The Information Channel Felist.Com -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Issue 15 08.08.02 Chechen culture Theatre People's Artist of the Russian federation Musa Dudayev Born February 13 1938 in the village of Elistanjee of the District of Vedeno, he was the last seventh child of one of the founding fathers of the modern-age Chechen literature Amdi Dudayev. He never saw his father, because Amdi perished in a Stalin labour camp shortly before Musa's birth.Musa spent most of his school years in exile in Kazakhstan in Soviet Central Asia. He finished school in Grozny after returning there in 1956 and won a student seat at the Leningrad Drama, Music and Cinema Academy, together with other talented Chechen youths. Upon graduation in 62, he took up an acting position at the Kh.Nuradilov Drama Theatre in the Chechen capital and for a number of years was successfully employed in every production there, no matter comedy or tragedy. He was a brilliant Richard the Third and an equally brilliant King Lear. He also masterfully translated Russian and foreign plays into Chechen. As a director after some years, Musa Dudayev marked the 175th birth anniversary of Alexander Pushkin in 1974 by staging Pushkin's tragedies 'Mozart and Salieri', 'The Miserly Knight' and 'A Feast Amid Plague'. Since making a debut on screen in 68 -- in the famous 'The White Sun of the Desert'-- Dudayev has been on the casts of 26 films, including 'Following Karabair' and 'The Ring of an Old Sheikh' of the North Osetian Studios, 'A Wolf Pit' by Bulat Shamshiyev of the Kyrgyzfilm Studios, 'Teheran 43' by Vladimir Naumov of the Mosfilm Studios and 'Under the Sign of the Single-Horned Cow' and 'Perversions of Love' of the Maxim Gorky Studios. Throughout the trouble of the 1990s, Musa Dudayev stayed in Grozny and did not leave the city until October 99 when his entire theatre company moved to neighbouring Ingushetia. On a tour of Germany the following year, he suffered a severe heart attack while acting. Based in Moscow since September 2001, Dudayev mostly teaches -- acting, at the 'Nakhi' Chechen studio of the Moscow Academy of Culture and Arts, and ethics, at Moscow's Chechen Sunday School. (more about chechen culture... http://www.chechnyafree.ru/index.php?lng=§ion=cultureeng) Famous Chechens Scientists Physicist Abdul-Khamid Bisliev (1944-1991) Bisliev Abdul-Khamid Makhmudovich was Professor and the vice-chancellor of the Checheno-Ingush State University. Abdul-Khamids father was a mathematics teacher in a rural school. He cultivated in children love for science. A-Kh. Bisliev completed secondary school in 1962 and was admitted to the physics faculty of the Moscow State University. After he graduation he did post graduate studies and defended his Ph.D. in physics and mathematics. When he joined the physics faculty of the Checheno-Ingush State University in 1972 there was only one research laboratory in plasma physics. A-Kh. Bisliev created a new laboratory to study physics of magnetic phenomenon and installed advanced equipment. Consequently, several post graduate students defended their theses at the plasma physics faculty, while Bisliev his doctorate. Later A-Kh. Bisliev became a leading expert in the Soviet Union in magnetism. He published about 60 works, some of which were translated into many languages. He cooperated with physicists of the Moscow State University, the Soviet Academy of Sciences, Nuclear physics Research Institute under the Moscow State University and the laboratory of physics of magnetism of the Moscow State University. His presence at the Checheno-Ingush University helped the faculty to participate in many important projects such as research in Moessbauer radiation of crystals. On Professor Bislievs initiative national conference on spectroscopic methods of investigation of super weak interaction was held in the Checheno-Ingush State University in 1987 and national symposium on the magnetism of rare metal alloys in 1988. A-Kh. Bisliev died in November 1991 when he tried to save his college Professor Victor Abramovic Kan-Kalika. Professor S.A. Nikitin in his letter to his widow wrote: The best people die during the crises. He was an excellent man. He was honest and noble person by birth. His heroic deed was no mere chance but natural display of his spirit (more about famous chechens... http://www.chechnyafree.ru/index.php?lng=§ion=famouseng) Chechen ethnos Ethnogenesis of contemporary Chechens The aborigines who for centuries had inhabited the northern slopes of the Central Area of the Main Caucasus Range and the steppe lands stretching out all the way to the lower reaches of the Volga River in the north and the Caspian Sea in the West have naturally left a trace in the lineage of the modern-day Chechens and Ingushis. Traces have been found near lake Kezenoi Am in Chechnyas Vedeno district of people who lived there about 40,000 years ago. Which means that contemporary Chechens, Ingushis and Tsova-Tushins stem from the founders of the ancient civilization of Asia Minor and the Trans-Caucasus. And that the place where they now live once served as an abode for the most ancient people offering a motley mix of material and spiritual cultures. The Cyclopean structures made of huge boulders, ancient burial mounds overlooking the Chechen plains and the wonderful medieval turrets whose elegant outlines still boggle the mind, all bear witness to the tragic and heroic history of the