KONZERT: Polyphony mit Tutarchela und den Singfrauen in Rustavi und Tbilisi

Franziska Welti "Singfrauen" und Tamar Buadze "Tutartschela" präsentieren Konzerte

5.10 2014 in Rustavi, Kunstschule Tschawtschawadzestr. 4, 17.00 Uhr
7.10.2014 in Tbilisi, #6 Schule L. Asatiani Str. 28 15.00 Uhr

SONG: Georgischem Trio Mandili gelingt Youtube-Hit. Von Gereon Asmuth (taz.de)

(taz.de) Platonische Liebe mit Wodka

Drei junge Frauen spazieren singend durch eine grüne Landschaft. Der berührende Song erzählt von einem besonderen Liebesritual.

Dies ist eine der wunderbaren Geschichten aus den hintersten Winkeln des globalen Dorfes. Sie beginnt mit einem Video, dass gerade bei den sozialen Medien die Runde macht. Es zeigt drei junge Frauen, die singend durch eine Berglandschaft spazieren. Die erste filmt das Trio offenbar selfiemäßig mit ihrem Smartphone (das Video ist in zeitgemäßem Handyhochformat), die zweite hat ein kleines Mädchen an der Hand, die dritte spielt ein gitarrenähnliches Instrument. 

Trio Mandili aus Georgien

Mal sieht man den kargen Weg, mal schwenkt die Kamera auf die grünen Bäume, mal zeigt sie die Frauen, wie sie fröhlich Grimassen schneiden, mal quatscht das kleine Mädchen. So weit so gut, so unspektakulär. Wären da nicht diese Stimmen, wäre da nicht dieser unglaublich schöne, harmonische, dreistimmige, beeindruckend professionelle Gesang, der einen auf der Stelle berührt. Der einem das Gefühl gibt, gerade etwas ganz besonderes zu hören, auch wenn man kein Wort versteht.

Letzteres stört offenbar die wenigstens, das zeigen die Klickzahlen bei youtube. Dienstagmittag stand der Zähler bei 230.000, am Mittwoch wurde bereits die 500-000-Marke erreicht. Dabei ist das Video erst seit Freitag online. Und glaubt man der youtube-Statistik, wurde es in den ersten vier Tagen im Schnitt nur ein paar hundert mal pro Tag geklickt, bevor es nun frömlich durch die Decke schießt.

Offensichtlich, soviel ist schnell klar, stammt das anrührende Lied aus Georgien. Das verrät der Google-Übersetzer, wenn man die seltsam geschwungenen Buchstaben, die das Video begleiten, dorthin kopiert. Die drei Frauen nennen sich Trio Mandili, man findet auf ihrem youtube-Kanal ein paar weitere, ebenfalls sehr herzergreifende, sehr einfache Gesangsvideos. Mal sitzen zwei der drei an einem Flussufer. Und singen. Mal sitzen die drei im Gras. Und singen. Mal werden sie in einem Park von einem Bongospieler begleitet. Und singen. All diese Videos stehen aber erst bei ein paar tausend Klicks - und auch die sind vor allem erst in den letzten beiden Tagen zusammengekommen, offenbar beflügelt durch den viralen Hit der drei.

Mehr über die Sängerinnen herauszufinden ist nicht ganz einfach. Zwar findet man die seit April bestehende facebook-Seite des Trios, auch haben sie eine eigene Webseite, aber auch dort sind vor allem noch ältere Videos von Auftritten zu finden sowie Fotos, die die drei in Trachtenkleidern zeigen - ansonsten aber nur für die meisten Mitteleuropäer unverständliche georgische Buchstaben.

Unvergleichlich und einfach

Auf einer Webseite, die über Reisen nach Georgien informiert, findet man ein paar grundsätzliche Erklärungen über die spezielle Musik-Tradition in dem kaukasischen Land. "Der georgische Gesang zählt zu den kostbarsten Schöpfungen der Menschheit. Volkslieder und georgische Choräle weisen einen hohen Grad an Harmonienkomplexität auf mit drei bis vier eigenständigen Stimmen. Die archaischen Tonfolgen sind schlicht und entfalten in der Mehrstimmigkeit eine außergewöhnliche Spannung und Intensität", heißt es dort. Vorangestellt ist dem ein Zitat des russischen Komponisten Igor Strawinski, der gesagt haben soll: „Was die Georgier singen ist wichtiger als alle Neuentdeckungen der modernen Musik. Es ist unvergleichlich und einfach. Ich habe nie etwas besseres gehört!“ Man möchte ihm da unbedingt zustimmen. 

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Für Klickfaule und da ich nicht sicher bin, ob der Link auf Dauer funktioniert, hier noch die englische Übersetzung der russischen Übersetzung des georgischen Textes, wie man sie bei reddit findet:

“Look at the sky
The moon is aligning with the Bear’s Cross (Медведев Крест).
«Why are you looking like that with your black eyes, girl?
You are watching me.”
“I want to be your Equal today.
So that we can spend the night in an inspiring conversation.”
“Don’t try to confuse me, girl.
Отстань поими сказанное” (??)
The night sky is covered in blankets of stars.
The moon has aligned already with the Bear’s Cross
“Where are you, boy, wherever did you go.
Maybe you waited for me after all.”
The night passed in conversations
Morning approached, reach with mildew.
Dawn likes a bottle of “araki” (fruit vodka)
A bottle containing the necessary drink.
The equal brought the bottle with drink
The morning approached the noon.
The boy drank his drink with a horn
And smiled fondly
The girl presented him food and lowered her head
“Say something else”
The drink blurred his mind a little
And the Equal is sitting with him
“What dirty thoughts came to me, let the god be angry with me”
He got ashamed of himself and lost his colour
And left in the direction of Bear’s Cross on his way to Khakhmati.

Quelle: reisen.grimo.info

Neue website: Trio Mandili 

JAZZ FESTIVAL: Georgian Voices & Bobby McFerrin - Svanuri Nana (youtube.com)

GEORGIAN POLYPHONY: Tutarchela in Concert (youtube.com)

More to Tutarchela here: georgien.blogspot.de/Tutarchela

KULTUR: In Tbilisi. Living in a New Epoch. Kulturzentrum München 19. März bis 9. April 2014 (in-tiflis.de)

(in-tiflis.de) Georgien hat in den gut 20 Jahren seit dem Zerfall der Sowjetunion dramatische Wech­sel­bäder erlebt: Anfang der 90er Jahre galt es als „gescheiterter Staat“, der lange Zeit seinen Bürgern weder eine zuverlässige Infrastruktur wie Strom und Wasser, noch existentielle Sicherheit bieten konnte. Die Menschen waren allgegenwärtiger Straßenkriminalität und Korruption im täglichen Leben und großer Hoffnungslosigkeit ausgeliefert.

