About the book: 2013 / Dzhambul is the name of a Kazakh singer-improviser (akyn), which became one of the most iconic names in Soviet culture of the late 1930s - early 1950s. During Dzhambul’s life, he was compared to Homer and Rustaveli, Pushkin and Shevchenko, taught at school and studied at institutes, poems and enthusiastic panegyrics were dedicated to him, government awards were presented and monuments were erected. Meanwhile, Dzhambul himself, who sang in Kazakh and barely understood Russian, even if he wanted to, could hardly appreciate those translated - Russian-language - texts that were published under his name and ensured his all-Union fame. But what are the reasons for this fame? And who was the bearer of this glory - the real or the imaginary “Dzhambul”? This collection of articles, compiled by domestic and Western scientists, was conceived as an experience of getting as close as possible to the answer to these questions. Using modern Internet and film analogies, we can say that in this case we are talking about the avatar of Dzhambul - about the image that was created and presented by Soviet ideology for its Russian-language adaptation.