Description

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The Shor are a small indigenous minority in southern Siberia occupying southern Kemerovo Oblast. Their population numbers under 12,000. The Shor language belongs to the Khakass subgroup of the Uyghur-Oguz group of Turkic languages. Only about 1,000 people speak the native Shor tongue today. The Shor heroic tales are the largest and most long-standing genre of Shor folklore. They were generally performed at home in the evening or at night. They not only served as a relaxing activity for people, influencing their spiritual peace, but also served a magical role, protecting them from evil spirits. As with the oral traditions of original cultures, these tales exemplify the Shor's connection to 'story' as something tangible, corporeal and animate. This very special manuscript depicts and preserves two of these epics.

About the Author

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Alexander Arbachakov was born within the Shortsi Aboriginal group of southern Siberia in 1964. Arbachakov is an environmentalist, specialising in forestry. He is vice-president of the Shortsi People's Association, and he takes great pride in recording and exhibiting the beauty of his homeland through the media of photography and film. Luba Arbachakov was born in 1963 in the small village of Onzas, in the heart of the Mountains Shoria. Luba is an environmentalist as well as a folklorist and philology specialist. She is chief field specialist of Shortsi folklore and ethnography, and she is known for her painting and poetry.