Den Zeiten von großer Not, verschärft durch Kriege und Vertreibung, folgten aber auch Phasen von wirtschaft­lichem Aufschwung. Der Kampf gegen Alltags­korruption und -kriminalität war erfolgreich und die Gesellschaft hat sich in Richtung Demokratie und Zivilgesellschaft entwickelt. Die 2012 gewählte neue Regierung hat die Menschen mit einer neuen Aufbruchsstimmung erfüllt.

Wie spiegelt sich dies alles im Leben einzelner Menschen?

Ausstellung
Foto-Ausstellung von Lisa Fuhr

Vernissage 18. März in Anwesenheit von Dato Turashvili

Interviews in Text und Bild mit 30 Personen in Tiflis aus verschiedenen sozialen Milieus, Altersgruppen, ethnischen und religiösen Gemeinschaften. Sie gehören verschiedenen Generationen an, so dass einige noch von der sowjetischen Zeit geprägt sind, andere daran kaum noch eine Erinnerung haben. Für manche haben sich die Lebensperspektiven radikal verändert, im Rückblick betrachtet oft zum Positiven. In anderen Fällen mussten sie von ihren urspünglichen Lebensentwürfen Abschied nehmen und sich völlig neu im Leben einrichten. Die Porträts zeigen die Menschen in ihrem unmittelbaren Umfeld, zu Hause oder am Arbeitsplatz.
Der durch sein Buch Die Jeans-Generation (erscheint 2014 im Wagenbach Verlag) bekannte Autor Dato Turashvili wird anwesend sein.
Eine Publikation zu der Ausstellung mit Texten und Fotos sowie einem Vorwort von Dato Turashvili ist in Vorbereitung. Eine Vorschau auf die Ausstellung mit Fotos sehen Sie hier in Bälde.

Lesung
Lesung mit Dato Turashvili

20. März 2014 im Gasteig Kulturzentrum, Raum 0.131
Moderation: Manana Tandaschwili

Manana Tandaschwili ist Professorin für kaukasische Linguistik am Institut für Empirische Sprachwissenschaften der Frankfurter Goethe-Unversität. Seit 2005 unterhält sie in Frankfurt den Literatursalon EUTERPE, eine Einrichtung von Georgisches Kulturforum e.V.
Sie ist Herausgeberin von zwei Anthologien mit moderner georgischer Literatur: Techno der Jaguare, Neue Erzählerinnen aus Georgien, Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt 2013, und Georgische Gegenwartsliteratur, Reichert Verlag 2010.

Dato Turashvili, Jahrgang 1966, studierte Literatur und Kunstgeschichte in Tiflis, Madrid und London. Er ist politisch engagiert und war einer der Anführer der Studentenproteste in Georgien von 1988/89. 2003 unterstützte er aktiv die Rosenrevolution, die zum Rücktritt Präsident Schewardnadses führte. Seit 1991 hat er zahlreiche Bücher, Drehbücher und Theaterstücke veröffentlicht. Sein erfolgreichster Roman, Die Jeans-Generation, erscheint 2014 im Wagenbach Verlag. Er schildert eine im Westen unbekannte Seite der Geschehnisse vor dem Zusammenbruch der Sowjetunion, als im Herbst 1983 sieben junge Leute ein Passagierflugzeug zu entführen versuchten, um in den Westen zu gelangen. (Zitiert aus gratzfeld.ch)

Film
Filmvorführung The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear
von Tinatin Gurchiani (Georgien, Deutschland 2012)
3. April 2014 im Gasteig Kulturzentrum, Vortragssaal der Bibliothek Die Regisseurin ist anwesend

97 Minuten, Georgisch mit englischen Untertiteln Wie leben, fühlen, träumen junge Menschen in Georgien? Die Filmemacherin begibt sich auf ein Experiment und lädt 15-23-Jährige zu einem Filmcasting ein. Aus den Begegnungen mit der Kamera entfalten sich berührende Lebensgeschichten. (Text: DOK.fest München 2013) Tina Gurchiani hat in Potsdam/Babelsberg Film studiert. Mit diesem ihrem ersten Film hat sie einen fulminanten Start hingelegt: Preis für Beste Regie beim Sundance Festival 2013, Einladungen zu über 20 internationalen Festivals und vielfache Auszeichnungen.

Awards
Award for Best Georgian Film, Tbilisi IFF, Georgia, 2012; Directing Award in the World Cinema Documentary Competition, Sundance, USA, 2013; Award Best Documentary, Sofia IFF, Bulgaria, 2013; Best Documentary in the Int. Feature or Medium-Length Film Competition, It’s All True IDF, Brazil, 2013; Filmmakers Award, Hot Docs IDF, Toronto, Canada, 2013
Die Veranstaltung wird unterstützt aus Mitteln des Förderprogramms Grenzgänger der Robert Bosch Stiftung

Konzert
IBERISI Chor – Leitung Davit Kintsurashvili
Sonntagsmatinee am 23.03.2014 um 11 Uhr
im Gasteig in der Black Box

Der gemischte Chor arbeitet seit 2008 unter der Leitung von Davit Kintsurashvili, seine Mitglieder leben im Münchner Raum. Sie hören in diesem Konzert sowohl sakrale Lieder des Patriarchen Ilia II. der Christlich-Orthodoxen Kirche Georgiens als auch weltliche Lieder über die Ernte, das Feiern, die Liebe, die Freude ...
Der besondere Klang Georgiens beruht auf den sieben verschiedenen Polyphonien Georgiens, die in Regionen wie Svanetien, Tuschetien, Imeretien seit Jahrhunderten gepflegt und gesungen werden.
Manche Lieder stammen aus uralter, vorchristlicher Zeit, sie gelten somit als die ältesten überlieferten Lieder der Welt und sind in das UNESCO-Weltkulturerbe aufgenommen.
Nach 70 Jahren Sowjetzeit, in der diese Musik ein Schattendasein führte, ist sie in den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten zu neuer Blüte erwacht. Mehr über die vielen Aspekte der georgischen Musik und was sie von der europäischen unterscheidet: http://georgia-insight.eu/georgien/musik.html Davit Kintsurashvili hat am Staatlichen Konservatorium in Tiflis Chordirigieren studiert und an der Hochschule für Musik und Theater in München im Fach Orchesterdirigieren das Diplom und die Meisterklasse bei Professor Bruno Weil abgeschlossen. Seit 2006 zahlreiche Meisterklassen, Konzert- und Opernaufführungen mit verschiedenen Orchestern. 5 Konzert | In Tiflis. Tbilisshi. თბილისში http://in-tiflis.de/category/konzert/

