157
typical and classical one. We found
manaschis
20
in deferent parts of Kizil-Suu Kir-
ghiz autonomous prefecture and in the other parts of Xinjiang since the middle of
the last century
21
, but the Akchi county is the typical area for transmission and dis-
semination of Kirghiz oral epic. My report is only limited on that area and just delve
into the
manaschis in Akchi.
With the thorough fi eldwork carried out resent years in this special area, Akchi
county, we found tens of epic singers (
manaschi) in different ages actively per-
forming the epic in the masses at present. But, as a matter of fact, their artistic oral
creative talent and epic performing level are different. 93 years old Jusup Mamay
22
,
undoubtedly, is the greatest and world famous epic performer,
manaschi, nowadays.
The epic
Manas’s variant written down from him is as long as 232,600 poetic lines
and include the story of eight generations of hero Manas’s family (Jumaturdu &
Yisak 2002: 163-173). For the others, we can divide them into some groups depend-
ing on their performance of the great epic.
Akchi County is located northeast mountain area of Kizilsuu Kirghiz Autono-
mous Prefecture and share the boundary with Atbashi dristrict Narin prefecture of
Kyrghystan. The population of the county is as much as 45 thousands, and about
90% are Kirghiz. For its special geographical environment, it has become one of the
main areas where the Kirghiz epic
Manas is under dissemination.
According to the materials collected in the fi eld work carry out by myself in
resent years
23
, there are all together 48
manaschis (Jumaturdu 2006: 203-216) ap-
peared in Akchi County in the 20
th
century. We can get some interesting results
through statistical analyses for this group of
manaschis according to their different
appearances. But before carrying out our analyses, it is better to introduce some rep-
resentative famous
manaschis appeared in Akchi county in previous century.
The fi rst one, Jusupakun Apay, was born in the end of 19
th
century in Karachi
town Akchi village, but we have not yet get the exact document when he dead.
His father use to be the Bi(head of a tribe ) of Sategul tribe Qerik clan of Kirghiz,
and this tribe branch is the biggest of the area. Because of this, he had the condi-
tion and opportunity travelling around some cities, such as Kashgar in Xinjiang
and even to Narun and Atbashi in Kyrghyzstan. He learned the epic from differ-
ent
manaschis in different area. For example, he used to stay with great
manaschi
Tenibek Japiy(Musaev,1985: 121) in Narun Kygyzstan for a few years for learn-
ing
Manas when he was young, and the later used to be a very famous, legendary
20
Manaschi: The professional bard of epic
Manas. Originally, they were known as
jomokchu ,
which is from the Kirghiz
jomok ,traditional epic or heroic tale. In Kirghiz fairy tale is called
dzö-
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