Baqsï

A '''baqsy''' ({{langx|kaa|baqsı}}; {{langx|kk|бақсы}}; {{langx|ky|бакшы}}) is a singer of epic poetry in the Kipchak languages and cultures of Central Asia, in such countries as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Karakalpakstan. In the latter culture two such kinds of singers of ''dastan'' ('tale, narrative') are distinguished: the ''baqsy'' sings lyrical epics containing stories about love and adventure (which Karl Reichl compares to medieval Western romance), accompanied by the dutar; ''zhyrau'' sing heroic epics, accompanied by the kobyz.{{sfn|Reichl|2007|pp=17-18}} The baqsy can be accompanied by a second musician, who plays the ghijak.{{sfn|Reichl|2011|p=108}}

The name itself indicates a connection to an earlier shamanism, since the term in Kazakh still denotes 'faith healer' rather than 'singer', as it does in other Turkic languages.{{sfn|Reichl|2011|p=108}}

==References== ===Notes=== {{reflist}}

===Bibliography=== *{{cite book |last=Reichl |first=Karl |year=2007 |title=Edige: A Karakalpak Heroic Epic, as performed by Jumabay Bazarov |location=Helsinki |publisher=Academia Scientiarum Fennica}} *{{cite book |last=Reichl |first=Karl |year=2011 |title=Textualization of Oral Epics |chapter=Silencing the Voice of the Singer: Problems and Strategies in the Editingof Turkid Oral Epics |pages=103-28 |location=New York |publisher=Walter de Gruyter}}

Category:Culture of Central Asia Category:Oral history