Alle Seiten als PDF

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In Tiflis. Tbilisshi. თბილისში – Living in a New Epoch
Exhibition – Reading – Film – Concert
Gasteig Kulturzentrum München
March 18 thru April 2014

Georgia has witnessed dramatic changes since the fall of the Soviet Union over twenty years ago. In the early 90’s it was regarded as a “failed state” unable to provide its citizens with either reliable infrastructure such as electricity and water, or at the minimum, a secure livelihood. Instead its people grappled every day with ever present street crime, corruption, and deep despair.
These times of severe deprivation exacerbated by war and displacement were followed by periods of economic growth. The fight against everyday corruption and crime won, Georgia set out on the road towards civil society. The 2012 elections brought a new government to power and have filled the Georgian people with hope for a new beginning.
How does this enormous transformation affect individual lives? This question is the catalyst for this penetrating look at everyday Georgian society.

more in english here [pdf] >>>

CULTURE: Sacred chants make a comeback as Georgia's cultural history resurfaces. By Caitlan Carroll (globalpost.com)

(globalpost.com) A movement is underway to reintroduce traditional religious chants to Georgian youth.



TBILISI, Georgia — With her gray hair tucked into a black knit cap and a grin stretched from ear to ear, Lia Salakaia stands with a group of children inside the entrance of a Tbilisi church. As the Georgian Orthodox service finishes, Salakaia raises her hands and the children begin to sing slow, mournful chants, their eyes closely following Salakaia's every direction. The harmonies these children struggle to sing are notable both for their complexity and their rarity.

Georgian sacred chants, with their unusual three-part harmonies and minimal vibrato, date back to the 10th century. But the sounds are relatively new to modern Georgia. Georgian religious traditions like sacred chant were suppressed under Soviet rule. Only since Georgia regained its independence in 1991 have the old songs been resurrected.

Now a movement is underway to reintroduce traditional religious chants to Georgian youth, hungry for a deeper connection to their country's cultural past.


Salakaia is the first stop for many children eager to learn the music. The petite 66-year-old earned the title “godmother of Georgian chant," for her passionate teaching and the gentle way she coaxes children to learn these difficult, often dissonant-sounding harmonies.

“I say to them, 'No one taught you how to speak. You just listened to your parents, and you started to speak. So you can listen to me sing, and step by step you will learn how to sing,'” she says. “And most of them do.”

Salakaia travels constantly, bringing these chants almost single-handedly back to Georgia's network of small towns and rural villages. “I don't want to miss any child,” she says.

After graduating from Salakaia's introductory choirs, some students continue their studies with Malkhaz Erkvanidze, director of the Sakhioba Ensemble and one of the chief scholars of the sacred music movement.

Following Georgia's independence from Soviet rule in the 1990s, Erkvanidze was one of the music scholars who pushed to bring sacred chant from obscurity back to church services. He and others unearthed a small cache of sacred chant recordings from the state archive. It was an important find, given most of the chants had only been passed down orally.

He says the last recordings were made in 1966 by an 80-year-old master chanter who sang all three parts by himself to demonstrate how the voices work together. “He was the last master who was still alive,” Erkvanidze says, adding that the man died a few months after the 1966 recordings were made.

Erkvanidze transcribed the chants into songbooks and opened Tbilisi's first chant school where young men, most sporting trim dark beards, attend classes Monday through Friday. Only a few students have completed the new program, but those who have already plan to teach.

“It's become a debt that we've studied, and now it's important for us to teach the next generation,” says recent chant school graduate Giga Jalaghonia.

Since Erkvanidze's chant school only allows men to enroll, the young women like Baia Zhuzhunadze who want to pursue sacred music head to Tbilisi's conservatory. Zhuzhunadze is studying cultural musicology at the conservatory. She says that at first, European classical music was easier for her ears. But when she and her friends began listening to Georgian traditional music, they felt as though they rediscovered their identity.

“We think European music is great,” Zhuzhunadze says. “But Germans and French can research their own culture's music. We Georgians, we are too few, we must do something to preserve this music.”

This hunger to connect with their country's roots is common among young Georgians, says Timothy Blauvelt, country director for American Councils in Georgia and a professor of Soviet studies at Ilia State University. He says Zhuzhunadze's generation has the time and opportunity to explore their Georgian identity because, although the unemployment rate is high, times are better than during her parents' or grandparents' youth.

“You have the parents who grew up at the tail end of the Soviet period or the bad years of the 1990s, when there was a civil war and no electricity. That generation wanted very material things—food on the table and a car in the garage," says Blauvelt. “This generation has grown up with more stability. They have less materialistic values, and their interests are expanding beyond basic survival.”

Zhuzhunadze says the communism and atheism of Soviet times prevented many elder Georgians from passing on cultural traditions to the younger generation. “Now the younger generation, my generation, are discovering it on our own. And we are getting our parents interested in it too,” she says.

At least one elder Georgian is sharing her knowledge of old traditions. The gray-haired Lia Salakaia continues to make her rounds through Georgia's small towns, with no cell phone, just “a pair of iron shoes,” she says.

“It's like if Georgians couldn't speak the Georgian language without going to classes. I want to help children understand their country's music,” she says. “My job is to unfreeze their ears.”

Research for this report was supported by a 2012 Knight Luce Fellowship for Reporting on Global Religion. The fellowship is a program of the University 
of Southern California's Knight Chair in Media and Religion.

VIDEO: The first recordings in the Georgian Republic. Mtao gadmishvi 1909 (youtube.com)

The first recordings in the Georgian Republic
Choir of Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, Sandro Kavsadze, director.
mtao gadmishvi, recorded 1909 (Gramophone C6-12996, matrix # 9419L; 02:46)
7. Mtao Gadmishvi ("0 Mountain, Let Me Go")

A melancholy lament sung by a lover who has lost his beloved to another. Once again, Sandro Kavsadze sings the solo.
Choir of Tbilisi

Sandro Kavsadze (1874-1939), director Tracks 4-8

Aleksandre Kavsadze, or Sandro, as he preferred, was born in the village of Khovle, in the region of Kaspi. He studied lirurgicalchant with Father Grigol (an orthodox priest) and later in church school at Gori. He became a choirmaster under the tutelage of the renowned folk singer, Simon Goglichidze. Young Sandro was recognized for his unique vocal talent, and was accepted into the first professional choir established in Georgia, under the direction of Ado Aghniashvili. Sandro quickly became very popular, and soon formed his own choirs, first in Gori, and then in Tbilisi. He directed the choir in Tbilisi until 1911, when he passed the direction to his nephew, Mikheil. At this time, Sandro moved to the province of Imereti, to work in the towns of Tkibuli and Chiatura, where he formed new choirs. He worked more than 20 years in Imereti. Sandro Kavsadze is remembered in Georgia to this day as one of the great masters of Kakhetian song, as director, teacher and performer. His choir was one of the first to record folk songs in the 1900s. Unfortunately, no record survives documenting who the singers in his choir were, and so they remain anonymous. Sandro Kavsadze died in 1939.

