first time. His father was the teacher who taught him the art of writing poetry.[3] A number of different poems by him also became songs, such as Gone Sunny Days.
Gamzatov was awarded the State Stalin Prize in 1952, The Lenin Prize in 1963, and Laureate Of The International Botev Prize in 1981.
A monument to Gamzatov was unveiled on 5 July 2013 on Yauzsky Boulevard in central Moscow.
