In terms of time, the Kyrgyz epic tradition is between the earlier epic forms of Eastern Siberian peoples and the later forms of the ethnic groups of Central Asia. The contents must have changed a lot over the centuries, but this oral tradition survives to this day, nearly every Kyrgyz being able to recite passages of varying lengths from it. (Chadwick-Zhirmunsky 1969 and bibl.)

Like the epic art of so many peoples, the Kyrgyz epic is also heroic epic. The central hero is the great Kyrgyz warrior Manas, who gave his name to the epic cycle. He united the Kyrgyz tribes and led them back to the area of the Altay, from where the Mongols had banished them. The epic narrates the exploits of the Kyrgyz ancestors and their descendants, their struggles against internal and external foes, and calls on the union of the divided tribes. Apart from historical events, it also reflects on the human, social, economic and political background. The Manas has three parts: Manas, Semetey and Seitek. The second is Manas’ son, the third is his grandson – their sections narrate the times after Manas’ death. The total of the three parts are some twenty times longer than the Iliad and the Odyssey taken together.

Though many singers have written versions, traditionally the highly popular professional or semi-professional manasçɩs ‘epic singersʼ performed the heroic epic without accompaniment and often in a transe at social gatherings, communal and family feasts e.g. weddings, funerals, concerts held for this performance. The Manas performances lasted from evening till dawn, the manasçıs reciting an immense amount of verse by heart to the audience listening with concentrated attention. The story slightly changed every time, a performance lasting up to thirteen days sometimes. Originally, the Kazakh heroic epic was also a chanted narrative without accompaniment, but the Kazakh epic is not a unified whole but divides into a sequence of narratives about different heroes.

The common features in the numerous local variants of the epic are the simple tunes adjusted to the story and the characters, the humorous moral stories and the succinct, pithy texts some phrases of which went over into the colloquial language.

The Manas epic is a Kyrgyz national treasure, the peak of the intellectual life inherited from the ancestors. This long heroic poem reinforces the Kyrgyz customs and beliefs, and is an important cultural symbol of the Kyrgyz living in China, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. The epic was first recorded by Radlov and Valihanov; in Europe, Vámbéry described it and translated excerpts from it in the 19th century.

Musical structure of the Manas narratives

A Manas performance is the unaccompanied recitation of the text based on seven-syllabic trochaic lines and their variants. Like in so many Kyrgyz texts, alliteration at the head of the lines and between words is frequent. The innumerable consecutive lines are sometimes unrhymed, sometimes the rhymes are irregular, and sometimes an identical rhyme, or even word is uttered for 6-10 successive lines. (See also Vinogradov 1961a, 1939).

The descriptive episodes of a Kyrgyz epic performance is characterized by a relatively accurate repetition of the heptasyllabic +>&@ rhythmic formula. Deep emotions are expressed by the rapid recitation of lines articulated by the lengthening of the last syllable of the longer lines.

The Manas recitation comprises short musical lines adjusted to the text lines and their variations. Each singer usually uses his own musical motifs, the tonal range of which rarely exceeds the third or fourth, and often ends with a fourth leap downward from the key note. During the long performance the register gradually rises.

The Kyrgyz also have later heroic epics and poems in addition to the Manas. The prosaic sections describing states and circumstances alternate with the recitative tunes accompanied on the komuz.

The Kyrgyz akın

The akins are saliently talented and popular musicians, who rose out of the stratum of common people and began rising on the ladder of professional musicianship, specializing in diverse forms of performance. The two vocal specialists of the Kyrgyz are the ırçı and the akın. The ırçı is usually a fine-voiced singer with a large repertoire. The akıns are professional folk singers with a flair for poetry who can extemporize verses and create new melodies, too. There is no sharp line between the two, ırçı is often used to denote akıns as well. Both singers are masters of their instrument, usually the komuz.

The basic genres of akins are the maktoo ‘panegyricʼ (see Kaz. maktau), the sanat or nasiat (< Arabic nasihat) ‘teaching songʼ, the kordoo ‘mocking songʼ and the edifying and condemning tolgoo (see Kaz. tolgau). For their lyrical, historical, etc. songs the akins use advanced strophic forms. Many of their songs gained popularity among the people almost like folksongs.

The musical-poetical lessons conveying popular wisdom are performed in the forms of terme or jeldirme also generally used by the Kazakhs. The terme is a complex extermporized composition on freely switched themes. The text is not strophic, the performance of both the text and the tune is close to the epic structure.

The contest of the akıns is the aytış, a rivalry of professional competence and ideology. One of its western chroniclers was Emsheimer (1956). The aytışes were staged between clans and tribes, the singers taking turns, and the one with the greatest staying power winning. The poetic-musical competitions for the title of best rhymster and versifier are called alım sabak.

The akıns serving the khans or ‘rulersʼ, manaps or ‘squiresʼ and bays or ‘chieftainsʼ eulogized their patrons, sang about their racing horse, lamented upon the death of notable persons, etc. They also composed mocking songs about the singing or rivals and about other affluent people their patrons disliked.