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The end of oral epics in Central Asia has been prophesied since the nineteenth century. With growing literacy in all parts of the world, oral traditions have become marginalized, and with the ever increasing pace of technical innovations, wide segments of the population have access to all kinds of entertainment, making the voice of the oral singer redundant, it would seem. Nevertheless, we can observe a surprising vitality of oral performance and oral traditions among the Kyrgyz. This paper discusses the transmission of the Kyrgyz epic tradition to the younger generation and the reasons why the epic of Manas plays such an important role for Kyrgyz cultural identity.

The Gesar/Geser epic cycle is a warrior epic known throughout the Tibetan and Mongolian-speaking regions of Asia and is still largely sustained through a shamanistically tinted oral tradition. This article focuses on the epic motif of the hero’s divine descent and constructs both a “constitutional mythology” for the epic based on this motif and a reconstruction of the probable archaic core of the epic motif. It also focuses in particular on the representations of the hero’s sky-god father. The variability in the representation of this figure reflects the cross-cutting religious influences on this Silk Road epic. These range from archaic “native” Inner Asian traditions concerning sky and mountain gods, to Buddhism (and its debt to Indian Vedic religion) and even Silk Road Manichaeism.

The Hmong, a Chinese ethnic minority, possess a rich cultural heritage. Due to their unique history of exile and migration, the Hmong have scant documentation of their vanishing cultural heritage. The Hmong oral epic constitutes a vital component of documenting Hmong culture. Thus, this paper delves into the translation of the Hmong Oral Epic 'Creating Heaven and Earth', focusing on folklore terms as fundamental units for analyzing Hmong culture. Eco-Translatology has the great importance in protecting the languages of Chinese ethnic minorities and enhancing the dissemination of their literature (Li, 2017). Hence, this paper examines the translation of Hmong folklore terms in the Hmong Oral Epic 'Creating Heaven and Earth' from the perspective of Eco-Translatology. The study reveals 53 translations of Hmong folklore terms, encompassing material, social, and spiritual aspects, within the Hmong oral epic 'Creating Heaven and Earth'. For Hmong material folklore terms, translators predominantly employ the 'target contextualization' strategy, along with 'extending substitution' and 'vitalization' methods. For Hmong social folklore terms, translators favor the 'source contextualization' strategy, supplemented by 'adaptive addition' and 'vitalization' methods. For Hmong spiritual folklore terms, translators predominantly utilize the 'source contextualization' strategy, in addition to 'extending substitution' and 'naturalization' methods.

For more than ten centuries, the culture of the Kyrgyz people has found chief expression through their oral traditions. The epicManas, a prized form of Kyrgyz oral tradition, is still performed today in both Kyrgyzstan and the Xinjiang region of China. Research on the epic singers known asmanaschys, or singers ofManas, is therefore of great significance. Manaschys are talented singers who can perform epic songs both artistically and creatively. Rather than memorizing a text, the manaschy (also spelledmanaschï, manasqi, etc.) has the ability to produce new versions of epic songs through the art of composition in performance. This paper focuses on six representative manaschys of the twentieth century.

The author discusses the multi-episodic epic songs that have been in circulation in Central Asia. A good number of these works of anonymous authorship are still sung today in a variety of languages. Most are sung in prosimetric fashion, alternating verse and prose.

The end of oral epics in Central Asia has been prophesied since the nineteenth century. With growing literacy in all parts of the world, oral traditions have become marginalized, and with the ever increasing pace of technical innovations, wide segments of the population have access to all kinds of entertainment, making the voice of the oral singer redundant, it would seem. Nevertheless, we can observe a surprising vitality of oral performance and oral traditions among the Kyrgyz. This paper discusses the transmission of the Kyrgyz epic tradition to the younger generation and the reasons why the epic of Manas plays such an important role for Kyrgyz cultural identity.

For more than ten centuries, the culture of the Kyrgyz people has found chief expression through their oral traditions. The epic Manas, a prized form of Kyrgyz oral tradition, is still performed today in both Kyrgyzstan and the Xinjiang region of China. Research on the epic singers known as manaschys, or singers of Manas, is therefore of great significance. Manaschys are talented singers who can perform epic songs both artistically and creatively. Rather than memorizing a text, the manaschy (also spelled manaschï, manasqi, etc.) has the ability to produce new versions of epic songs through the art of composition in performance. This paper focuses on six representative manaschys of the twentieth century.

This article discusses a medieval South Indian folk epic that focuses on several local groups’ resistance to their paddy-growing neighbor, a Chola kingdom. Artisans and hunters both opposed the introduction of plow-based farming to an area where trade, rain-fed subsistence farming, and animal herding defined the local economy. An ancient oral legend supports noted historian James Scott’s proposal that widespread resentment accompanied the growth of such grain-based power centers. This occurred in many other places as well, especially early Mesopotamia. The Chola monarchy described in this author’s oral source developed later but illustrates a similar pattern. When an ambitious king sent out pioneer plowmen, hoping to introduce systematic plowing to an upland area, there was protest. This unique story provides an alternative source of history by centering around one outlying, farm-based family. By the third generation these heroes became rebels, differing from earlier non-farming resisters of change. Eventually these men, descendants of the original pioneer family, killed the reigning Chola. They rebelled against the disrespect that the successor of that first Chola ruler now displayed, despite the consistent loyalty their father and grandfather had exhibited. The ancestors of the story’s two heroes had in fact succeeded in making farming this area’s new, and now primary, means of subsistence.

Les Rois de Ségou (“The Kings of Segu”) is a television series from Mali directed by Boubacar Sidibé, released to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of Mali’s independence (22 September 1960). Together with another film released at about the same time, Samanyana Basi (“Basi from the village of Samanyana”), it is largely based on oral traditions pertaining to the Bamanadominated state of Segu (ca. 1700–1860). The film was originally shot in French; after a first showing, it was dubbed in Bamana due to popular demand. The director employed several strategies to best adapt this oral tradition to the screen: citations from the songs are preserved (in the original Bamana); the role of dialogue is reinforced in order to make up for the disappearance of the bard’s narrative voice; and the dialogues are laden with adages, thus approximating the characteristics of bardic speech. The music draws not only on that traditionally associated with the epic, but also on a full range of Bamana and non-Bamana, Malian traditional and contemporary music. Dramatic and acting styles are furthermore influenced by the traditional Bamana kòtèba theatre, as well as by the foreign (especially Latin American) television soap operas widely viewed in Mali. Though the subject is ostensibly the past, the social and political critique of contemporary Mali forms the implicit subtext. Inasmuch as Malians of all backgrounds have been highly interested by this series, it evidences that it fosters the emergence of a sense of national identity.