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Adyghe
Адыгэ
Attéghéi

Flag of Adygea
Total population
3.7 million est. worldwide (including Circassian diaspora)[1] other sources state 5.5-8.9 million (90% in the diaspora)[2]
Regions with significant populations
Turkey 138,652 - 2,000,000 [1][3][4][5]  Russia 709,003 [1]  Syria 100,000 (1987) [6]  Jordan 65,000 [7]  Germany 40,000 [7]  Libya 35,000 [8]  Iraq 30,000 [9]  United States 9,000 [1]  Israel 3,595 [7]  Bulgaria 573 (1992) [10]  Netherlands 500 [7]
Languages
Circassian and the language of the country of birth (e.g. Turkish, Russian, Arabic, etc.)
Religion
Predominantly Sunni Muslim
Related ethnic groups
Abkhazians (Abaza, Abazin) and Ubykh

The Adyghe or Adygs (Adyghe: Адыгэ or Adǝgă, Arabic: شركس/جركس‎, Jarkas/Sharkas,Persian: چرکس‎,charkas), also often known as Circassians or Cherkess,^[11][12][13] are in origin a North Caucasian ethnic group ^[14][15][16] who were displaced in the course of the Russian conquest of the Caucasus in the 19th century, especially after the Russian–Circassian War of 1862.

Adyghe people mostly^{[dubious – discuss]} speak Circassian (called Adyghe in the west and Kabardin in the east), and most practise Sunni Islam.

There remain about two million speakers of Circassian, mostly in the republics of Kabardino-Balkaria, Adygea, and Karachay–Cherkessia, as well as a number in the Russian Federation outside these republics.

The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization estimates that there are as many as 3.7 million "ethnic Circassians" outside of the Circassian republics (meaning that only one in seven "ethnic Circassians" is a speaker of the Circassian language), of whom about 2 million live in the Republic of Turkey, 700,000 in the Russian Federation, about 150,000 in the Levant, and about 50,000 in western countries (Europe and USA).

Name[link]

The Adyghe people call and distinguish themselves from other peoples of the Caucasus by the name Attéghéi or Adyghe.

The usual^{[clarification needed]} etymology presented for the name is Circassian^{[disambiguation needed ]} atté "height" to signify a mountaineer or a highlander, and ghéi "sea", signifying "a people dwelling and inhabiting a mountainous country, a region near the sea coast, or between two seas".^[17][18][19]

A common exonym for the Adyghe is Circassians, a term which occasionally applied to a broader group of peoples in the North Caucasus. The name Circassian is of Italian origin and came from the medieval Genoese merchants and travelers who first gave currency to the name.^[20][21][22]

The exonym Cherkess is applied to the Adyghe by the Turkic peoples (principally Kyrgyz,^[20] Tatar^{[23][24][25][26]} and Turkish^[27]) and the Russians. The name Cherkess was usually explained to mean "Warrior Cutter" due to how fast they were able to cut down Russian and Turkish forces,^{[dubious – discuss][28]} but is derived from the circumstance of the Circassians never permitting the march of a foreign invader, or foreign soldier through their lands and is considered by some and is applied indirectly to the strenuous defense against invaders.^{[dubious – discuss][29]} By others, the name is supposed to refer to the predatory habits among Adyghe tribes and Abazin. The Russians gave the collective name of Cherkess to all the mountaineers of Circassia who are divided into many tribes.^[30]

History[link]

Origins[link]

Circassian dolmen near the Zhane river

The Adyghe people originate in the North Caucasus region and they are considered to be one of the most ancient nations in the world. The Adyghe people were of the largest and most eminent nations in the North Caucasus^{[citation needed]}, and are considered to be the first known settlers in the Caucasus^{[citation needed]}. The Caucasus was occupied by the Adyghe people as early as the Stone Age period and traces of them date back as far as 8000 BC. In about 4000 BC the Maykop culture existed in the North Caucasus region, which influenced all subsequent cultures in the North Caucasus region as well as other parts of the region which is now southern Russia. Archaeological findings, mainly of dolmens in North-West Caucasus region, indicate the existence of a megalithic culture in the region.^[31] The Adyghe kingdom was established in c. 400 BC.^[31]

The Adyghe people were never politically united, a fact which reduced their influence in the area and their ability to withstand periodic invasions from groups like the Mongols, Avars, Pechenegs, Huns, and Khazars.

Genetically, the Adyghe population has shared ancestry with European, Central as well as South Asian populations.^[32]

Mamluk period[link]

Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri, the second last of the Mamluk Sultans, was of Adyghe origin

Most of the Mamluks were originally Adyghe and Turkish slaves which were gathered by the Arab sultans to serve their kingdoms as a military force. Others say that the Mamlukes were mostly Cumans and Kipchaks. During the 13th century the Mamluks seized power in Cairo, and as a result the Mamluk kingdom became the most influential in the Muslim world. The majority of the leaders of the Mamluk kingdom were of Adyghe origin.

Even after Egypt was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, the Adyghes continued to rule in Egypt until the 18th century. With the rise of Muhammad Ali Pasha, almost all the senior Mamluks were killed and the remaining Mamluks fled to Sudan.

Today, several thousand Adyghes reside in Egypt and they are the descendants of these Mamluks. Until the rise of Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt the Adyghes were an elite group in the country.

Russian conquest of the Caucasus and the exile of the Adygs[link]

Map of the expulsion of Circassians to the Ottoman Empire

The Adyghe people converted to Christianity prior to the 5th century.^{[citation needed]} In the 15th century, under the influence of the Tatars of Crimea and Ottoman clerics, the Adygs converted to Islam^{[citation needed]}.

Between the late 18th and early-to-mid-19th centuries the Adyghe people lost their independence as they were slowly conquered by Russia in a series of wars and campaigns. During this period, the Adyghe plight achieved a certain celebrity status in the West, but pledges of assistance were never fulfilled. After the Crimean War, Russia turned her attention to the Caucasus in earnest, starting with the peoples of Chechnya and Dagestan. In 1859, the Russians had finished defeating Imam Shamil in the eastern Caucasus, and turned their attention westward. Eventually, the long lasting Russian–Circassian War ended with the defeat of the Adyghe forces, which was finalized with the signing of loyalty oaths by Adyghe leaders on 2 June 1864 (21 May, O.S.).

The Conquest of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire in the 19th century during the Russian-Circassian War, led to the destruction and killing of many Adygs—towards the end of the conflict, the Russian General Yevdokimov was tasked with driving the remaining Circassian inhabitants out of the region, primarily into the Ottoman Empire. This policy was enforced by mobile columns of Russian riflemen and Cossack cavalry.^[33][34][35] "In a series of sweeping military campaigns lasting from 1860 to 1864… the northwest Caucasus and the Black Sea coast were virtually emptied of Muslim villagers. Columns of the displaced were marched either to the Kuban [River] plains or toward the coast for transport to the Ottoman Empire… One after another, entire Circassian tribal groups were dispersed, resettled, or killed en masse"^[35] This expulsion, along with the actions of the Russian military in acquiring Circassian land,^[36] has given rise to a movement among descendants of the expelled ethnicities for international recognition that genocide was perpetrated.^[37] In 1840, Karl Friedrich Neumann estimated the Circassian casualties to be around one and a half million.^[38] Some sources state that hundreds of thousands of others died during the exodus.^[39] Several historians use the term 'Circassian massacres'^[40] for the consequences of Russian actions in the region.^[41]

Like other ethnic minorities under Russian rule, the Adygs who remained in the Russian Empire borders were subjected to policies of mass resettlement.

The Ottoman Empire, which ruled most of the area south of Russia considered the Adyghe warriors to be courageous and well-experienced, and as a result encouraged them to settle in various near-border settlements of the Ottoman empire in order to strengthen the empire's borders.

• 

  An Adyghe strike on a Russian Military Fort built over a Shapsugian village that aimed to free the Circassian Coast from the occupiers during the Russian-Circassian War, 22 March 1840

• 

  Conference of Circassian princes in 1839–40

• 

  Adygs in Caucasus, 1847

• 

  The mountaineers leave the aul, P. N. Gruzinsky, 1872

The Adyghes in the Middle East in modern times[link]

Adygs from the Adyghe village of Kfar Kama in Israel

The Adyghes who were settled by the Ottomans in various near-border settlements across the empire, ended up living across many different territories in the Middle East who belonged at the time to the Ottoman Empire and which are located nowadays in the following countries:

