Manaschi

In his latest tragicomedy Hamid Ismailov interrogates the intersection between tradition and modernity. A former radio-presenter wrongly interprets one of his dreams and thinks that he has been initiated into the world of spirits as a manaschi, one of the Kyrgyz bards and healers reciting Manas – the longest human epic, consisting nearly of a million verses – who are revered as people who are connected with supernatural forces. Travelling to a mountainous village populated by Tajiks and Kyrgyzs, he instead witnesses the full scale of the epic’s wrath on his life. Following on from the award-winning The Devils' Dance and Of Strangers and Bees, this is the third and final book in Ismailov's Central Asia trilogy.