Facets of the creative and scientific activities of Shaban Salikhovich Shu: on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth

The article is the first attempt to create a scientific biography of Shaban Salikhovich Shu, an outstanding public figure of Adygea. The author reveals the significance of Shu’s personality and activities for the development of the Adyghe musical culture and for the understanding of its history. Shu’s scientific and methodological works, information about his life and works cited in research on the Adyghe culture, and the author’s personal memoirs served as sources for the study. The main method is historical-biographical in its application to research in the field of sociology of culture. The events of Shu’s life and creative biography are identified and described in chronological order; the author shares her personal impressions of many years of fruitful creative communication with Shu. The author emphasizes Shu’s vivid connection with the traditional Adyghe culture, in which he spent his childhood and formed his personality. She mentions Shu’s participation in the Great Patriotic War, the years of his post-war service in the ranks of the Soviet armed forces. She also gives facts that testify to Shu’s practical work on the publication of song folklore, the revival of forgotten folk musical instruments, the ethnographic fixation and study of dozens of Adyghe ancient dances. The author overviews Shu’s dissertation research on the Adyghe folk choreography in its historical development. She shows Shu’s role in the upbringing of talented youth and his educational efforts related to the popularization of traditional Adyghe music and choreography through radio broadcasts and educational programs for educational institutions. The author also describes Shu’s active participation in the creation of the Union of Composers of Adygea, the Adyghe choir, and other musical groups, and characterizes Shu’s personal qualities. She reveals his approaches to work on folklore material, which implied the widespread use of comparative methods for analyzing verbal and musical texts, and establishes that the studies of traditional Adyghe music, initiated by Shu, became the foundation for the next generation of scientists who began to study local song styles, including the heritage of the Circassian diaspora in Turkey. The author characterizes Shaban Shu as an educator, an active organizer of cultural life, a popularizer of the Adyghe folk culture who determined the directions of the future musical Adyghe studies.