Music in the Chechen Republic

The music of Chechnya has a long history.

Native musical instruments

• The pondur is the oldest of musical instruments of the Chechens, consisting of three strings and a wooden casing. Being similar to the Russian balalaika, the difference lies in the casing: the pondur is rather long, is made of one solid block of wood and has a soft, rustling voice.
• The reed-pipe is played on a summer solstice marking the day of Pkh'armat, a legendary figure who brought fire to the Chechens via burning embers on a reed stalk, which was said to have burnt small holes in the reed, thus forming the reed-pipe.
• The chiondarg which resembles a fiddle. It was played in the fields and was believed to make grain grow faster and yield better crops.

The first recordings of Chechen music were made by an exiled member of the Decembrist society in the middle of the 19th century. Composer A.A.Davidenko visited villages of Chechnya in the 1920s and made recordings of a number of historical, ritual, love and dance tunes. Thirty arrangements of Chechen folk tunes were published, in one volume, in Moscow, 1926.

Chechen contemporary music

Popular contemporary artists of Chechnya:

• Marina Aidaeva
• Ilyas Ayubov
• Liza Akhmatovabulat
• Zina Anasova
• Aza Bataeva
• Eliza Betirova
• Sultan Makkayev
• Raisa Malsagova
• Tatyana Rostova
• Makka Sagaipova
• Maryam Tashaeva
• Fatima Turtulhanova
• Imran Usmanov
• Malika Utsayeva

Professional musicians of Chechnya:

• Imam Alimsultanov
• Valid Dagayev
• Ali Dimayev
• Amarbek Dimayev
• Said Dimayev
• Umar Dimayev
• Khas-Magomed Hadjimuradov
• Sultan Islamov
• Timur Mucuraev
• Ramzan Paskayev
• Adnan Shakhbulatov
• Liza Umarova

External links

• Tunes and Songs of Chechnya - ChechnyaFree.ru