Kyrgyzstan plans to pay its manaschi, the epic storytellers who recite the Manas epic, 62,000 soms a month from 2027 after a competitive selection.
Kyrgyzstan plans to pay its manaschi, the epic storytellers who recite the Manas epic, 62,000 soms a month from 2027 after a competitive selection.
A draft cabinet decision put up for public discussion would set up the payment system for performers who pass the contest. The culture ministry points to similar practice elsewhere: Yakutia pays olonkho performers a monthly stipend, Kalmykia pays 2,000 dollars, and Uzbekistan pays bakhshi and maqom performers 500 dollars.
Why it matters: the Manas epic is not a museum piece in Kyrgyzstan, it is a living art, performed from memory in sessions that can run for hours. Paying its masters a real wage is how a country keeps a thousand-year-old voice alive instead of watching it retire.
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