Musa Geshaev was born in Grozny to Chechen parents on August 20, 1940. Before his fourth birthday Geshaev was deported along with his family to Kazakhstan as a result of the forced deportations of the Chechen and Ingush to Central Asia on February 23, 1944. He spent his childhood in the village of Meadow in the Zhambyl Province of Kazakhstan, and as a student he started writing poems and stories. As early as in third grade, Geshaev had declared his intention on becoming a writer.[2]
From 1967 to 1978 Geshaev led the famous Chechen-Ingush dance company "Vaynah", and under his leadership the dance group became recognized as one of the best in the USSR. In 1979 he was appointed deputy director of the regional philharmonic society, and from 1986 to 1993 he served as director of the "Estrada" public association.[3]
Since the late 1980s Geshaev has been a prolific writer of poetry, and many of his poems have been made into songs which are played in concerts halls and on television and radio.[3] Chechen bardImam Alimsultanov sang several of Geshaev's poems.
Copies of his book, Famous Chechens, were reportedly detained at Russian customs offices, although Geshaev said in an interview that the subject matter was on Chechen heroes throughout Russian and Soviet history, not on Chechen rebels.[4]
Awards
September 9, 2005 was awarded the Order of Merit.[5]
In 2006, he was awarded the Franz Kafka Gold Medal.[6] In 2007 he was awarded a gold medal at a poetry competition in Paris.
