Circassian Lament: "We leave Circassia with broken hearts!"

ИСТАМБЫЛАКIУЭ ГЪЫБЗЭ: «Ди гум къыщIитхъыурэ хэкум докIыжи!» Lament on the Great Circassian Exodus: "We leave Circassia with broken hearts!" [Kabardian] Уэрэд жызыIэр: Къашыргъэ Мухьэмэд Sung by Muhemed Qashirghe This lament (гъыбзэ) was composed upon the theme of the Great Circassian Exodus (ИстамбылакIуэ; Yistambilak'we; Going to Istanbul) following the disastrous century-long Circassian-Russian War (1763-1864), in which hundreds of thousands of Circassians lost their lives and the Circassian way of life was almost extirpated. Starting in the early 1860s, hundreds of thousands of Circassians were forced to leave their ancestral lands and were scattered all over the Ottoman Empire. "This is perhaps the harshest and least known episode of genocide in history up to the start of World War I." (A. Jaimoukha, The Circassians: A Handbook, New York, London: Palgrave, Routledge, 2001). This lament was composed by the Circassians in Turkey. This version of the dirge is chanted by the famous Kabardian singer Muhemed Qashirghe (Къашыргъэ Мухьэмэд), a scion of a famous family of Circassian bards and artists. It is one of a corpus of songs that were written in the diaspora and then adopted by the Circassians in the Caucasus. Translated by Amjad Jaimoukha Jaimoukha, A., Circassian Culture and Folklore, London: Bennett and Bloom, 2010. http://www.bennettandbloom.com/circassians.htm Jaimoukha, A., The Art of the Circassian Minstrels, London: Desert Hearts, 2011. [CD collection] http://www.deserthearts.com/circassianmusic.html