[1] His famed variant of the Manas trilogy - Manas, his son Semetey, grandson Seitek - is said to total over 500,000 lines.

He was the first official manaschi of the Frunze Philarmonia, and received a monthly salary.

[3] A critical edition of his version was attempted, under the editorship of Chingiz Aitmatov in the late 1980s; later, arguably complete editions of Manas, Semetey, and Seitek appeared in the early 2010s.

[4] A French translation of his recitation of the epic Er Töshtük was published in 1965.

[5][6] He was the subject of a biographical feature film: Sayakbay - Homer of the 20th Century (dir.