The modern school of professional music draws inspiration from the richest heritage of folk singing and musical tradition. Melodies, composed by unknown authors who lived a long time ago, are still loved by the people. But the 20th century left us a long list of folk musicians, creators of popular pieces of music.20th century creations are usually named after those who composed and played them. Music sheets exist thanks to professional musicians. The Bisirkhoyev family, Yusup Gadayev, Sesikat Dudayeva, Ibraghim Batayev, Baudin Suleimanov are the best known of the folk musicians. Highly talented accordeon player Magomayev composed the well known "Shamil's Prayer." One day, a legend says, Imam Shamil's forces were trapped. The situation was hopeless. But Shamil got an idea. At first he knelt in prayer, then gave orders to his musicians and, loath as he was of any kind of entertainment, started dancing. His fiery dancing aroused his men. And, in the midst of the dancing, Shamil gave orders for fighting. His men fought like lions and broke the circle of siege. "Shamil's Prayer" consists of two parts: the first is sad and slow-moving, the second makes you want to dance. Composer G.Kh.Melpurnov (1900-1957) did much for the development of professional music in Chechnya. It was on his initiative that a band of folk instruments was formed in 1936. The bandmen played the traditional dechik-pondur, harmonica, zurna, and percussion instruments, as well as the more modern balalaika counterbass and updated adkhoku-pondury. While collecting and polishing Chechen and Ingush folk tunes, G.Kh.Melpurnov produced his own arrangements and original pieces of music. The government-sponsored Philharmonic Society, which opened in 1939, many musical schools and the Chechen academy of music, which opened in 1936, also did much for the promotion of musical culture in Chechnya. Most Chechen composers - Umar Beksultanov, Adnan Shakhbulatov, Sunjan Tsugayev, Ramzan Paskayev and others - were educated in Moscow and St Petersburg.
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Famous Chechens
Military men
Kanti Abdurakhmanov Hero of Russia

The name of Kanti Abdurakhmanov is known thanks to his heroic deeds during the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War. Grown an orphan since he was five years old he volunteered to the Red Army and when the war begun he trained for a gunner. The regiment where he served was deployed near Stalingrad. K. Abdurakhmanov filed applications to be sent to the front. In 1942 he was transferred to the 51st Guards division under the 6th Guards army and appointed regiment commander. He fought near Talinn, Riga, Polotsk, and Vitebsk to celebrate victory in 1945 in Poland. In a fierce clash in December 1943 near the Kalinin village, Kalinin region, the courage of sergeant K. Abdurakhmanov turned the tide of the battle. It is only to wonder who would have claimed an unknown hill, had it not been for K. Abdurakhmanov who wheeled out his gun and shelled an enemys pillbox at point-blank range under barrage gunfire. This feat brought K. Abdurakhmanov the Order of Fame of the Third Degree. When forcing the West Dvina River in June 1944, K. Abdurakhmanov fought his way to the left bank and eliminated an enemy machine-gun squad that hindered the crossing. He was awarded with the Order of Fame of the Second Degree for that. The commandment recommended him for the Order of Fame of the Third Degree in February 1945 for participating in the liquidation of a Nazi unit near Liepaya. Unfortunately, the award paper was lost. Though he failed to become full holder of the Order of Fame when being a soldier, he did become Hero of Russia at the presidential order in Mai 1996. After the war, K. Abdurakhmanov has lived and worked in Frunze. In 1967 he moved to the Chechen-Ingush Republic and worked in the Shalinsky collective farm. After retiring in Chechnya, K. Abdurakhmanov has become a respected veteran.
(more about famous chechens...)

Chechen cuisine
Delicacies
Fried eggs with ramson and cheese (one portion)

Fresh ramsons 264 g or pickled 182 g, butter 10g, egg 1, salted cottage cheese, salt 3g. Remove all stalk from the ramsons and wash thoroughly. Put the ramsons into boiling salted water and boil 5-7 minutes, then sift so that the water will trickle down. Separate pickled ramsons from the marinade, sort out and cut into pieces. Fresh or pickled fry ramsons on a hot frying-pan on butter. Top the fried ramsons with beaten up eggs. When the eggs are fried too, add the salted cottage cheese. If there is not enough salt in the cottage cheese, add salt to your taste. Serve hot or cold.
Chicken country style
1 chicken, 0.5 kilo of quince or apples, salt and other spices to taste. Put chicken in warm salted water for 1.5-2 hours, dry, stuff with slices of quince or sour apples, rub in ground spices (zra, pepper, coriander). Then wrap into a clean moist napkin, put on a baking sheet into the oven, sprinkle with water and bake for 50 or 60 minutes. Add water from time to time to prevent it from burning. Serve in one big plate and decorate with vegetables, herbs and hardboiled egg cut into rings and lobules.
more ...)

