Paper abstract:

This article attempts to review the version of the epic “Manas” by the narrator Janybai Kojek uulu. Janybai learned "Manas" from his father Kojek and started reciting it at the age of 16. Janybai's father, Kojek, was known as semeteichi, the narrator of "Semetei", the second part of the trilogy. Janybai Kojek uulu recited the episodes "The memorial feast for Kokotoy", "The great campaign" (Chon Kazat) from the first part of the trilogy – “Manas” and the second and third parts of the trilogy, called "Semetei" and "Seitek", respectively. The total volume of the epic recorded from Janybai consists of 19,445 poetic lines.

The main argument of the article concerns the peculiarity of the Janybai’s version inherited the epic narration from his father Kojek. This epic version and narration are considered as family tradition that was orally passed down to seventh generation from Aidarbek, Suyunbai, Sakochuk, Tenirbay Sary, Zhamankary, Kojek to Janybai. This hereditary tradition is a rare phenomenon among the narrators of the Kyrgyz epic. The article will discuss the particularities of Janbayi’s version in comparison with other epic versions.

The article uses the manuscript version of the Semetey the second part of the epic trilogy narrated by Janybai Kojek uulu, recorded by Kayum Miftakov in 1936-1941 in Latin script with Kyrgyz transcription from the collection of the Manuscript and Publication Department of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic. Among modern recordings, classical editions by S. Orozbakov and S. Karalaev (S. Orozbakov's version, published in four volumes, as well as a complete 9-volume edition and S. Karalaev's version in five volumes) are used.

Keywords: Epic Manas, narrator, manaschy, semeteichi, epic tradition