Imam Alimsultanov | Абхазы, абахазы вас мало | Abkhazians, Abkhazians you are few

Imam Alimsultanov was born in Kyrgyzstan in 1957 to Chechen parents, who had been relocated as a result of the forced deportations of most Chechens and Ingush to Central Asia on February 23, 1944. He returned to Chechnya and would graduate from a secondary school in the Chechen capital Grozny. Alimsultanov would later graduate from the Polytechnic Institute in Rostov, and work as a land reclamation expert. Alimsultanov started his musical career in the mid-1980s, where he would pass on music folktales and tales of Chechen heroes with his songs. He also wrote songs to poems written by Umar Yarycheva, Musa Geshaev, and other prominent Chechen poets. Unlike fellow Chechen bard Timur Mucuraev’s songs, Imam’s music tended to be closer to traditional Chechen music. Some of his most popular songs include “Gazavat“, “Dagestan“, “Distant Homeland Anthem“, and “Chechnya“. He participated in the war in Abkhazia - he commanded one of the units of the Chechen battalion. Alimsultanov was awarded the Hero of Abkhazia title, the highest state award of Abkhazia, for his services. See: