The music of Chechnya has a long history.
The Phondar is the oldest of musical instruments of the Chechens, consisting of three strings and a wooden casing. Being similar to the Georgian Panduri, the difference lies in the casing: the phondar 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 Chondarg 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.
Popular contemporary artists of Chechnya:
Timur Mutsurayev
Marina Aidaeva
Liza Akhmatovabulat
Zina Anasova
Aza Bataeva
Eliza Betirova
Sultan Makkayev
Raisa Malsagova
Tatyana Rostova
Makka Sagaipova
Fatima Turtulhanova
Imran Usmanov
Malika Utsayeva
Ilyas Ebiev
Hava Tashaeva
Maryam Tashaeva
Tamara Adamova
Makka Mejieva
Elina Dagaeva
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
