Zhamal Omarova is a voice that forever remained in the hearts of people. A voice that gives you goosebumps, calling into the vast Kazakh steppes, filling the soul with warmth and light sadness. She didn’t just sing – she told stories, conveyed in every note pride for her people, love for her native land.
She was born in 1912 at the Kaufmanskaya station, in the family of a wealthy factory owner, who was later dispossessed. Life tested her from childhood, but Zhamal did not break – on the contrary, she became tempered. Her talent emerged early: while still a schoolgirl, she attracted the attention of Kurmanbek Dzhandarbekov. In 1925, she took part in the Central Asian Children's Olympics in Tashkent and immediately won the Grand Prix. From that moment on, her destiny was predetermined – music, stage, great love from the audience.

In 1934 she moved in Alma-Ata, began to work on the Kazakh radio, performed on the theater stage, performing roles in Kyz-Zhibek , Shuga and Aiman-Sholpan But real fame came to her in 1936 when she went to the First Decade of Kazakh Art in Moscow. Her voice spread across the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, and the audience froze. The folk songs she performed sounded so soulful, that the audience asked to repeat – and she sang for an encore, and then again and again.

From that moment on, Zhamal Omarova became one of the most beloved singers of Kazakhstan. In 1939 she took a prize at the All-Union Competition of Pop Artists in Moscow, in 1940 she became an Honored Artist of the Kazakh SSR, and in 1943, a People's Artist.

During the war, she performed for the soldiers, sang on the front lines, and raised the morale of the soldiers. Her voice sounded in dugouts, in hospitals, on ships. On the cruiser Kalinin the song “Karatorgai” the fighters listened to three times in a row – it penetrated so deeply into the soul.

After the war, her work continued shine. Tours throughout the Soviet Union, concerts in China and Mongolia, hundreds of recorded songs. Her repertoire included more than two hundred compositions in fifteen languages. It was her voice that first performed the legendary “Menin in Kazakhstan” - song, which years later became the National Anthem.

Zhamal Omarova was not just a singer – she was a symbol of the whole era. Her voice sounded in every home, her songs were known by heart, her concerts were sold out. And even today, decades later, her performance touches hearts, makes us remember something important, dear, eternal.