Issue 30
02.10.02

Chechen diary

02 October 2002  UN: humanitarian programs for Chechens and displaced persons

The UN humanitarian agencies have resumed their programs in the Chechen republic. Their activity was put on hold on July 29 following the abduction of Nina Davydovich, representative of the Russian non-governmental organization Druzhba, executive partner of the United Nations Childrens Fund UNICEF. The world food program (WFP) in cooperation with the Danish refugee council and Fund Man in lurch distributed 540 tons of food among Chechen residents. WFP together with its executive partners provided 60 tons of food for schools of the Grozny city, and Achkhoi-Martan, and Sunzhensky districts. As a result, 19 thousand juniors are now receiving hot food every day. 490 tons of food was supplied to persons displaced from Chechnya living in Ingushetia. An effort approved by the UN High Commissioner aimed at setting up winter temporary premises for displaced persons in Ingushetia is gathering pace. Before cold weather settles in, the refugees will receive 450 tarpaulin tents, purchased on funds raised by the European community Bureau of the humanitarian aid. Headquarters of the UN High Commissioner is also financing production of 300 pre-fabricated houses. 144 more such houses will be supplied by the non-governmental organization International charity corps. UNICEF delivered medications to Malgobek district polyclinic in Ingushetia that gives treatment to both local residents and displaced persons from Chechnya. A group of 17 Chechen children who survived the hostilities continued the course of psychological and sociological rehabilitation in a special center in Vladikavkaz. The Polish humanitarian organization, executive partner of the UNICEF, is moving on with its work to distribute drinking water among Grozny residents. This organization also started the construction of the first waste burner as part of the UNICEF project to help Grozny hospitals. Orthopedic center in Vladikavkaz operating with the support of the UNCIEF and the World healthcare organization completed the treatment of 12 children who were injured by ammunition explosions or mine. Ten children injured by mines continued the course of therapeutic gymnastics, massage, and physical therapy in the Vladikavkaz-based center of physical rehabilitation working under the UNICEF sponsorship. (more from Chechen diary)

01 October 2002  Preparation for census in Chechnya

The Russian Nationality Affairs Minister Vladimir Zorin believes the state census is vital for the Chechen republic, since there are no data whatever now about the number and national composition of the Chechen population. Minister for Chechnya Vladimir Elagin said, for his part, in a media interview, that he has three absolutely contradicting numbers. According to the Ministry for Trade and Economic Development, there are 617 thousand people living in Chechnya now, while the Chechen government puts that figure at 850 thousand, and the data collected by local authorities suggests that there 1 million 200 thousand people in the republic now. Minister Elagin noted in this regard that the law enforcement agencies were intending to check on verification of the census results. The census in Chechnya will take place from October 12 to 13. 1284 census offices will be set up across the republic. Some 9 thousand officials will be involved into the population interview. A question about the national language will be one of the items on the questionnaire. This has to be known to say how many manuals written in the national language and how many national television and radio programs are needed in Chechnya. The tune-up for the state census is well on track throughout the republic. The staff of census officials in Grozny country district, for one, comprises 1 200 people. The bulk of it is made up by teachers of local schools who are always eager to help rural administrations. There are 132 census offices in the district, that is, several offices in each population center depending on its number of residents. The personnel of the district statistics headquarters have already been trained in the Chechen State Statistics Committee. The results of the census will go a long way to the funding of the district, says statistics chief of the Grozny country district Lubov Magomadova. (more from Chechen diary)

30 September 2002  Construction work in full swing in Urus-Martan district

The restoration of housing in the Urus-Martan district of Chechnya is on track with more than 100 houses already built. Overall, some 600 houses are to be built in the district under the federal program. 32 pre-fabricated sheet houses supplied to the district recently have been delivered to the village of Komsomolskaya for it has been battered by hostilities worst of all. The Danish refugee relief council has also provided displaced persons with 50 pre-fabricated sheet houses. Part of the houses will be installed in the village of Alkhan-Yurt and another part in the village of Komsomolskaya. Apartment buildings are also being reconstructed in the district center. Three houses with 70, 18, and 36 flats will be commissioned in the near future. Consumer service facilities and an integrated poultry farm will also follow suit. A new school will be soon opened in Komsomolskaya. Coming next is a new school in Alkhan-Yurt. Pupils in the other 32 schools started study on September 1. (more from Chechen diary)

24 September 2002  Chechnyas Building Construction Industry

The builders profession is very popular in Chechnya. More than one thousand houses have been repaired in the past few months. Among them are many private houses. The Chechen government builds municipal houses too. 405 families have received flats in nine apartment buildings. The construction work is going on in the health and education sectors too. An emergency medical aid centre and the municipal hospital No. 10 in Pervomaiskaya Street are expected to commission in Grozny by the end of the year. The construction workers repaired the school No. 29 in Grozny for the academic year and the schools in Shalazhi, Novoe-Sharoe and Zernovodsk are ready for opening. They repaired the state statistic committee building ahead of time owing to the forthcoming census. A boost in construction has stimulated factories linked with this area. The brick making factories have started to function in Shali, Gudermes and Shakhovskaya. They meet 40 percent of the republics demand. But when the brick-making factory in Grozny is commissioned Chechnya will significantly reduce the purchasing of building materials from other Russian regions. Nevertheless, the deputy chairman of the government commission in charge of Chechnyas reconstruction Anatoly Popov believes that the rate of construction works could be much higher. At a meeting in of the representatives of design and construction organizations in Chechnya in Nadterechny districts village of Znamenskaya he noted that many builders had realized the federal programme designed to rebuild Chechnya. But several districts had used the federal resources for other purposes. The commission has stopped the financing of such contractors and the work has been handed over to the organizations that had worked effectively. (more from Chechen diary)

Chechen history

The history of Russian-Chechen relations


The history of Russian-Chechen relations
(continuation)
The fourth stage
"The Ingush regiment pounced upon the German "Iron division" like an avalanche. It was immediately supported by the Chechen regiment. The Russian history, including the history of our Preobrazhensky regiment, does not know a single instance of a horse cavalry attacking an enemy force armed with heavy artillery: 4.5 thousand killed, 3.5 thousand taken prisoner, 2.5 thousand wounded. Less than in an hour and a half the "iron division" ceased to exist, the division that had aroused fear in the best armies of our allies. On behalf of me, the royal court and the whole of the Russian army send our best regards to fathers, mothers, sisters, wives and brides of those brave sons of the Caucasus whose heroism paved the way for the destruction of German hordes. Russia bows low to the heroes and will never forget them. I extend my fraternal greetings, Nicholas II, August 25th , 1915".
The Chechen regiment was part of the so-called Wild Division that was formed on the initiative of the younger brother of the Russian Tsar Nicolas the Second Grand Duke Mikhail Aleksandrovich. During the first world war the Chechen regiment fought in the south-eastern front of the Russian army that was under the command of General Aleksei Brusilov. The Chechens displayed great heroism and bravery not only in the military operation that later became known as the Brusilov breakthrough of the Austro-German defencers but also in the battles in Galicica and the Carpathians, while crossing the Dniester and the Prut, and besides, in the battles not far from Polyanchik, Rybne, Tyshkovets, and Stanislavov, and also near the Lomnitse River, and, of course, in some other military operations. The Russian command praised highly the violent attacks of the Caucasian eagles from 40 to 150 officers and horsemen of the Chechen regiment got military orders, awards, medals, prized weapons, and promotion for their bravery in the battles. On the awards that were given to the non-Orthodox believers, the pictures of the Orthodox Saints, such as Saint George, Saint Vladimir, Saint Ann, and the like, were replaced by the Russian Empires State Emblem the double-headed eagle.
In the early 20th century the tsarist regime resorts to force in relations with the mountain people . In response the Chechens vow to wage a guerrilla war and fight to death. During the three Russian revolutions Chechens come under the influence of Russian Social Democrats. Socialism becomes a competing with Islam ideology among part of intellectuals. By that time the Chechen intellectuals were aware of the existence of the Chechen nation. Chechen leaders (T.Elderkhanov, A.Sheripov, T.Chermoev etc.) underscored that the Chechen people had their national identity.
The fifth stage
(in detail...) 

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