grigory shirma was born in 1892 in the village of shakuny, pruzhany district, into a peasant, but veryd pedagogical courses in the vilna province, where he mastered musical notation and playing the violin, and then continued his studies at the sedlitsky faculty of literature teacher's institute. who was evacuated to russia during the first world war. there, at a school in the voronezh province, grigory shirma taught literature, psychology and literature, organized an amateur choir, a drama club and opened a library. in 1922 he returned to his native pruzhany and assembled a choir. after 4 years, he moved to vilnius, became a teacher of singing and belarusian literature at the vilni belarusian gymnasium, the first director of the chapel in the novogrudok region, and the director of the choir at the university. all these years, since while studying in pruzhany, grigory shirma was engaged in collecting and studying belarusian song folklore, gave lectures and handed over collections of belarusian poets. in 1940 , he organized and led the belarusian song and dance ensemble. during the war ,