BBC: Georgia's polyphonic singers take to the hills (bbc.co.uk)

(bbc.co.uk) Traditional polyphonic singing is one of the Georgia's biggest cultural exports.

Some of the songs go back to the eighth century but Unesco has warned such traditional music is now threatened by an exodus of people from the rural areas and the growing popularity of pop music.

Rajan Datar joined a Georgian choir and team of dancers on a trip to one of Europe's highest villages and even made an attempt at polyphonic singing himself.

VIDEO: Musical Performance: TSU ART at TEDxTbilisi (youtube.com)

(TSU ART) combines contemporary music, innovative home-made instruments and traditional Georgian polyphonic singing to create a unique cultural performance. TSU Art is composed of students from universities throughout Tbilisi and professional singers.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

VIDEO: Georgian Ancient Songs - O. Iosseliani - Documentary film 1969

POLYPHONY: Infos zum Workshop "Mehrstimmige Lieder aus Georgien" 11.-13. Jan 2013

Der amerikanische Workshopleiter Frank Kane bietet vom 11.-13. Januar 2013 zum ersten Mal ein Singe-Wochenende „Mehrstimmige Georgische Gesänge“ in Leipzig an. Es gibt noch einige freie Plätze – fühlt euch herzlich zum Mitmachen eingeladen.

Wo/Wann: Haus Steinstraße in Leipzig-Südvorstadt (Steinstraße 18, 04275 Leipzig)

Fr. 11.01.1, 19:00 - 21:30

Sa. 12.01.13, 10:00 - 19:00

So. 13.01.13, 10:00 - 15:30

Sprache: Englisch mit deutscher Übersetzung

Preise: Noch bis zum 11.12. gibt es einen sehr lohnenswerten Frühbucher-Tarif.

EUR 120 (bei Anzahlung von 50 EUR bis 11.12.)

EUR 135 nach dem 11.12.

Zum Inhalt des Wochenendes

Wir werden bei diesem Seminar wunderschöne traditionelle mehrstimmige Lieder aus Georgien lernen und uns an deren Wirkung erfreuen.

Die polyphone Volksmusik aus Georgien, die von der UNESCO als ein "Meisterstück des kulturellen Erbes der Menschheit" beschrieben wurde, spielte in den letzten zwei Jahrtausenden eine entscheidende Rolle, das soziale und rituelle Leben des Landes zu gestalten, ganz besonders in Zeiten des Übergangs wie Geburt, Tod, Krankheit und Heirat.

Die Auswahl wird am Ort des Geschehens an die sängerische Vorerfahrung der Gruppe angepasst.

Über Frank Kane

Frank ist Amerikaner, lebt in Paris und studiert und praktiziert Georgischen Gesang seit 1980. Er spricht fließend georgisch und ist der Begründer des Kartuli Ensembles in New York, dem ersten Chor mit georgischer Musik außerhalb Georgiens. Er hat eine Reihe Workshops in England und USA gegeben und ist bekannt für seine gründliche Kenntnis der georgischen Vokaltechnik und seine Fähigkeit, diese an Menschen weiterzugeben, die georgische Lieder authentisch singen möchten. Seine lebendige und gleichzeitig sehr effektive Art, Menschen an das georgische Singen heranzuführen, wurde neben eigenen Studien der georgischen Singetechnik u.a. von einer Reihe anderer progressiver Stimmlehrer beeinflusst.

Die Website zum Workshop: www.georgische-Lieder.de

(dort geht’s auch zum Anmeldeformular)

POLYPHONY: Collecting and Performing Traditional Song in the Republic of Georgia, presented by Malkhaz Erkvanidze (loc.gov)

(loc.gov) November 17, 2005 (!)

presented by Malkhaz Erkvanidze, Ethnomusicologist, scholar and performer

The Anchiskhati Choir, will assist him with performance of material he and the members of his ensemble have collected.

Lecture/Performance

Director - Malkhaz Erkvanidze.
Ensemble: Dato Zatiashvili, Koba Beriashvili, Gocha Balavadze, Grigor Bulia, Vasil Tsetskhladze,
Zaal Tsereteli, Dato Shugliashvili, Levan Veshapidze, Mamuka Kiknadze, David Megrelidze, Gocha Giogadze

Free and open to the public
Closest Metro Stop: Capitol South (orange and blue lines), located one block south of the Madison Building main entrance

Thursday, November 17, 2005
12 noon-1:00 p.m.
James Madison Hall
1st floor, Madison Building,
Library of Congress
101 Independence, Ave., SE
Washington, DC

Georgian choral polyphony is unique within world music. It consists of three main styles - chanting, singing and humming. In church chanting, three separate melodies are brought together within a modal harmonic structure, a tradition that was current in the seventh century AD, three hundred years before polyphony developed in other parts of Europe. The seven-member ensemble, Dzveli Kiloeb (Old Modes), has been developed within the Anchiskhati Choir to research and perform this ancient music.

The roots of church chanting lay in the secular music that pre-dates Christianity and survives today in the folk music of the Georgian regions. The songs and dance music relate to the circumstances of village life - the weddings, funerals, lullabies, harvest and hunting songs - and contain vocal techniques, such as Krimanchuli (a kind of yodelling), unique to Georgia. The Anchiskhati Choir researched and now perform the songs; and are expert players of the rare Georgian folk instruments.

The unique traditions of polyphonic singing in Georgia began before Christianity, but were incorporated into church worship during the early Middle Ages. Choral singing flourished in the remote mountain monasteries. The Anchiskhati Choir has researched the age-old carols and hymns that celebrated Easter, Christmas and Harvest festivals and has recorded them with a "glorious exuberance and spirituality".

The secular music is equally remarkable. These folk songs celebrate every aspect of village life - hunting, feasting, courtship, marriage, funerals and lullabies. They are performed within an unfamiliar but haunting harmonic mode, and demand exotic vocal techniques, such as Krimanchuli, a kind of yodelling, from Western Georgia.

