Oral Epics Along the Silk Road: The Turkic Traditions of Xinjiang

Along the Silk Road(s) from north-western China (Xinjiang) to western Anatolia we find a number of shared oral epic traditions. For many oral epics a continuous line from the Uyghurs of Xinjiang to the Turks of Turkey can be established. The main creators and bearers of this oral tradition are both Turkic-speaking and Iranian-speaking ethnic groups. When studying the oral epics that have flourished along the Silk Road, a number of theoretical questions arise: the interaction of oral and literate traditions; the crossing of language borders and the concomitant transformations; and the contrast and mutual enrichment of nomadic and urban civilizations. In this article the focus is on the Turkic-speaking peoples of Xinjiang and their rich oral epic heritage. Despite the considerable negative effects of the period of the Cultural Revolution, the performance of oral epics has continued into the twenty-first century among the Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, and Uyghurs of Xinjiang. While in many areas of post-Soviet Central Asia the oral epic has become an “endangered species,” the Turkic ethnic groups of Xinjiang have tenaciously preserved their oral traditions. These traditions therefore play an important role in the study of the epic as a living form of oral verbal art.