• Turkey, the country which contains today the largest adyghe population in the world. The Adygs settled in three main regions in Turkey—the region of Trabzon, located along the shores of the Black Sea, the region near the city of Ankara, the region near the city of Kayseri, and in the western part of the country near the region of Istanbul, this specific region experienced a severe earthquake in 1999. Many Adygs played key roles in the Ottoman army and also participated in the Turkish War of Independence.
• Syria. Most of the Adygs who immigrated to Syria settled in the Golan Heights. Prior to the Six Day War, the Adygs people were the majority group in the Golan Heights region - their number at that time is estimated at 30,000. The most prominent settlement in the Golan was the town of Quneitra. The total number of Circassians in Syria is estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000.^[42] The Syrian Circassians are exploring returning back to Circassia as tensions between the Bashar al-Assad regime and opposition forces escalates.
• Jordan. The Adygs had a major role in the history of the Kingdom of Jordan.^[43][44] They make up around 1% to 2% of the total population. Over the years various Adygs have served in distinguished roles in the kingdom of Jordan. An Adyghe has served before as a prime minister (Sa`id al-Mufti), ministers (commonly at least 1 minister should represent the Circassians in each cabinet), high rank officers, etc., and due to their important role in the history of Jordan it is Adyghe who form the Hashemites Honor guard at the Royal palaces, and they represented Jordan in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in 2010 joining other Honor guards such as The Airborne Ceremonial Unit.^[45][46]
• Israel. The Adygs initially settled in three places—in Kfar Kama, Rehaniya and in the region of Hadera. Due to a Malaria epidemic, the Adyghe settlement near Hadera was eventually abandoned. Though Sunni Muslim, Circassians are seen as a loyal minority within Israel, who serve in the armed forces.^[47][48]

Culture[link]

Adyghe society prior to the Russian invasion was highly stratified. While a few tribes in the mountainous regions of Adygeya were fairly egalitarian, most were broken into strict castes. The highest was the caste of the "princes", followed by a caste of lesser nobility, and then commoners, serfs, and slaves. In the decades before Russian rule, two tribes overthrew their traditional rulers and set up democratic processes, but this social experiment was cut short by the end of Adyghe independence.

The main Adyghe tribes are: Abzekh, Adamey, Bzhedugh, Hakuch, Hatukuay, Kabardey, Kemirgoy, Makhosh, Natekuay, Shapsigh (Shapsugh), Yegerikuay, Besleney. Most Adyghe living in Caucasia are Bzhedugh, Kabarday and Kemirgoy, while the majority in diaspora are Abzekh and Shapsigh (Shapsugh). Standard Adyghe language is based on Kemirgoy dialect.

Religion[link]

The mosque of Abu Darwish (Adyghe descendent), one of the oldest mosques in Amman and considered as a major landmark

The ethnic religion of Circassians (Adyghes) was Habze—a philosophical and religious system of personal values and the relationship between an individual to others, to the world around him, and to the Higher Mind. In essence, it represents monotheism with a much-defined system of worshipping One God—the Mighty Tha (Tha, Thashxue). During the time of the settlement of Greek cities/colonies on the coast of the Black Sea there was an intermingling of cultures. Circassian mythology has noticeable aspects from Greek mythology. In return, there is evidence that Greek mythology also borrowed from Circassian legends. In the 6th century, under Byzantine influence, many Adyghes were Christianised, but under the growing influence of the Ottomans, many of them became Muslims. Throughout Circassian history the ethnic religion of Circassians has interacted with Christianity and Islam.

Christianity reached and spread throughout the Caucasus and was first introduced between the 4th century^[49] and the 6th century^[50] under Greek Byzantine influence and later through the Georgians between the 10th century and the 13th century. During that period, Circassians began to accept Christianity as their national religion, but did not fully adopt Christianity as elements of their ancient indigenous pagan beliefs still survived.

Islam penetrated the northeastern region of the Caucasus, principally Dagestan, as early as the 7th century, but was first introduced to the Circassians between the 16th century and in the middle of the 19th century under the influence of the Crimean Tatars and the Ottoman Turks. It was only after the Russian conquest of the Caucasus when Circassians as well as other peoples of the Caucasus were forced out of their ancestral homeland and settled in different regions of the Ottoman Empire did they begin to fully accept and adopt Islam as their national religion.

The Naqshbandi tariqa of Sufi Islam was also introduced to the Circassians in the late 18th century under the influence of Sheikh Mansur who was the first to preach the Naqshbandi tariqa in the northeastern region of the Caucasus and later through Imam Shamil in the middle of the 19th century.

Today, the majority of Circassians are predominantly Sunni Muslim and adhere to the Hanafi school of thought, or law, the largest and oldest school of Islamic law in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam.

Language[link]

Ancient Adyghe alphabet

Today most Adyghe speak Russian, English, Turkish, Arabic, French, German, and/or the original Adyghe language.

The majority of the Circassian people speak the Adyghe language, when the Kabarday tribe speaks the Adyghe language in the Kabardian dialect. The language has a number of dialects spoken by the different Circassian tribes and the pronunciation of words is slightly different in each place in the world. The Adyghe language belongs to the family of Northwest Caucasian languages. It is spoken among all the Circassian communities around the world, with c. 125,000 speakers who live in the Russian Federation, some of whom live in the Republic of Adygea where the Adyghe language is defined as the official language. The world's largest Adyghe-speaking community is the Circassian community in Turkey—it has c. 150,000 Adyghe speakers.

Adyghe Xabze[link]

Adyghe Xabze (Adyghe: Адыгэ Хабзэ) is the epitome of Circassian culture and tradition. It is their code of honour and is based on mutual respect and above all requires responsibility, discipline and self-control. Adyghe Xabze functions as the Circassian unwritten law yet was highly regulated and adhered to in the past. The Code requires that all Circassians are taught courage, reliability and generosity. Greed, desire for possessions, wealth and ostentation are considered disgraceful ("Yemiku") by the Xabze code. In accordance with Xabze, hospitality was and is particularly pronounced among the Circassians. A guest is not only a guest of the host family, but equally a guest of the whole village and clan. Even enemies are regarded as guests if they enter the home and being hospitable to them as one would with any other guest is a sacred duty.

Circassians consider the host to be like a slave to the guest in that the host is expected to tend to the guest's every need and want. A guest must never be permitted to labour in any way, this is considered a major disgrace on the host.

Every Circassian arises when someone enters the room, providing a place for the person entering and allowing the newcomer to speak before everyone else during the conversation. In the presence of elders and women respectful conversation and conduct is essential. Disputes are stopped in the presence of women and domestic disputes are never continued in the presence of guests. A woman can request disputing families to reconcile and they must comply with her request. A key figure in Circassian culture is the person known as the "T'hamade" (Adyghe: Тхьэмадэ- Тхьэматэ), who is often an elder but also the person who carries the responsibility for functions like weddings or circumcision parties. This person must always comply with all the rules of Xabze in all areas of his life.

Circassian Xabze is well known amongst their neighboring communities.

Traditional clothing[link]

Traditional Adyghe clothing

The Adyghe traditional clothing (Adyghe: Адыгэ Щыгъыныхэр) refers to the historical clothing worn by the Adyghe people. The traditional female clothing (Adyghe: Бзылъфыгъэ Шъуашэр) was very diverse and highly decorated and mainly depends on the region, class of family, occasions, and tribes. The traditional female costume is composed of a dress (Adyghe: Джанэр), coat (Adyghe: Сае), shirt, pant (Adyghe: Джэнэк1акор ), vest (Adyghe: К1эк1), lamb leather bra (Adyghe: Шъохътан), a variety of hats (Adyghe: Пэ1охэр), shoes, and belts (Adyghe: Бгырыпхыхэр). Holiday dresses are made of expensive fabrics such as silk and velvet. The traditional colors of females clothing rarely includes blue, green or bright-colored tones, instead mostly white, red, black and brown shades wear.

The traditional male costume (Adyghe: Адыгэ хъулъфыгъэ шъуашэр) includes a coat with wide sleeves, shirt, pants, a dagger, sword, and a variety of hats and shoes. Traditionally, young men in the warriors times wore coat with short sleeves—in order to feel more comfortable in combats. Different colors of clothing for males were strictly used to distinguish between different social classes, for example white is usually worn by princes, red by nobles, gray, brown, and black by peasants (blue, green and the other colors were rarely worn). A compulsory item in the traditional male costume is a dagger and a sword. The traditional Adyghean sword is called Shashka. It is a special kind of sabre; a very sharp, single-edged, single-handed, and guardless sword. Although the sword is used by most of Russian and Ukrainian Cossacks, the typically Adyghean form of the sabre is longer than the Cossack type, and in fact the word Shashka came from the Adyghe word "Sashkhwa" (Adyghe: Сашьхъуэ) which means "long knife".

Traditional cuisine[link]

One of the Adyghe Snacks (Haliva)

The Adyghe Cuisine is rich with different type dishes,^[51][52] in the summer, the traditional dishes consumed by the Adyghe people were mainly dairy products and vegetable dishes. In the winter and spring it was mainly flour and meat dishes. An example of the latter is known as ficcin.

The Circassian cheese considered one of the famous type of Cheeses in the North Caucasus and world wide.

A popular traditional dish is chicken or turkey with sauce, seasoned with crushed garlic and red pepper. Mutton and beef are served boiled, usually with a seasoning of sour milk with crushed garlic and salt.

Variants of pasta are found. A type of ravioli may be encountered, which is filled with potato or beef.

On holidays the Adyghe people traditionally make Haliva (fried triangular pasties with mainly Circassian cheese or potato), from toasted millet or wheat flour in syrup, baked cakes and pies.

In the Levant there is a famous Circassian dish which called Tajen Alsharkaseiah.^[53]

Traditional mats[link]

The Adyghes were famous in making mats (Adyghe: П1уаблэхэр) or rugs worldwide for thousands of years, and they were making their mats from the Cortaderia selloana (Adyghe: 1ут1эн, Arabic: نبات الحلفا‎) like other Caucasian nations.

Making mats was very hard work in which collecting raw materials is restricted to a specific period of time within the year. The raw materials were dried, and based on the intended colors, different methods of drying were applied. For example, when dried in the shade, its color changed to a beautiful light gold color. If it were dried in direct sun light then it would have a silver color, and if they wanted to have a dark color for the mats, the raw materials were put in a pool of water and covered by poplar leaves (Adyghe: Ек1эпц1э, Arabic: شجر الحور‎).

The mats were adorned with images of birds, beloved animals (horses), and plants, and the image of the sun was widely used.

The mats were used for different reasons due to their characteristic resistance to humidity and cold, and in retaining heat. Also, there was a tradition in Circassian homes to have two mats hanging in the guest room, one used to hang over rifles (Adyghe: Шхончымрэ) and pistols (Adyghe: Къэлаеымрэ), and the other used to hang over musical instruments.

The mats were used to pray upon, and it was necessary for every Circassian girl to make three mats before marriage; a big mat, a small mat, and the last for praying as a Prayer rug. These mats would give the grooms an impression as to the success of their brides in their homes after marriage.^[54]

The twelve Adyghe tribes[link]

The main Adyghe tribes are:

• Abadzeh (Adyghe: Абдзах)
• Besleney (Adyghe: Бэслэней)
• Bzhedug (Adyghe: Бжъэдыгъу)
• Yegeruqay (Adyghe: Еджэркъуай)
• Zhaney (Adyghe: Жанэ)
• Kabarday (Adyghe: Къэбэрдэй)
• Mamheg (Adyghe: Мамхыгъ)
• Natuhay (Adyghe: Нэтыхъуай, Нэтыхъуадж)
• Temirgoy (Adyghe: Кlэмгуй)
• Ubyh (Adyghe: Убых)
• Shapsug (Adyghe: Шапсыгъ)
• Hatuqwai (Adyghe: Хьатикъуай)

Many Adyghe allocated in the Caucasus region are Bzhedug and Temirgoy, while the majority of those in the diaspora (see next section) are Abadzeh and Shapsug.

The Adyghe diaspora[link]

Adyghe horsemanship in Transjordan, April 1921

Adyghe have lived outside the Caucasus region since the Middle Ages. They were particularly well represented in the Mamluks of Turkey and Egypt. In fact, the Burji dynasty which ruled Egypt from 1382 to 1517 was founded by Adyghe Mamluks.

Much of Adyghe culture was disrupted after their conquest by Russia in 1864. This led to a diaspora of the peoples of the northwest Caucasus, known as Muhajirism, mostly to various parts of the Ottoman Empire.

The largest Adyghe diaspora community today is in Turkey, especially in Samsun, Kahramanmaraş, Kayseri, Bandırma and Düzce.

Significant communities live in Jordan,^[55][56] Iraq, Syria, and Israel. Iraq,^[9][55] Syria (in Beer ajam and many other villages),^[55] Lebanon,^[57] Egypt, Israel (in the villages of Kfar Kama and Rehaniya—for more information see Circassians in Israel),^[55] Libya,^[58] and Macedonia.^{[59][dubious – discuss]} A number of Adyghe were introduced to Bulgaria in 1864-1865 but most fled after it became separate from the Ottoman Empire in 1878. On May 20, 2011 the Georgian parliament voted in a 95 to 0 declaration that Russia had committed genocide when it engaged in massacres against Circassians in the 19th Century.^[60]

A great number of Adyghe people have also immigrated to the United States and settled in Upstate New York, California, and New Jersey.

