Circassia (Adyghe: Адыгэ Хэку, Russian: Черке́сия, Georgian: ჩერქეზეთი, Arabic: شيركاسيا) is a region and historical country in the North Caucasus and along the northeast shore of the Black Sea. It is the ancestral homeland of the Circassian people.
Historically, Circassia covered the southern half of today’s Krasnodar Krai, the Republic of Adygea, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and parts of North Ossetia–Alania and Stavropol Krai, bounded by the Kuban River on the north which separated it from the Russian Empire.
The name Circassia is a Latinisation of Cherkess, the Turkic name for the Adyghe people, and originated in the 15th century with medieval Genoese merchants and travellers to Circassia. The name Cherkess is traditionally applied to the Adyghe by neighbouring Turkic peoples (principally Crimean Tatars and Ottoman Turks.
Recorded Adygean music began prior to World War I, when folk musicians across the North Caucasus and Central Asia were commercially recorded. Many of these musicians, including the Adygean Magomet Khfgfudzh, an accordionist, have become cultural heroes to modern inhabitants.
Adygean music is closely related to Kabardian, Cherkess and Shapsugh music. The four groups are the main constituents of the Adiga (Circassian) nation. In the olden days, the musical lore was preserved and disseminated by the roving minstrels (Jegwak'we). .