The members of the Anchiskhati Choir come from different regions of Georgia and have absorbed the traditions of this unique musical sound world from their parents and grandparents, as well as from listening to the singing in the villages. But they are all expert musicians and passionate ethno-musicologists, who teach, hold workshops and regularly perform at the 6th Century Anchiskhati Church in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Malkhaz Erkvanidze the leader of Anchiskhati Choir since 1988, is a world authority on Georgian polyphonic choral music. He has spent his life rescuing the church hymns and prayers that were suppressed under Soviet communism. His four books of Georgian hymns have been published with CDs; and he has written many articles about the distinctive musical structure of Georgian polyphony. He leads the "Dzveli Kiloebi" or Old Modes group within the Anchiskhati choir, dedicated to preserving the authentic Georgian tuning system with the traditional singing styles. He teaches at the Tbilisi State Conservatoire, the State Seminary and the Academy of Theology; and is the consultant to the Patriarch of Georgia, Ilia the Second, on liturgical chant. He plays several stringed folk instruments, including the Chonguri, Panduri and Chuniri, to accompany the choir. With Anzor Erkomaishvili from the Rustavi Choir, Malkhaz Erqvanidze is a founder member of the International Centre for Georgian Folk Music, which now has branches and members world-wide. He is married with two children and loves playing jazz on the piano.

The Anchiskhati Church dates from the sixth century AD and is the oldest Orthodox church in Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia. Its name derives from "the sacred icon (khati) of Anchi" (a community or tribe); and it has been a centre for Georgian culture since the Middle Ages. But under Soviet communism, church music was prohibited in Georgia for three generations, but in 1989, Malkhaz Erkvanidze and members of the Anchiskhati choir researched and revived the hymns in their appropriate settings.

• Changi a triangular harp, from the Svaneti region, which is claimed in legend to have derived directly from David's biblical harp.
• Chiboni a bagpipe made from goatskin, from the Ajara region in Western Georgia.
• Gudastviri a goatskin bagpipe from Racha, in the Caucasus mountains.
• Panduri a three-stringed plucked instrument, from Eastern Georgia.
• Chonguri a larger, three stringed plucked instrument, with a fourth fixed stringed that plays a high drone, from Western Georgia.

Read the event flyer essay

View the webcast of this lecture and performance

In this webcast ethnomusicologist, scholar and performer Malkhaz Erkvanidze talks about collecting traditional sacred and secular music in the Republic of Georgia. Members of the Anchiskhati Choir assist him with performance of material he and the members of his ensemble have collected.

Malkhaz Erkvanidze is a world authority on Georgian polyphonic choral music. He has spent his life rescuing the church hymns and prayers that were suppressed under Soviet communism. His four books of Georgian hymns have been published with CDs; and he has written many articles about the distinctive musical structure of Georgian polyphony. He leads the "Dzveli Kiloebi" or Old Modes group within the Anchiskhati choir, dedicated to preserving the authentic Georgian tuning system with the traditional singing styles. He teaches at the Tbilisi State Conservatoire, the State Seminary and the Academy of Theology; and is the consultant to the Patriarch of Georgia, Ilia the Second, on liturgical chant.

The Anchiskhati Choir is the world's leading exponent of Georgian polyphonic choral music. Members of the Anchiskhati Choir come from different regions of Georgia where they have absorbed the unique singing traditions of their parents and grandparents. Singing weekly in the famous 6th century Anchiskhati church in Tbilisi, Georgia, the ensemble collaborates as a group of expert and passionate ethno-musicologists, who collect, teach, hold workshops and regularly perform in Georgia and abroad.

For more information see:

http://www.awonderfulchoice.co.uk/anchiskhati/main.html 

External link (Anchiskhati Choir site)

http://www.northernharmony.pair.com/concerts/anchiskhati.html 

External link (Anchiskhati Choir site)

MUSIC: Ensemble Sakhioba - Ensemble from Republic of Georgia sings Sunday in Westminster West (reformer.com)

(reformer.com) Thursday November 1, 2012

WESTMINSTER WEST -- Sokhioba Ensemble, from Tbilisi Georgia, will perform at the Congregational Church in Westminster West on Sunday at 7 p.m., as part of the ensemble’s three-week U.S. tour.

Performances of the Sakhioba (which means "sweet sound") Ensemble include rousing polyphonic folk songs, liturgical chants, folk-dances and traditional instruments from the various regions of Georgia. It has one of the world’s most ancient and arresting singing traditions, featuring dark, sonorous vocal qualities and startling, unexpected harmonies.

Georgia’s unique polyphony vocal music, folk and sacred, is said to be more than 1,000 years old, evolving through the centuries into a complex vocal practice still considered a national treasure in Georgia.

But the 20th century was devastating for Georgian religious music. Soviet authorities banned the music, and only a few individuals continued the ancient tradition. "It is extremely important to support the current generation of chant revivalists, who are resurrecting this important music system from archival transcriptions and pre-Soviet recordings," said John Graham, tour organizer. "Sakhioba represents the best of this generation, and will thrill audiences with their performance."

The Sakhioba Ensemble was founded in 2006, and is currently led by director and ethnomusicologist, Malkhaz Erkvanidze.

"The choir is very excited to be performing our music for American audiences," said Erkvanidze who has guided the ensemble since 2008. "These aren’t just songs for us. This is the soul of our culture. To truly understand the Georgian soul, one must hear and understand our songs and chants."

In conjunction with its first U.S. Tour, Sakhioba is releasing two new albums. The tour is being managed by www.georgianchant.org, and co-sponsored by Village Harmony, a world music organization based in Vermont. For more information and the schedule of workshops and performances, visit www.georgianchant.org/sakhioba. For information on the concert, call 802-387-5694. 

ENSEMBLE SAKHIOBA

For full tour details, see the menu at left, or click on the link below:

Sakhioba Ensemble US Tour

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Caucasus Georgian music workshop with Malkhaz Erkvanidze, November 16-18

Date: October 1, 2012

by Patty Cuyler

Location: Illinois, USA

A weekend workshop with special emphasis on Caucasus Georgian repertoire and technique, Friday evening-Sunday afternoon November 16-18. The residential workshop will take place at the Shaker Mill Farm Inn in the Berkshire hills near Tanglewood, outside the town of Canaan, NY. Led by Malkhaz Erkvanidze from Tbilisi, Georgia, a world authority of Georgian polyphony who will be in the US at the end of a three-week tour with Sakhioba Folk Ensemble; John Graham, specialist in Georgian chant and doctoral candidate in ethnomusicology at Princeton University; and Patty Cuyler, co-director of Vermont-based Village Harmony. The weekend will emphasize Georgian music, but participants will also have the opportunity to learn choral arrangements from other traditions (including South African, Corsican, American shape-note). www.villageharmony.org/summercamp/2013/midyear-georgian.html

VIDEO: The Singer Archil Chikhladze. არჩილ ჩიხლაძე. (Giorgi Bundovani) (youtube.com)

14.07.2012. Georgian famous singer Archil Chikladze In "Caucasian House"...

Video by -- Marika Zhorzholiani

Montage by -- George Bundovani

FILMREIHE: "Wie Luft zum Atmen" (Georgien/ D 2005) - in Leipzig am Mi, 19.09.2012 (ucverein.wordpress.com)

(ucverein.wordpress.com) Am 19.09. wird 20 Uhr in der Ludwigstr. 99 der georgische Dokumentarfilm "Wie Luft zum Atmen" - von Ruth Olshan - gezeigt!