The small community from Kosovo expatriated to Adygea in 1998.

The total number of Adyghe people worldwide is estimated at 6 million.

Controversy surrounding alleged desecration of Adyghe mass graves[link]

This section requires expansion.

The Olympic facilities in Sochi (once the Circassian capital)^[61] are being built in areas that contain mass graves of Adyghe who were killed during ethnic cleansing by Russia in military campaigns lasting from 1860 to 1864.^[62]

Adyghe organizations in Russia and the Adyghe diaspora around the world have requested that the construction at the site would stop and that the Olympics games would not be held at the site of the Adyghe genocide to prevent the desecration of the Adyghe graves.^{[citation needed]} According to Iyad Youghar , who heads the lobby group International Circassian Council: “we want the athletes to know that if they compete here they will be skiing on the bones of our relatives.”^[63]

Depictions in popular culture[link]

This section requires expansion.

Over the years, Adyghes have been featured in various popular books and films:

• The 1962 Academy Award-winning British film Lawrence of Arabia included a scene in which the British title character (Peter O'Toole) is captured by Turkish officers at the city of Daraa. His blue eyes and fair skin are remarked upon, leading to the question "Are you Circassian?", to which he replies "Yes, effendi.".^[64]
• In the 1840 Russian novel "A Hero of Our Time" the narrator tells the story of a beautiful Adyghe princess named 'Bela', whom a character abducts from her family.
• In "Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar" the author who was the Princess of Zanzibar was half Circassian and half Arab, narrates about the many Circassian Secondary Wives of the Sultan of Zanzibar.
• The 2010 Jordanian film Cherkess, which takes place in 1900, depicts a unique encounter between the local Bedouin tribes and the Adyghe immigrants, in the region known today as Jordan, during the period in which this region was under Ottoman rule.^[65]

Sarema is the Circassian heroine and title character in the 1897 opera of that name by the Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky (1871–1942).

Gallery[link]

• 

  A group of Adyghe children in traditional clothes

• 

  A Painting from 1830 of an Adyghe warrior

• 

  Adyghe warriors

• 

  Adyghe woman

• 

  Adyghes in the French mandate legion in Syria

• 

  A Painting from 1843 of an Adyghe warrior by Sir William Allan

• 

  An Adyghe warrior

• 

  Adyghe traditional dance group from the Caucasus region performing in Kfar Kama, Israel

• 

  The fall of Damascus to the Allies, late June 1941. A car carrying the Free French commanders, General Georges Catroux and Major-General Paul Louis Le Gentilhomme, enters the city. They are escorted by Vichy French Circassian cavalry (Gardes Tcherkess).

See also[link]

• Nart saga
• Circassian beauties
• Circassian nationalism
• Circassian music
• Adyghe Autonomous Oblast
• Deportation of Circassians
• Ethnic Cleansing of Circassians

References[link]

• Journal of a residence in Circassia during the years 1837, 1838, and 1839 - Bell, James Stanislaus (English)
• Amjad Jaimoukha, The Circassians: A Handbook, New York: Palgrave, 2001; London: Routledge Curzon, 2001. ISBN 978-0-312-23994-7
• Jaimoukha, Amjad, Circassian Culture and Folklore: Hospitality Traditions, Cuisine, Festivals & Music (Kabardian, Cherkess, Adigean, Shapsugh & Diaspora), Bennett and Bloom, 2010.

External links[link]

• Nart Sagas from the Caucasus: Myths and Legends from the Circassians, Abazas, Abkhaz, and Ubykhs. Assembled, translated, and annotated by John Colarusso. (English)
• circassia.blogsome.com ; Only the one independent on net!: information and observations
• More Nart Tales (English)
• Circassian World (English)
• Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia: Circassians (English)
• Circassians Culture News Video Music Photo Web Portal(English)
• The Cherkess Fund Organization (English)
• Justice For North Caucasus Group (English)
• CCI (Circassian Cultural Institute) (English)
• CEF (Circassian Education Foundation) (English), USA
• Mamluk Studies at the University of Chicago (English), USA
• Architecture of the Circassian Mamluks (English)
• EUROXASE (Federation of European Circassians) (English & Turkish), EU
• NART TV (National Adiga Radio & Television) (English & Circassian), Jordan
• KAFSAM (Kafkasya Stratejik Araştırmalar Merkezi) (English & Turkish), Turkey
• Adyghe Khassa Australia Circassian Association Australia (English), Australia
• Short description of the 12 Circassian tribes
• Map of the Diaspora
• Uniting all Adygs, Adyghe world wide network adigafreinds.com
• The Circassian Art official website
• Jordanians and their culture in Jordan, NY Times
• Western Caucasus: West Caucasian family’s (Abkhaz–Adyghe) community (facebook)

