Identity Statement

Reference Code

HU OSA 437-1-1

Title

Episodes from the 'Manas' Epos

Date(s)

2017 - 2018

Description Level

Series

Extent and medium (processed)

11 Digital container, 0.01 linear meters

Context

Name of creator(s)

Analyzing Kyrgyz Narratives (AKYN) Research Group at the American University of Central Asia
Plumtree, James
Bakchiev, Talantaaly
Sydykov, Doolot

Archival history

The Talantaaly Bakchiev recordings were transferred to Blinken OSA in the year 2019, the Doolot Sydykov recordings in 2020.

Content and Structure

Scope and Content (Abstract)

The series consists of audio and video recordings of an episode from the Kyrgyz-language ‘Manas’ epos.

Scope and Content (Narrative)

The Manas Epos is a term for metrical Kyrgyz-language narratives concerned with the legendary hero Manas and his descendants. The earliest known transcription, collected by Kazakh scholar Chokan Valikhanov, from an unnamed performer (later identified as Nazar Bolot uulu) dates from 1856. A number of episodes were collected by the German-born Wilhelm Radloff in 1862-1869. A significant variant was collected and published by the Hungarian researcher György Almásy, and the earliest sound recording of the performer Kenje Kara dates from 1903-1904. Placed beside later manuscripts and early printed versions, the narratives show an oral tradition adapting in response to different social-economic conditions, different audiences, and different media. The Soviet period saw attempts to produce a single, canonical, version of the epos, with sizeable variants produced by Sagımbay Orozbakov and Sayakbai Karalaev. The publication of a ‘harmonious’ variant, and its widespread availability, alongside fluctuations of support for oral performers, has resulted in lingering questions about the survival of the oral tradition. Branches of the tradition also exist among the Kyrgyz diaspora in the Pamirs and in Xinjiang.

This is a collection of audio and video recordings made by the Analyzing Kyrgyz Narratives (AKYN) Research Group at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek as part of a project to collect and study the current status of Manas performances in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan. Variants of the same narrative episode were collected to study methods of construction of contemporary performers.

The recordings were made by Kamila Baimuratova at the recording studio of the American University of Central Asia. The performances of Talantaaly Bakchiev were recorded on October 31, December 12 and December 22, 2017; the performances of Doolot Sydykov on February 16, February 22, and March 1, 2018.

Transcriptions made by Alymkan Jeenbekova, as well as further details on the project can be found on the AKYN website at [https://auca.kg/en/research\_faculty\_akyn/en/](https://auca.kg/en/research\_faculty\_akyn/en/) (as of November 25, 2021). The AKYN website was hosted earlier at [http://akynproject.auca.kg/en/](http://akynproject.auca.kg/en/).

The recordings were donated to Blinken OSA by former CEU student James Plumtree.

Accruals

Not Expected

Conditions of Access and Use

Conditions governing access

Not Restricted

Languages

Kirghiz; Kyrgyz

Allied Materials

Publication note

Plumtree, James. "A Telling Tradition: Preliminary Comments on the Epic of Manas, 1956-2018", in S. Thomson (ed.), Medieval Stories and Storytelling: Multimedia and Multi-Temporal Perspectives (Turnhout: Brepols, 2021), pp. 239-301, available in Kyrgyz in James Plumtree and Nurgul Karybekova, “Manas” eposuna tieshelüü izildöölörgö jangycha ilimiy serep (1856-2018) (Bishkek Ordo, 2023), pp. 27-96. The transcriptions are also available in the volume “Manastyn törölüshü” epizodu türdüü varianttarda (Bishkek: Ordo, 2024).

Description Control

Archivist's note

Processed by Mark László-Herbert, October 31, 2020. Updated by Mark László-Herbert, November 25, 2021. Last updated by Mark László-Herbert, September 9, 2024.