Musikfilme im Leipziger Osten

An jedem Mittwochabend im September 2012 wird das ehemalige Wächterhaus Lu99 zum Ort der Begegnung, der seinen Gästen über das Medium Film neue Sichtweisen eröffnet, welche in Gesprächen und Diskussionen vertieft und bearbeitet werden können. Der Verein zur Förderung von Kultur, Bildung und Medienkompetenz UC [ju:'si:] e.V. lädt im Rahmen des Stadtteilkulturfestivals OSTLichter zu einer 4-teiligen Filmreihe nach Leipzig Volkmarsdorf ein.

Die Filmreihe "Me Gusta La Música" zeigt Menschen in 4 verschiedenen Ländern, für die Musik mehr ist als eine Leidenschaft. Die via Leinwand und Soundanlage transportierten Bilder, Töne und Melodien lassen die Zuschauer/-innen in neue, andere Welten eintauchen und bauen Brücken, die fremde Sprachen überqueren helfen und ein Verstehen des Gesehenen und Gehörten ermöglichen.

Mi, 05.09.2012 - "20 Geigen in St. Pauli" (Deutschland 2011)

Mi, 12.09.2012 - "Radio La Colifata" (Argentinien 2009)

Mi, 19.09.2012 - "Wie Luft zum Atmen" (Georgien/ D 2005)

Mi, 26.09.2012 - "Sita Sings The Blues" (USA 2008)

Veranstaltungsort: Ludwigstraße 99

Einlass: 20.00 Uhr

Eintritt auf Spendenbasis

mehr Infos: ucverein.wordpress.com

CULTURE: The food and wine of Georgia. By Asya Pereltsvaig (geocurrents.info)

(geocurrents.info) Georgia has a rich and woefully underappreciated culture. Its history stretches back for millennia, and its literary traditions are deep. Georgia has its own epic literature, with The Knight in the Tiger’s Skin serving as the national classic. The poet, Shota Rustaveli, was prince and treasurer at the twelfth-century court of Queen Tamar of Georgia, under whose rule Georgia reached it apogee as a major state. Considering its distinctive history, it is no surprise that Georgia has developed it own sophistical traditions of gastronomy. But despite its riches, Georgia cooking is little known to the rest of the world.

Georgian cuisine, like those of other countries, varies by region. A complex interplay of cultural influences has divided the country east from west at the Surami Pass (see map above). The dishes found on either side of the divide feature distinct ingredients, cooking techniques, and flavorings. Western Georgia is smaller in territory than Eastern Georgia, but more varied in terms of climate, ethnography, and historical influences. The main differences in the two culinary traditions derive from the influences of Turkey (and more generally, of the Mediterranean world) on the cuisine of Western Georgia, and of Iran on that of Eastern Georgia. Western and Eastern Georgians show preferences for different types of meat and bread, and they exhibit distinct uses of herbs and spices, giving a different overall aroma and flavoring to their dishes.

In Western Georgia bread is usually made of cornmeal (called mtchadi in Georgian), while in Eastern Georgia wheat bread predominates. Georgian cuisine, like Armenian, relies on a variety of meats: muzhuzhi is made out of pork, chanakhi out of lamb, chakhokhbili out of chicken. Beef is favored for the traditional kharcho soup. But as with bread, regional differences separate Western and Eastern Georgia: in the west, the most common type of meat is fowl (mostly, chicken and guinea-hens, as geese and duck are not eaten), whereas in the east lamb is much more popular.

The Georgian table is noted for its frequent use of cheeses. However, unlike French, Dutch or Swiss cheeses, those of Georgia are typically of the brined curd variety, like the Greek feta. Cheeses produced in Western Georgia (e.g. sulguni, imereti; the latter is named after the Imereti region where it comes from) usually have more subtle flavors than those found in the east. Georgian cheeses differ from those familiar in the West not only in their flavor and consistency, but also in how they are eaten. In contrast to the typical European cheese course, where different types of cheeses are consumed “as is”, Georgian cheeses are usually cooked: stewed in milk, grilled on a spit, fried in a skillet, baked in crust, or pureed and flavored by herbs and spices. This tendency to cook cheese derives in part from the fact that Georgian cheeses are seldom fully ripened and are thus thought of as a semi-finished product. There is also a general tendency of peoples living in the mountains to use the same cooking methods for meats and cheeses alike. For example, melting, cooking and frying cheese is also common in Alps: think of the traditional Swiss fondue!

Finally, differences between Western and Eastern Georgia are also marked by the use of herbs and spices. Overall, Georgian cuisine is more savory than spicy, with cilantro, tarragon, basil, savory, leek, chives, parsley, dill, and mint playing a crucial role. The only sources of “heat” are garlic (typically finely minced) and red pepper. The latter is associated with the Turkish influence and therefore is used much more heavily in Western Georgia and especially in Abkhazia, which for nearly two and a half centuries – from 1578 to 1810 – was under the Ottoman rule. Thus, the traditional spice paste known as adjika in Western Georgia consist up to 25% of the red pepper, but as one travels from west to east, the proportion of red pepper in such preparations decreases to just 5-10%.

Most Georgians are Eastern Orthodox Christians and as such are subject to fasting on certain days of the religious calendar. While some fasts are strict, forbidding all non-plant food, oils and sugar, others are light, allowing fish and vegetable oils. Throughout the Orthodox Christian world, such fast days constitute a significant portion of the calendar: for example, Russian Church imposes some 196 to 212 fast days a year (the number varies in different years). In the Russian and Armenian traditions, a wide array of fish and mushroom dishes were developed for such occasions. Georgian “fast food”—in the religious rather than the McDonald’s sense—focuses on vegetable and fruit dishes. As a result, vegetable- and fruit-based meals became popular in Georgia. Among the most commonly consumed vegetables are beans, eggplants cabbage and cauliflower, beets, and tomatoes (the latter are not traditional, of course!). Vegetables can be served raw (in a salad), or boiled, baked, fried, stewed, marinated or pickled. In Georgia, different types of vegetables are rarely mixed. Alongside vegetables and fruit, nuts – hazelnuts, almonds and most frequently walnuts – occupy a prominent place on the Georgian table, added into spice mixes and sauces, or served with chicken, vegetables and even fish. Meat soups, sweets, salads and hot main courses alike may contain nuts. In short, if I were to pick a “secret ingredient” for a Georgian “Iron Chef” battle, it would have to be walnuts.

