Since the dawn of time Circassian minstrels have been occupied in working and polishing their fine art and ware to worship, pray, ritualize, mythicize, entertain, celebrate, please, gratify, describe, evoke, invoke, show off, vie, versify, edify, exhort, embrave, glorify, exalt, eulogize, vilify, jest, banter, mock, censure, heal, soothe, appease, elegize, lament, mourn, romanticize, woo, commemorate, document, ... This Channel is in turn occupied in making this age-old exquisite art available to the whole world in a comprehensive and comprehendible manner. Circassian songs and chants are presented, complete with their words in Circassian and English as subtitles, and, where possible, in the descriptions of the pieces, which include background and context. This Channel is an adjunct and companion to the book "Circassian Culture and Folklore", published in London by Bennett and Bloom in 2010.

Thus far (1 February 2012), more than 50 songs and chants have been uploaded, some six hours of play time -- an adjunct resource for learners of Circassian.

Minstrels or jegwak'we: Circassian musical and literary traditions were upheld by a professional class of roving bards whose members were collectively and singly known as jegwak'we (джэгуакIуэ), or player(s). Some of the more accomplished of these were lured by, and became attached to the aristocratic classes, shedding their itinerant character. In origin, the bards were usually commoners, and they did not receive any special education or training, relying on their inborn talents. They engaged in the art of poetry and song. These bards singly or in bands roamed the land; their instruments affording them not only safe conduct, but also rapturous welcome. They played music and performed songs and recited heroic poems at festivals, banquets and evening-parties, and for the pleasure of the upper classes, which received them in their exclusive guest-houses. Their exquisite musical talents and social skills afforded them to play the role of masters of ceremonies (hetiyyak'we) at dance parties and their entrancing eloquence made them premium toastmasters at banquets and festivals. They were improvisator(e)s par excellence, delighting (or slighting) in airing satirical songs extempore. They also played the jesters, donning the cap and bells in settings of lighter nature. They composed songs commemorating sanguinary events, national and glorious deeds and feats of distinction in battle, composed biographies of celebrated men and sang ancient songs, including gems from the Nart Epos. They also took part in military campaigns, singing war chants that instilled courage and fortitude in the warriors. These minstrels found in this occupation not only subsistence but also wealth. Every prince retained a few of these singers in his court, bestowing opulent gifts upon them. Apart from their high status as entertainers, they composed songs in praise of their patron. A potentate had high stakes riding on keeping his bards happy to escape their virulent tongues, which could perpetuate airs of malediction for ages—a sound case of the tongue being sharper than the sword. (An old saying goes, 'Weredwis — pschi pse'wx' [«Уэрэдус — пщы псэIух»], 'The songwriter is the terror of the prince.'). Of his oratorial powers, a great bard once boasted: 'With but one word, I could turn a coward into the brave protector of the homeland; I could cause eagle's wings to grow on the brave and compel the thief to abandon his wicked ways. In my presence, the wicked dare not stand, for I am the mortal enemy of dishonesty and meanness...' («Сэ къэрабгъэр зы псалъэкIэ хахуэ, Хэкум и хъумакIуэ сощIыф, лIыхъужьым бгъэм и дамэ къытызогъакIэ, дыгъум и хьэлыр зыхызогъэн. Си пащхьэ къиувэфынукъым цIыху бзаджэр, сэ цIыхугъэншагъэм, икIагъэм срабийщ...»). In general, oratory (particularly the delivery of toasts) had a great effect on the Circassians, who would become literally spellbound and mesmerized by the invocation of the magic words. When a folk poet composed a song and it was approved for release, singers from neighbouring regions were summoned to listen to the song for as many times as it took for all the audience to learn it by heart. Then these went back to their villages and sang it, thus spreading it by word of mouth.

The "Playlists" section on this page divides the uploaded songs into genres: Pantheonic/Christian chants & prayers; songs of vigil over the sick and women in accouchement; anthems of the Nart Epos; heroic, epic and historical chants & ballads; elegies & laments; plaintive chants; exonerating chants; agrarian and pastoral songs & melodies; love songs; wedding songs & melodies; lullabies & children's songs; classical music & arrangements; songs on the Circassian language; comic and satirical songs & melodies; traditional songs & melodies; dances and dance melodies.