The Center for Studies in Oral Tradition announces
The 31st Albert Lord and Milman Parry Lecture
How to become an epic singer: ‘singer schools’ in Uzbek and other Turkic oral traditions
Karl Reichl
Professor Emeritus
University of Bonn
In his Singer of Tales Albert B. Lord gave a detailed account of the singers’ training, stressing that “an oral poem is not composed for but in performance.” In this lecture the most salient characteristics of the training process of the singers of tales among the Turkic-speaking peoples of Central Asia and Siberia are discussed, highlighting some of the most significant similarities and differences to the South Slavic tradition as analyzed by Milman Parry and Albert Lord. It is argued that the concept of composition in performance acquires a range of different meanings in the Uzbek and other Turkic oral traditions – in traditions that in some areas have continued to flourish into the present century.
Thursday, October 13, 2016
7:00 p.m.
John K. Hulston Hall, Room 7
University of Missouri
Reception to follow