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lez:Адигъар

Loreena McKennitt
Background information
Birth name	Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt
Born	(1957-02-17) 17 February 1957 (age 55) Morden, Manitoba, Canada
Origin	Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Celtic, world, New Age
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer
Instruments	Voice, piano, harp, accordion
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Quinlan Road, Warner Bros., Verve Forecast/Universal
Website	quinlanroad.com

Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt, CM, OM (born February 17, 1957) is a Canadian singer, composer, harpist, accordionist and pianist who writes, records and performs world music with Celtic and Middle Eastern themes. McKennitt is known for her refined, clear soprano vocals.^[1] She has sold more than 14 million records worldwide.^[2]

Early life[link]

McKennitt was born in Morden, Manitoba of Irish and Scottish descent to parents Jack (died 1992; a livestock dealer) and Irene McKennitt (1931-2011; a nurse). She moved to Stratford, Ontario in 1981, where she still resides.

When Loreena was young she wanted to become a veterinarian but she found that music chose her rather than she it.^[3] Developing a passion for Celtic music, she learned to play the Celtic harp and began busking at various places, including St. Lawrence Market in Toronto in order to earn money to record her first album.^[4]

Career[link]

McKennitt's first album, Elemental, was released in 1985, followed by To Drive the Cold Winter Away (1987), Parallel Dreams (1989), The Visit (1991), The Mask and Mirror (1994), A Winter Garden (1995), The Book of Secrets (1997), An Ancient Muse (2006), A Midwinter Night’s Dream (2008), and The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2010). All of her work is released under her own label, Quinlan Road.

In 1990, McKennitt provided the music for the National Film Board of Canada documentary The Burning Times, a feminist revisionist account of the Early Modern European witchcraft trials. The main theme would later be rerecorded by her and her band and called "Tango to Evora", a track that appears on her album The Visit.

In 1993, she toured Europe supporting Mike Oldfield. In 1995, her version of the traditional Irish song "Bonny Portmore" was featured in the Highlander series. McKennitt's single "The Mummers' Dance" received airplay in North American markets during the spring of 1997, and was used as the theme song for the short-lived TV series Legacy. It also saw use in the trailer for a wide-release 1998 Drew Barrymore film Ever After.^[5]

Her music appeared in the movies The Santa Clause, Soldier, Jade, Holy Man, The Mists of Avalon and Tinkerbell; and in the television series Roar, Due South, and Full Circle (Women and Spirituality).

Personal life[link]

In 1998, McKennitt's fiancé Ronald Rees, his brother Richard and their close friend Gregory Cook drowned during a boating accident on Georgian Bay. She was deeply affected by the event and subsequently founded the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for Water Search and Safety in the same year.

At the time of the incident, she was working on a live album of two performances called Live in Paris and Toronto. The proceeds from this album were donated to the newly created memorial fund, totaling some three million dollars.^[6] After the release of the live album, McKennitt decided to substantially reduce the number of her public performances and did not release any new recordings until the studio album An Ancient Muse in 2006.

Honours[link]

• Juno Award, Best Roots/Traditional Album 1992, for The Visit.
• Juno Award, Best Roots/Traditional Album 1994, for The Mask and Mirror.
• Billboard Music Award for International Achievement, 1997.
• Headline performer for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at The Golden Jubilee Celebrations, Province of Manitoba, 2002.
• Honorary Doctor of Letters, Wilfrid Laurier University, 2002.
• Member of the Order of Manitoba, July 2003.
• Member of the Order of Canada, July 2004.
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Manitoba, June 2005
• Canadian Ambassador, Hans Christian Andersen Bicentennary, June 2005
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, Queen's University, October 2005
• Investiture as Honorary Colonel, 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, December 2006
• Nominated for a Grammy award, Best Contemporary World Music Album, in 2007
• Western Canadian Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award, September 2009
• Performed at Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, Opening Ceremonies, February 12, 2010
• Honorary Bachelor of Applied Business, George Brown College, June 2010

Genre and work[link]

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McKennitt's music has generally been classified as World / Celtic music even though it contains aspects and characteristics of music from around the globe and is sometimes classified as Folk music in record stores.^{[citation needed]}

Before McKennitt composes any music, she engages in considerable research on a specific subject which then forms the general concept of the album.^{[citation needed]} Before creating Elemental and Parallel Dreams, she traveled to Ireland for inspiration from the country's history, folklore, geography and culture. The album The Mask and Mirror was preceded by research in Spain where she engaged in studying Galicia, a Celtic section of Spain, along with its abundant Arabic roots.^{[citation needed]} The result was an album that included elements of Celtic and Arabic music. According to the jacket notes, her album An Ancient Muse was inspired by travels among and reading about the various cultures along the Silk Road.

McKennitt is compared to Enya,^{[citation needed]} but McKennitt's music is more grounded in traditional and classical invocations,^{[citation needed]} using literary works as sources of lyrics and springboards for interpretation such as "The Lady of Shalott" by Lord Tennyson, "Prospero's Speech" (the final soliloquy in William Shakespeare's The Tempest), "Snow" by Archibald Lampman, "Dark Night of the Soul" by St. John of the Cross, Dante's Inferno, William Blake's "Lullaby", Yeats' "The Stolen Child", "The English Ladye and the Knight" by Sir Walter Scott and "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes.

Court case[link]

In 2005, McKennitt was involved in an acrimonious court case in Britain when her former friend and employee, Niema Ash, published a book that contained intimate details of their friendship. McKennitt argued that much of the book contained confidential personal information that Ash had no right to publish. The British courts found that there had indeed been a breach of confidence and a misuse of McKennitt's private information, and the case is likely to set important precedents in British law on the privacy of celebrities.^[7] The House of Lords affirmed the lower court's decisions in 2007.

2006 and later[link]

In September 2006, McKennitt performed live at the Alhambra. The performance premiered on PBS and in August 2007 was released on a three-disc DVD/CD set titled Nights from the Alhambra.

In 2008, McKennitt wrote and composed a song she titled "To The Fairies They Draw Near" as the theme song for Disney's direct-to-video animated film Tinker Bell. She also provided the narration for the film.^[8]

In early 2008, she returned to Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios to record A Midwinter Night’s Dream, an extended version of her 1995 mini-album A Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season. The album was released on October 28, 2008.^[9]

Since the release of An Ancient Muse, Loreena has toured consistently, with a European and North American tour in the spring of 2007, an extensive cross Canada and United States tour in the fall of 2007, a summer tour of Europe in 2008 and a Mediterranean tour in the summer of 2009 with stops in Greece,^[10] Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Hungary and Italy.

On September 17, 2009, McKennitt announced that she planned to release a two-disc album titled "A Mediterranean Odyssey" in the fall of 2009. The first CD, "From Istanbul to Athens," consisted of ten new live recordings made during McKennitt’s 2009 Mediterranean Tour, including songs she had never before recorded in concert. The second CD, "The Olive and the Cedar," had a Mediterranean theme which McKennitt herself curated. It contained previously released studio recordings created between the years of 1994 and 2006.

November 16, 2010 saw the US release (November 12 for Europe) of McKennitt's latest studio album, "The Wind That Shakes the Barley." Recorded at the Sharon Temple, Ontario, it consists of nine traditional Celtic songs. "Every once and again there is a pull to return to one's own roots or beginnings, with the perspective of time and experience, to feel the familiar things you once loved and love still," says Loreena.

Documentaries[link]

Late in the 1990s, McKennitt created No Journey's End, a half-hour documentary, for American television. In it, she discussed the influences behind her music. No Journey's End contained excerpts from several songs from the albums Parallel Dreams, The Visit, and The Mask and Mirror. It also shows live performances of the songs "The Lady of Shalott," "Santiago," and "The Dark Night of the Soul." It was later released on DVD and VHS, the former also containing music videos for "The Mummers' Dance" and "The Bonny Swans." A bonus copy of the DVD was included with the 2004 remastered versions of McKennitt's CDs.

In 2008, Loreena released A Moveable Musical Feast, based on her 2007 An Ancient Muse tour. The DVD included interviews with Loreena, her band, crew, fans and professional colleagues from the Canadian music industry.

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Live albums[link]

Compilations[link]

EPs[link]