You are here: Home > Arts > Features

Adjust font size:

Yusup Mamai, 94, is the only living Manaschi, a singer of the Kirgiz "Epic of Manas," who can rhythmically chant the entire epic poem from beginning to end from memory. [File photo]

Yusup Mamai, 94, is the only living Manaschi, a singer of the Kirgiz "Epic of Manas," who can rhythmically chant the entire epic poem from beginning to end from memory.

The Kirgiz people's "living Homer," in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, worries that after his death no one will be able to sing the entire epic, the invaluable treasure of his ethnic group, as he has done for the past half a century.

Even his best students can only recite several sections -- not even one-eighth of the entire poem.

Epic in danger

With more than 230,000 lines, the "Epic of Manas" is one of the longest epics in the world and 18 times longer than Homer's "Odyssey." The epic's eight episodes tell the story of eight generations of the family of the hero Manas, totaling 20 million words in the Kirgiz language.

Passed on orally from father to son and from teacher to student, different versions of the epic have been recorded only in the memories of Manaschi.

"People grow old in five decades and landscapes change in a hundred years, but the story of the hero will be remembered forever." The prelude to the epic speaks directly to Yusup Mamai's concerns, as he worries that the younger generation is not interested in keeping the epic alive.

There are approximately 168,000 people of the Kirgiz ethnic group in China, fewer than 1,000 of whom are Manaschi, and even fewer can sing the first episode.

Preservation work started two decades ago, but little progress has been made due to insufficient funds and a disorganized plan.

"Living Homer"

Yusup Mamai said he was able to sing the epic from beginning to end after a dream.

The Manaschi said he dreamed of five people riding horses in front of him one morning when he was 13. One of them told him the lead rider was Manas, the epic's hero. Yusup Mamai suddenly woke up and could fluently chant the lines of the epic carved in his memory.

"My parents slaughtered a sheep and warned me not to tell anyone abut the dream until I am 40 years old, as was the tradition for all Manaschi," he said.

In March 1983, he sang day and night for 21 days to finish the whole epic. He continued from sunset until dawn when he sang to the climax, drinking only buttered tea to keep his strength up. Staff with the Xinjiang Autonomous Regional Federation of Literary and Art Circles worked in shifts to take down what he sang.

At 11 a.m. on March 20, Yusup Mamai sang the final line of the epic. Wild with joy, he lifted his youngest granddaughter over his head.

To date, he has recited the entire epic three times. The time he sang the entire epic during the Cultural Revolution was recorded on 17 cassette tapes. It wasn't until 1995 that edited text totalling 8 episodes and 18 volumes was published in the Kirgiz language. A new edition was published in 2007 in both Kirgiz and Mandarin.

The tapes and texts are now in the hands of Yusup Mamai's great-grandson Turuganal. He has been studying the epic for 11 years, and the young man carries the weight of Yusup Mamai's great expectations on his shoulders.

Every day he spends four-and-a-half hours reading Manas text aloud to his great-grandfather, who corrects his mistakes, takes out the wrong words and adds missing sentences. Yusup Mamai hopes Turuganal can work out a revised version on his own after Yusup Mamai passes away.

Turuganal is also writing Yusup Mamai's biography, describing in detail his childhood, marriage and suffering during the Cultural Revolution, as well as the achievements he has made in his 90s.

About 500 people celebrate Yusup Mamai's birthday every year in Akqi County in southwestern Xinjiang. His children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, family friends and neighbors all come to his house to wish him good health, a long life and happiness.

"It's a grand ceremony for all Kirgiz people. We celebrate his birthday as well as the birth and inheritance of our culture," said Turuganal.

Print E-mail

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)

Add your comments...

• User Name Required
• Your Comment
• Enter the words you see:   
  Racist, abusive and off-topic comments may be removed by the moderator.