The next issue of the “Voice of the Folklorist” project has been published. The guest of the issue was Gumru Shahriyar, senior research fellow of the Department of Folklore of Turkic Peoples, Doctor of Philosophy in Philology, Associate Professor. In her speech Gumru Shahriyar spoke about the history, distribution area and scientific significance of the “Edigey epic”, which was widespread among the Turkic peoples. The scientist noted that the epic existed in dozens of variants among the Bashkir, Tatar, Kazakh, Nogai and other Turkic peoples and in total, more than 80 variants had been recorded. 45 of these variants have been translated into Azerbaijani Turkish.

In the speech it was mentioned that during the Soviet period the “Edigey epic” was subjected to severe censorship and prohibitions, its scientific study was limited for a long time. Even though the epic “Dede Gorgud” was published in the 1950s, “Edigey” was only partially freed from these prohibitions in the 1980s.

In conclusion, it was noted that the “Edigey epic” is one of the important sources reflecting the common epic memory of the Turkic peoples and the study of its various variants is of great importance in terms of the study of both linguistic and cultural history. It should be noted that the video was filmed by the Folklore Studio of the Folklore Institute.