No abstract

Epic song heritage is an important and significant part of the Kazakh folklore. Important, socially significant issues of the Kazakh epic, an integral and composite part of the global epic heritage – praising the actions of the arrow-hunter, who lives separately from the people, protection of the family, protection of the clan, tribe, El, Motherland from foreign invaders, the struggle for the unity and independence of the people, the struggle for personal happiness, protection of honor and dignity of the individual, glorifying personal qualities of the average member of society, depiction of the internal struggles, religious feelings and affections, as well as interpersonal, intra-family, intra-tribe and inter-tribe interactions, etc. The national theme of protection of the Motherland, being relevant in many periods of history of Kazakhstan, is a dominant theme of the epics with heroic orientation, which received the highest artistic expression in classical samples of the heroic epic which were rightly included into the golden Foundation of the world epic heritage; images of the heroes- defenders became an example to follow for many generations. Heroes of classical samples of the heroic epic, for example, epics "Alpamys Batyr", "Kobylandy Batyr", "Kambar Batyr", etc. protect interests of specific clans and tribes which they lead. Heroes of Nogay cycle of the heroic epic don't protect a specific clan or tribe, but the whole Nogay El. In historical epics, the batyrs defend the interests of the Kazakh khanate, fight for freedom, independence, peace and happy life of the entire Kazakh people. These epic genres give us a panoramic picture of the progressive development of the national epic from the clan-tribal to the State epic. Nogay cycle is a semantically significant part of the heroic Kazakh epic, a symbol of a certain stage of its historical development. Nogay cycle of heroic epic is created within the frame of national epic traditions, however, it is characterized by its specific parameters and features.

Folklore is a historical phenomenon: it undergoes transformations, changes in terms of the spiritual needs of society. In the course of the historical development of folklore, some genres may disappear, and others may appear. In the process of progressive development of society, new ideals emerge, new spiritual and cultural values are formed, new heroes are created and glorified, who personify these ideals and values and put them into practice. In the epic works, two dominant ideas can be distinguished and, accordingly, two types of characters that implement them. The first is the idea of protecting the Homeland, the second is the idea of happiness, freedom and harmony, the aspiration for which is eternal features of the human beings. These are original, eternal, and global ideas. The first idea in the epics is personified and implemented by the batyr. The second - by the faithful lover, i.e. romantic character. The image of the batyr is developed in the archaic, heroic and historical epic, and the image of the faithful lover - in the romance epic. In the Kazakh epic, the classic image of a lover was first created in the romantic epic “Kozy Korpesh - Bayan Sulu”. Based on the real events, love stories of Kozy and Bayan in the process of oral existence were added by new episodes, motifs, systematized and made a whole plot, which later in the era of the Kypchak Khanate (X-XI c.) began developing in the spirit of the romantic epic about love. Talented akyns, representatives of the clans and tribes who originally lived within Desht-Kypchak, and had related by origin, language, faith, worldview, culture, shared history, felt themselves as one community and later formed the Kazakh ethnic group. It is noteworthy that during the same period, written love poems were written in Persian written literature, and later in European literature. In other words, in communities belonging to different types of cultures (sedentary and sedentary-nomadic), with different socio-economic and political systems, similar cultural and spiritual processes took place in the same historical period. Representatives of the settled-nomadic culture - akyns Desht-i Kipchak created their oral creations, and the the representatives of the written culture - in writing. The appearance of works glorifying the romantic character, love and universal humanistic ideals and principles, testifies the positive, progressive changes in the society.