But Georgian food should not be imagined as a simple menu of grilled meats, boiled vegetables and nuts. Much like French cuisine, the Georgian tradition is based on complex and varied sauces. But unlike the French, who use cream (Normandy), lard (Alsace), or olive oil (Provence) to create body for their world-renowned sauces, Georgians favor sour fruit juices, soured milk (known as matsoni), eggs, and nuts to enrich their sauces. One of the best-known sauces (one can buy it in jars in ethnic food stores) is tkemali, made from sour plums of the same name. Other sour ingredients used in Georgian sauces include pomegranate juice, blackberries, barberries, and pureed tomatoes. Such sour liquids are also used to emulsify eggs for soups and sauces, in contrast to the European technique of tempering the eggs in custard-making. Such heavy reliance on sour components makes the food not only more flavorful but also more easily digested (the same motif of sour and fermented foods aiding digestion is commonly found in traditional Russian cuisine as well). Another celebrated Georgian sauce is satsivi, made from pureed nuts flavored with minced garlic and other herbs and spices. Typically, a cook selects three to four herbs among the wide assortment available; combining herbs and spices is part and parcel of the Georgian culinary sensibility and a true art. Unlike the Italians, who have strict rules for combining various sauces with different shapes of pasta, Georgians use the same sauces with different meats or vegetables; conversely, the same main ingredient may be sauced in different ways. For example, “chicken tapaka” (i.e. grilled under weight) can be sauced with satsivi, satsibeli or garo (all three based on pureed walnuts), tkemali (sour plum sauce), garlic-wine sauce, and so on. Sauces serve to flavor otherwise mostly neutral ingredients like chicken or beans.

Finally, no overview of Georgian cuisine can be complete without mentioning wine. Viticulture and viniculture have deep roots in the Caucasus; in fact, Patrick E. McGovern in his recent book Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture, proposes modern-day Georgia and Armenia as the most likely sites of the domestication of the Eurasian wine grape, which occurred some 8,000 years ago. Winemaking spread from the South Caucasus into the Near East, with wines being produced in northwestern Iran (at Hajji Firuz Tepe) by 5400 BCE. A little more than 4,000 years later, Near Eastern wine culture had evolved to the point where amphoras found in the palace of Amenhotep III in western Thebes noted vintage, quality, appellation, and even the purpose or occasion for the blend. Today’s global multi-million dollar wine business apparently traces back to Georgia and Armenia. Some sources even derive our word wine, as well as the Greek oinos, the Latin vinum and the Hebrew yayin, from the Georgian word for wine, gvino.

Climatic conditions in Georgia are well-suited for viticulture: summers are warm but rarely excessively hot, while winters are mild. In addition, the mountains are full of natural springs, and rivers drain mineral-rich waters into the valleys. Topographic and climatic diversity allows Georgians to grow over 400 varieties of grape, a greater diversity than anywhere else in the world. Around 40 of these grape cultivars are used in commercial wine production. Roughy 40 million gallons (150 million liters) of wine are produced each year in Georgia, with around 45,000 hectares of vineyards under cultivation. Georgia’s wines are produced in several zones: most notably Kakheti and Kartli in the east, and Imereti, Samegrelo, Guria, Ajaria, and Abkhazia in the west. By far the most important of these areas is Kakheti, which produces 70% of all Georgian wine. In those zones, 18 Specific Viticulture Areas – a local analogy of the Controlled Appellations of Origin – are distinguished (see map above); planting density and yield in these Specific Viticulture Areas are tightly controlled. Much like French regional wines such as Bordeaux or Burgundy, Georgian wines – which are typically blended from two or more grapes varieties – traditionally carry the name of the source region, district, or village.

Unfortunately, traditional Georgian grape varieties, which are different from those cultivated widely in western Europe, are little known in the West. In fact, none of the three maps of major wine producing regions reproduced below feature Georgia at all! (The third map is from the Thirty-Fifty website.)

Not having an outlet in the West, most Georgian wines were either consumed locally or exported to Russia, but recent political tensions led to Russia’s 2006 embargo on Georgian wine. Emotions ran so high that a major Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda printed a Soviet-style poster extolling Russians to “Respect Yourself and the Motherland — DON’T DRINK Georgian Wine!”

Winemaking remains a vital part of Georgian culture and national identity. Georgian families throughout Georgia grow their own grapes and produce wine the old-fashioned way, by placing grape juice in underground clay jars, or kvevri, topped with a wooden lid, covered and sealed with earth, to ferment during the winter. This winemaking technique, especially in the colder mountainous areas, lends itself to sweet wines (both red and white): late harvest and early winter prevent complete fermentation so the wine stays sweet. In the spring, when the temperature rises, such wines tend to re-ferment and spoil. As a result, such wines were once consumed quickly and locally. Nowadays, famous Georgian semi-sweet wines such as Kindzmarauli and Khvanchkara (the latter is said to be the favorite wine of Joseph Stalin) are specifically created to preserve their high sugar content.

Georgia not only has a well developed system of viticulture and wine making, but also an elaborated tradition of wine drinking. In the local wine culture, being able to say an eloquent, intelligent, sharp-witted toast is an all-important social skill, at least for a man. Male guests at Georgian feasts typically compete in their toast-making skills and only the best of the best can be selected as the tamada, who acts as a director of the party, teacher, and drinking-policeman of the feast table (to ensure that he can carry out such duties, the tamada is supposed to drink less than the other guests). And while Georgian toast-makers try to distinguish the most interesting, original, and praiseworthy features of the person toasted, such toasts are not viewed as flattery. Rather they are suppose to ennoble the object of the toast: for example, when a person is told that he is kind and honest, he will find it difficult to do evil; when he is told he is generous, he will try not to be greedy; and telling a person than he handsome is meant to help him avoid an inferiority complex. Not only the guests present at the table can be toasted but their ancestors too. And even such abstract notions as love, life, and friendship are frequent subjects of eloquent toasts at the Georgian table.

Georgian feasts are also important venues for the country’s noted tradition of complex, polyphonic singing, but that would have be the subject for another GeoCurrents post.

AmazonShop: Books, Maps, Videos, Music & Gifts About The Caucasus

KONZERTE: Antschis Chati Chor - Quartett Polyphone Gesangskunst aus Georgien

Es gibt noch freie Termine!

Quartett Tour bis 9. Mai 2011
Weitere Termine im Mai - vor dem ersten bestätigten Konzert und danach auf Anfrage möglich - wir schicken Ihnen gerne ein Demo.

Anfragen auch gerne andere Termine für den ganzen Chor bitte an
Utta Fritsche musik@kultur-k.de

30. April Dessau
1. Mai Zürich
4. Mai Kaufmann' Schlachthof, Bruchsal
5. Mai Beavers, Miltenberg
6. Mai Festival Wunderhören, Worms

Der Chor / Georgische Musik
Was schreibt man über eine Musik, deren Kraft und Magie nicht wirklich in Worte zu fassen ist?

