Kazakh Dasitan
01 · Historical Records
The Kazakh dastan are the general name for the long narrative poems of the Kazakh people, embracing ancient Kazakh myth, legend, poetry, proverbs and stories; formed and developed on the rich basis of folk literature, about two hundred long poems circulate by word of mouth, their creation mostly bound up with major events in Kazakh history.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Kazakh dastan are rich in content and winding in plot, mostly narrative, their transmitted poetry fairly ancient; they are an indispensable item of performance for the Kazakh people on festive days of festival, gathering and wedding. They are a true portrayal of Kazakh life, showing the social conditions and folk customs of the Kazakh. The Kazakh dastan embrace ancient Kazakh myth, legend, poetry, proverbs and stories, and about two hundred long poems circulate by word of mouth. The folk dastan generally have a fairly fixed tune, sung mostly with dombra accompaniment, and by content may be divided into heroic long poems, love long poems and historical long poems.
Heroic Long Poems
One of the types into which the Kazakh dastan are divided by content.
Love Long Poems
One of the types into which the Kazakh dastan are divided by content.
Historical Long Poems
One of the types into which the Kazakh dastan are divided by content, their creation bound up with major events in Kazakh history.
The Akyn Singing Meeting
An important occasion of the performance and spread of the Kazakh dastan.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Kazakh dastan include myth, legend and richly varied stories of life; they are the oldest and most loved literary kind of Kazakh folk literature, their creation bound up with major events in Kazakh history, and are distributed mainly in the twenty-eight counties where the Kazakh live in Xinjiang. The various places differ slightly in tune and piece.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Kazakh Dasitan · Kazakh Dasitan.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Kazakh dastan are an encyclopaedia of the politics, economy, history, culture, language, philosophy, religion, military affairs and customs of the ancient Kazakh and are of important value for the study of folklore, folk literature and musicology. At present the singers of the Kazakh dastan lack successors and their living transmission faces a crisis. Protecting and transmitting them is of important value for studying the folklore, literature and music of the Kazakh. The Kazakh dastan are sung with dombra accompaniment by akyns on occasions such as festivals and weddings and handed down from generation to generation.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Hazimualeiman 03-0799
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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