The most popular Kyrgyz “song” is the epic of MANAS — at 500,000 verses, it is considered the longest epic poem ever. “MANASCHI” are Kyrgyz storytellers who retell the tale. The best manashci not only know the verses back and forth and have mastered traditional cadences and rhythms, but they are adept improvisers and know how to work a crowd.
There are literally a million ways to retell the epic of MANAS. In music class our version introduces the hero of all heroes, his magestic, loyal horse TORUCHAR and the Oirat/Kalymk enemy of Manas, JOLOY.
Comments are closed.