Common form of performance for storytellers of "Manas"
When comparatively studying the biographical data of the storytellers of "Manas," one can establish common traits among all of them.
Before the start of storytelling activities, all manaschi were, to some extent, improvisational singers. However, even after becoming storytellers, some of them continued to perform and compose songs in other genres. Almost everyone knows, besides "Manas," many other works of folklore and performs them, although the main piece in their repertoire remains "Manas."
All storytellers, before starting to perform "Manas," underwent a certain preparation: they listened to the epic as performed by other storytellers, studied and mastered its content and artistic techniques of performance. However, this mastery did not boil down to studying the entire text, because (...) each of the variants represents an independent creative work, differing from others in plot structure and style. As far as we were able to clarify from observations and analyses, the storyteller closely studied the plot, composition, genres, epithets, comparisons, etc., from which the artistic work is composed.
Common for the storytellers of "Manas" in most cases is also the form of performance before the audience. As seen from the biographical data, manaschi did not belong to any specific group of singer-artists. Sometimes they were found at some kind of manap (leader), but more often they traveled alone and, at the invitation of the population, performed "Manas." The audience was very diverse, although only the wealthy could invite the singer: usually, manaschi stayed with the hosts of the aila (village), but his songs were listened to by everyone—old and young, poor and rich. At the same time, the performance was not limited by any time frames. Manaschi sang at all times of the year and in all life situations. He sang at weddings and funerals, sang on ordinary days when there were no celebrations or holidays. Sometimes he came at the invitation, but more often on his own initiative, traveling around the ails.
At large funerals or memorials, it was common to gather a whole group of singers and storytellers, with the most influential among them often becoming a kind of leader, distributing gifts and rewards among the singers.
As a rule, storytellers of "Manas" were professional singers, and the performance of the epic was their main source of existence. Then among them began to appear individuals for whom the profession of a singer was only a side job. They lived on income from agriculture or even from hired work. Such were, for example, the storytellers Shapak, Akmat, and Janibai.
Short biographies of the most famous manaschi