Coming soon: My review of “Manaschi: The Singer of the Kirghiz Epic Manas”

This 21st-century study of past and present reciters of the Kyrgyz national epic, Manas, has just been translated from the Chinese (玛纳斯史诗歌手的研究). It includes much detail about the lives and cultivation of manaschi – mainly those based in Xinjiang – and performance of the epic, but I am perhaps most interested in the chapter entitled, The Manaschi … Continue reading Coming soon: My review of “Manaschi: The Singer of the Kirghiz Epic Manas” →

“Manaschi”: Enigmatic Adages in Hamid Ismailov’s new Novel

Just finished Hamid Ismailov's new novel Manaschi, about a conflicted half-Kyrgyz, half-Tajik man who feels increasingly fated to become a reciter of the ancient Kyrgyz epic poem, Manas. It's an oddly compelling tale in which Kyrgyz, Tajiks and Chinese laborers --- newcomers to the village which straddles Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan --- eventually come to blows in ways … Continue reading “Manaschi”: Enigmatic Adages in Hamid Ismailov’s new Novel →

Multilingual Links: Turkic Oral Epics, Hikâye and Folk Songs

Turkish Hikâye & Aşık Hikâye: Turkish Folk Romance as Performance Art A list of 20th-century Aşık Based in Turkey The Epic of Manas (玛纳斯史诗) 《玛纳斯》史诗歌手研究 A Telling Tradition: Preliminary Comments on the Epic of Manas (1856-2018) Manas recitations (video) & transcripts in Kyrgyz Talantaaly Bakchiev Doolot Sydykov Legend of Manas (prose translation) Manasqi Jusup Mamay … Continue reading Multilingual Links: Turkic Oral Epics, Hikâye and Folk Songs →