163rd Birth Anniversary of Baluan Sholak

Baluan Sholak was a Kazakh folk composer and a renowned wrestler. He grew up near the village of Karaotkel in what is now the Akmola Region, showed an interest in art from childhood, sang, and played the dombra. Baluan Sholak was also known as a strongman and wrestler: at 35, at fairs he lifted weights of 51 poods (816 kg), held a log on his shoulders with twenty young men on it, and was a skilled wrestler, defeating 20-year-old youths as early as the age of 14.