Kyrgyz Traditional Music
Kyrgyz traditional music is the nomadic musical heritage of the Kyrgyz people of the Tian Shan mountains, centred on the three-stringed komuz lute and the manaschi, the singer-bards who recite the Manas epic, the longest heroic poem cycle in the world. Its instrumental k眉眉 pieces narrate journeys and battles without words, and its instrumentarium of kyl kiak fiddle, sybyzgy flute and jew's harps survives through state folk ensembles and a post-Soviet revival. Its prestige rests on memory and endurance as much as technique, the epic singer holding thousands of lines in performance.