Paper long abstract:

Manaschys are the bards specialized in reciting the Manas epic. As such, we can say that they constitute a guild, an association of people with similar interests or purposes, sharing a similar talent. Nevertheless, far from being an homogeneous entity, this guild is subject to several types of distinctions which allocate bards into specific categories. Those distinctions and categories seem to be based on different interpretations of the very nature of the manaschy.

Mostly established by Kyrgyz researchers, sometimes by manaschys themselves, these lists or rankings know a generalized use among the Kyrgyz society. One of the most distinctive one is the division of the guild of manaschys into two main and separated categories: on one hand, we can find zattama manaschys (‘those who recite a text learnt by heart’) and on the other hand, chon or chynyrdy manaschys, among other adjectives, who are the ‘true’ or ‘real’ bards, those who received a gift, a supernatural talent, those who were elected.

This binary division is representative of a contemporary vision of manaschys as tradition keepers while some other lists, crafted during Soviet times, do insist not on a separation between ‘gifted’ and ‘non-gifted’ but on an progressive apprenticeship: the beginner bard can become a famous and professional one, the question of talent being the result of a personal work and training.

The aim of this paper is to explore the various existing lists, their evolution with time and to show their inner logic. Indeed, such rankings demonstrate not only a certain reality among bards, but also and above all vernacular representations and romanticized visions cast onto the main representatives of the Kyrgyz epic tradition, in a context of global changes.