He overcame two crucial events in the culture of the region: the replacement of Arabic-based Persian and Turkish writing systems by Cyrillic, and the persecution of intellectuals - his father, Mucaddaskhan Shahidi, was murdered during the Bolshevistic terror of 1937.
In 1946, in his mature age, Ziyodullo Shahidi entered the Moscow Conservatory, where he plunged into the atmosphere of the complicated interconnections between the Russian, Caucasian and Central Asian traditions.
Ziyodullo Shahidi's constant dream to transform maqams into symphony was realized during the early 50s, gradually changing his style of thinking and developing his musical identity.
Driven by his enlightening character to draw the attention of his countrymen to symphonic thought, his composition was based on the interpretation of the original classical cycle Shashmaqom within the modern European harmony.
Symphony and Maqam represented a classical contradiction of the musical thought in East & West, as they were formations of two types of cultures which emerged in modern times in the process of liberalization from the political canons of contrasting systems.
The artistic interpretation of the love and power of the Symphony of Maqams has four main elements: the first consists of monadic meditations (the theme of Nasri Ushshok - Narrative of the Beloved) and the interaction of Polaris spheres.
Symbolic interconnectiveness is one of the principles of the author's thinking, appearing in all the heroes' solos, the character recitatives, and the texts of the chorus, and thereby providing the clue to the personal, common and universal values of the events of opera.