neo-Nakhs living in the North Caucasus region. How did the Vainakhs distant forerunners manage to cross the Main Caucasus Range and settle in its northern flatlands? There are many sources shedding light on this, the most reliable being the Kartlis Tskhovreba (The History of Georgia) a collection of Georgian chronicles believed to be written by Leonty Mroveli. (in detail... http://www.chechnyafree.ru/index.php?lng=eng§ion=etneng&row=3) Chechen diary 08 August 2002 Chechen residents are getting new apartments 2560 new houses are to be opened by the end of the year in line with the house restoring and building plan. According to the Director General of the federal enterprise The directorate on restoring and building works in the Chechen republic Anatoly Popov, there is every precondition for almost full implementation of this years housing program. Over the past several months the building and restoration works have been funded even better, he said. Largely thanks to efforts of the enterprises officials, 20 contract organizations and 11 building institutes are provided with jobs. Significantly, over 25 thousand people, 90 per cent of whom are local residents, have been also provided with jobs in the building sector of the republic. The Russian Minister for Chechen affairs Vladimir Elaghin is very optimistic about the current situation in the republic. According to his estimates, despite all difficulties, 250 individual and 8 municipal houses have been set in operation since January 2002. Restoring local infrastructures, including distribution energy networks is underway. According to Minister Elaghin, 38 distribution and transformer sub-stations and 22 kilometers of low-volt power networks have been set in operation in Grozny. Moreover, schools in the village of Osi-Yurt of the Nozhai-Yurt region were opened as well as a hospital in the regions village of Benoy. By the end of the year the Chechen administration will have spent at least 370 million rubles to restore 48 thousand square meters of buildings. (more from Chechen diary http://www.chechnyafree.ru/index.php?lng=§ion=diaryeng) 07 August 2002 Chechen prosecutors office is after scores of major embezzlement cases Criminal cases on millions of rubles worth embezzlement in the economic sector have been filed in Chechnya of late. Such crimes take a heavy toll on the pace of economic recovery for this area is a key target of funding, Chechnyas general prosecutor Nikolai Kostuchenko has said in an interview with our reporter. Among those on the blacklist, N. Kostuchenko named Grozny, Gudermes, and Argun, the major fund recipients. To illustrate, the general prosecutor said that the Argun prosecutors office has recently launched criminal proceedings against Chechenmiliovodkhoz. A nearly 2 million ruble worth embezzlement of machinery was exposed after this organization received a batch of new equipment, bulldozers, and tractors. The managers sold the expensive equipment to individuals, doctored up the papers, and misappropriated huge sums of money. The Audit Chamber is currently investigating criminal cases on embezzlement and fraud in Chechnyas agriculture as 5-million ruble worth of fuel and seeds has been misappropriated. Embezzlement of major batches of oil products is also still going on in the republic as Nikolai Kostuchenko reported to the head of the Chechen government Stanislav Ilyasov. He hopes that the republics leadership will take tough measures to stem malpractice in the oil industry. Chechnyas interior agencies are probing into minor crimes, when local residents drill a hole in the pipeline and refine the stolen oil at their small-sized facilities. Investigation of economic crimes hinges to a large extent on local authorities and heads of departments, N. Kostuchenko believes. If they have dirty hands themselves, then there is fertile ground for economic misdemeanor. We are going to do everything it takes to make sure that all economic crimes are investigated and culprits are brought before trial, Chechnyas general prosecutor Nikolai Kostuchenko said. (more from Chechen diary http://www.chechnyafree.ru/index.php?lng=§ion=diaryeng) 06 August 2002 Infiltrators from Georgia torn to tatters A gang of infiltrators from Georgia was liquidated in a Chechen frontier province during a successful operation by Russian border guards and regular units. Itum-Kalinsky region has lately turned into a battlefield as more than 30 rebels were killed there. Unfortunately, Russian troops also suffered casualties. A spokesman for the regional counter-terrorism task force Ilya Shabalkin dismissed the possibility of the survived rebels return to the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia. According to the task force, federal units have carried out several special operations over the past days in Nozhai-Yurtovsky, Shalinsky, Vvedensky, and Naursky districts, during which several fighters who staged resistance were killed and hideouts with caches of arms and ammunition were found. Some 50 rebels and warlords have been detained in the first half of the year. Among them Ruslan Daudov nicknamed Snegir (Bullfinch) and Idrisov, name unknown, nicknamed Shurup (Screw). The two committed more than 10 terrorist acts and other grave offenses. Deputy head of the Russian Interior Ministry department tackling organized crime Yury Demodov also said, Despite difficult situation in Chechnya, permanent district interior units are still being formed. Im sure they are going to be up to the challenge. (more from Chechen diary http://www.chechnyafree.ru/index.php?lng=§ion=diaryeng) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chechen traditions Modern customs and traditions Mutual aid and assistance The first thing a Chechen asks on meeting anyone is "How is your family? Are all of them safe and sound?" A well-mannered person will inquire, before taking leave, if there is "anything he could do to help." Mutual aid and assistance is rooted in the olden day. The hard living conditions made it imperative for the farmers to join forces. Villagers would tie up with one rope to be able to cut the grass on a steep mountain slope; it took a whole village to make a plot of land good for farming. If a calamity befell a family, everyone joined forces to repair the situation. Should a bread-winner die, all the villagers felt responsible for the bereaved family. Men would not sit down to eat until part of the food had been delivered to the family that had lost its bread-winner. An offer of aid and assistance was an integral part of every phrase of greeting that a young man might address to a representative of the older generation. If an elderly villager started doing something, the neighbors were expected to give him a hand. Often as not, it was the neighbors who completed the job. The tradition of reciprocal aid and assistance has taught the people to be responsive. The neighbors of an afflicted family hold the gates wide open to show that they share its grief. Should someone die, all the villagers will flock to its house to voice condolences and render moral assistance and, if necessary, material aid to his family. The relatives and neighbors take it upon themselves to foot all the funeral bills. A traveler will receive, on return to his home village, detailed information on all the recent developments. The first thing he does, on return home, is go to voice his condolences. Chechen wisdom says that "a neighbor next door is worth more than a relative far away from home," "death is preferable to life without human warmth," "people united are likened to an indestructible fortress." (more about traditions... http://www.chechnyafree.ru/index.php?lng=§ion=traditionseng) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chechen history Awards from Imam Shamil in the collection of the State Military History Archives of the Russian Federation All date from the 1840s and relate to some of the most heroic episodes of the Great Caucasus War (1817-64). An old research paper on them at the Archives says this: "... initially, Shamil presented best performing fighters with arms, equestrian items, clothing, horses, sheep and sometimes even cash. Indeed, it was considered a great honour to receive 30 roubles worth of silver coins from the Imam. But after creating a force of personal guards in 1841, Shamil instituted medals and honorary badges of all kinds." Remarkably, the collection contains antiawards for cowardice in battle -- usually in the form of bright pieces of cloth to be worn on the right sleeve or on the back pending commendable battlefield feats by the wearer. Not only Shamil himself, but also many of his Naibs, or Generals, enjoyed the right to give out awards. Many of the badges and medals in the collection are from Naib Daniyal Sultan, a former Russian General who changed sides. An order badge won by Daniyal himself carries a carved inscription on it: "This order was given to a courageous man who attacks. Allah lends his support to Daniyal and his men. He bestows courage, power and victories on them." Most of the badges and medals are anonymous. Some, however, carry the names of their winners on them. A medal to the Chechen Naib Djavat Khan carries not only his name but also his entire track record as a victorious military leader. Most of the badges and medals are convex round plaques, sometimes adorned with silver grains and/or embossed hemispheres and/or stars. Some have small seals on them, in the form of a broad crescent with the name 'Shamil' on it, in Arabic characters. An inscription, if there is any. praises the courage of the award winner. Ornamentation, if any. consists of 'shashka' swords or, rarely, pistols. There is also a collective award, in the form of a rather big silver crescent showing a picture of a 'shashka' sword and carrying an inscription in Arabic: "These brave men live amid dangers and never flee the battlefield." Experts believe a detachment of Shamil's fighters carried that crescent on their battle flag. After failing to establish a viable theocracy in the North Caucasus, Shamil surrendered to Russian troops in 1859, was brought before the Russian Emperor and swore allegiance to him. Memorabilia from his short-lived Imamate provide valuable insights into key chapters of this country's history in the century before last. Known awards from Shamil are spread among the Military History Archives (Moscow), the Dagestani Regional Geography and History Museum (Makhachkala), the State Hermitage (St Petersburg), the State History Museum (Moscow) and a number of private collections. (more about history... http://www.chechnyafree.ru/index.php?section=historyeng&lng=eng) Copyright CHECHNYA FREE.RU http://www.chechnyafree.ru/index.php?lng=eng -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: http://felist.com/member/unsub?grp=news.media.chechnyafree http://felist.com/ mailto:ask@felist.com