Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
which are also revealing looks at Kyrgyz life
and culture, are
Djamila
(1967),
The White
Steamship
(1970),
Early Cranes
(1975) and
Piebald Dog Running Along the Shore
(1978); the latter was made into a prize-
winning Russian film in 1990.
WHO¨ARE¨KYRGYZ?
The term Kyrgyz derives from
kyrk
(40) for the 40 Kyrgyz tribes of the
Manad epic, each of which is repre-
sented by a 'lame' on the sun-circle
of the national lag. Confusingly, Rus-
sians colonising the region originally
used the term Kyrgyz more generally
for both Kyrgyz and Kazakhs,
the former being initially speciied as
'Kara-Kyrgyz' (Black Kyrgyz).
MANAS
The
Manas
epic is a cycle of oral legends, 20
times longer than Homer's
Odyssey.
It tells
of the formation of the Kyrgyz people with
the original narrative revolving around the
exploits of
batyr
(heroic warrior)
Manas
as
he carves out a homeland for his people in
the face of hostile hordes. Subsequent sto-
ries feature his son Semetei, grandson Seitek
and widow Kanikey.
The epic was only first written down in
the mid-19th century (by Kazakh ethnogra-
pher Chokan Valikhanov) and even today it
remains very much part of oral tradition.
Akyns
who can recite or improvise from the
epics are considered in a class by themselves
and are known as
manaschi
. According to
tradition, bona fide
manaschi
find their role
in life after a long illness or life-changing
dream.
Since independence, the
Manas
epic has
become a cultural rallying point for the Kyr-
gyz. Manas statues grace virtually every city.
Although there's much dispute as to the age
of the epics, Kyrgyzstan celebrated what was
purported to be the 1000th anniversary of
Manas' birth in 1995. There's also a tomb
near Talas touted as being the hero's final
resting place, a legend that certainly encour-
ages local pilgrims.
About two-thirds of the population lives
in rural areas. Regional clan identities are
relatively strong with a north-south cultural
division that's a potentially destabilising fac-
tor within society, along with the tensions
between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek groups.
Although generally invisible to visitors, such
tensions have occasionally boiled over very
violently, notably in 1990 at Özgön, and in
June 2010 in Osh and Jalal-Abad.
Religion
The population is overwhelmingly Muslim.
Northern Kyrgyz are more Russified and
less likely to follow strict Muslim doctrine
than their cousins in the south. Nonethe-
less, Islamic observance is growing rapidly,
partially as a reaction against perceived
corruption in the secular sphere. Dwindling
communities of Russian Orthodox Chris-
tians are still visible, particularly in Bishkek
and Karakol, both of which have active Or-
thodox cathedrals.
Other Arts
Kyrgyzstan's Aktan Abdykalykov is one of
Central Asia's most accomplished filmmak-
ers. His 1998 bittersweet coming-of-age
Be-
shkempir
(
The Adopted Son
) was released
to critical acclaim, and
Maimil
(
The Chimp
)
received an honourable mention at Cannes
in 2001.
Tengri: Blue Heavens
(2008) is a French-
made film that follows the romantic pair-
ing of a down-on-his-luck Kazakh fisher-
man with a Kyrgyz widow, set and shot in
Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyz traditional music is played on a
mixture of two-stringed
komuz
lutes, a ver-
tical violin known as a
kyl kyayk,
flutes,
drums, long horns and mouth harps (
temir
komuz,
or
jygach ooz
with a string).
Arts
Literature
Central Asian literature has traditionally
been popularised in the form of songs, po-
ems and stories by itinerant minstrels or
bards, called
akyn
in Kyrgyz. Among the
better-known 20th-century Kyrgyz
akyns
are Togolok Moldo (aka Bayymbet Abdyra-
khmanov), Sayakbay Karalayev and Sagym-
bay Orozbakov.
Kyrgyzstan's best-known author is
Chinghiz Aitmatov (1928-2008), whose
works have been translated into English,
German and French. Among his novels,
