Islam-Shair

(pseudonym of Islam Nazarov). Born in 1874 in the village of Ak-Tash, Narpai Raion; died July 17, 1953. Soviet Uzbek skaziteskazitel’ (folk narrator).

Islam-Shair was the son of a farm laborer. His dastan (epic poem) OrziguT describes the painful lot of the people until the Great October Socialist Revolution. In the Soviet period, he sang of new life (Homeland and Red Army ). During the years of the Great Patriotic War (1941–45), Islam-Shair told about the heroic feats of the Soviet people (Book of Heroes, Book of Battles, To the Militant Defenders of Leningrad). The theme of his postwar verses is the struggle for peace (“We Are Partisans of Peace,” “Hands Off Korea”).