Das Lied "Als erstes war der Gesang" der georgischen Liedermacherin Inola Gurgulia beginnt mit den Zeilen: "Sage nichts, singe für mich, damit wir eines Gedankens sind..." Vielleicht waren es die vielen Eroberer und Kriege, die das kaukasische Volk eine Musik hervorbringen ließ, die ihnen in Not Trost spendete und noch heute in ihren archaischen Strukturen geradezu betörend auf uns Westeuropäer wirkt.

Die besonderen Mehrstimmigkeitsformen, deren Entwicklung 3000 Jahre vor der europäischen begann, wurden von der UNESCO als Weltkulturerbe erklärt.

Der Antschis Chati Chor hat sich neben der Musik des Volkes insbesondere der alten christlichen Hymnen und Kirchenliteratur angenommen. Als 1988 die älteste Kirche Tiflis - die Antschis Chati Kirche - wieder geöffnet wurde fand sich ein Dutzend junge Männer zusammen um diese Musik zu recherchieren und zu rekonstruieren.

Ihre Interpretationen sowie der virtuose Gesangsstil gehören heute zu den hervorragensten Georgiens.

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Presse

"Perfekte Aufführung einer Musik aus einer anderen Zeit und aus einer anderen Welt..." Hagener Zeitung

"Wie schön, wenn einen das vor Begeisterung beinahe auf die Stühle treibt..."
Sächsische Zeitung

“.. doch was sie jetzt aus ihren Mündern lassen, ist mit dem eigenschränkten mitteleuropäischen Musikverständnis nicht in Worte zu fassen.. .. Das Ergebnis kann keiner singen - außer Antschis Chati. Hinterher tobt die Menge...”
Leipziger Volkszeitung

Im Juli diesen Jahres sendete DeutschlandFunk eine zweistündige Sendung über den Chor, ein Mitschnitt beim A Capella Festival Leipzig 2010

PODCAST: World Routes in Georgia. Svaneti polyphony and Guria yodeling.(bbc.co.uk)

Follow the link and you can listen an on hour podcast from the BBC about the folk muisc from Georgia which is famous and belongs to World Herritage of UNESCO. The Feature is especially about the music and the history from the svanetian and gurian region of Georgia.

the podcast is here >>>

CULTURE: Gurian Horse-Riders in America (geotimes.ge)

Each part of Georgia has its distinguishing characteristic. Guria is a region in the western part of Georgia with a rich cultural heritage and traditions, but especially distinguished by its horse-riding and polyphonic songs.

“Gurians are very fast in speech, movement, and work... the adroitness and courage of these people is praised... Gurians are talented, quick and adroit, dexterous, they like to study and are brave in struggle,” wrote Georgian geographer and historian Vakhushti Bagrationi (XVIII century). Their quickness and adroitness are particularly evident in their horse-riding skills, which have amazed even Americans.

Georgians from Guria migrated to America at the end of XIX century, when American soldier, hunter, showman and entrepreneur William Frederick Cody was putting on his famous “Buffalo Bill” cowboy shows in which groups of horseman from all over the world participated. Each demonstrated their own distinctive riding style and colourful costumes. Among them were Georgians (Georgians wore “Chokhas” of different colours made especially for the shows). Visitors to this spectacle would see feats of skill and staged races.

Thomas Oliver, an American commissioner, came to Georgia (at that time Georgia was a part of the Russian Empire) to find riders for the Wild West show in the United States. In Batumi Oliver accidentally met someone, Kirile Jorbenadze, who knew some of the riders in Guria. When Kirile heard about the aim of visit he offered to help and the first group of Gurians, consisting of approximately 150 men, joined the show in London in 1892. They joined the “Buffalo Bill” show there and performed for Queen Victoria. The Queen was elated by the bravery of the Georgians and presented them with an album of photos of their performance with gold engraving.

The next year (1893) the Georgians went to America and continued to participate in “Buffalo Bill” shows to great acclaim. Many of the participants were called "Prince", while most of them were peasants, as a stunt to attract more people to the shows. It should be noted that four female Gurian female riders performed alongside the men.

The Georgian part of the shows began with singing, continued with dancing and then the horse riding tricks were performed. American newspapers commented: “They stand in the saddle, on their feet and on their hands and kick their legs as the horses fly madly around. They ride standing in their saddles with their faces facing their horses' tails and chase each other to capture a handkerchief carried in their mouth…” (from the website of Irakli Makharadze www.georgians.ge).

Gurians sent letters and photos to their families from the USA. Some of these are preserved in the Lanckhuti Local Museum (most of the riders were from Lanchkhuti) and some are in the Georgian State Museum of Theatre, Music, Cinema and Choreography in Tbilisi. These letters were exhibited in the museum of Theatre, Music, Cinema and Choreography on 20 July. They are badly damaged and need restoration, and the two museums have therefore signed a memorandum of cooperation. “Now restoration work is being undertaken in our museum and Lanchkhuti Museum’s materials will also be restored within the framework of the memorandum,” said Giorgi Kalandia, Director of the Theatre, Music, Cinema and Choreography Museum.

Director of Lanchkhuti Museum Nona Imnadze said that most of the letters are from Giorgi Gvardjaladze, sent to his family. “His grandchild brought them to the museum. There are salutations, instructions and sermons in his letters. The riders promise that they will soon be home. After restoration the letters will return to the Lanchkhuti museum,” she said. Restorer Irina Dudauri said that the material has been badly corrupted and only after examining it in detail will it be possible to say how long it will take to restore it.

The letters are sent mostly from California and demonstrate the success of the Georgians riders. The letters describe the life of the Gurians in America. They talk about the towns they live and performed in. It seems that they had a good salary and went to America for this purpose, although preparation for the show was very labour-consuming.

Filmmaker and researcher Irakli Makharadze started to explore this issue a long time ago. For years he has collected information about Georgians in America and began by investigating the history of the Gurian riders. He made the film “Wild West Riders” in 1997 which told their story and then published a book called “Wild West Georgians” in 2002 with Akaki Chkhaidze. Further books, “Once Upon a Time in America,” “Diaries of an Unknown Gurian Rider” and “Georgian riders in America”, were published later. He also set up a website about them.

The Georgians were known in the US as Russian Cossacks. Makharadze says that the organisers declared that the riders came from the southern part of the Russian Caucasus, because Georgia was part of Russian Empire at that time. The Georgians objected to this very much: “Everyone calls us Cossacks. We can't make them understand that we are from Georgia,” they wrote. Irakli Makharadze has been able to correct descriptions in two American museums and now they say that the riders previously were known as Cossacks were actually Georgians from the western part of Georgia.

Many of the Gurian riders stayed in America, Makharadze says, and changed their names, got married and began a new life. Some who returned to Georgia became victims of Bolshevik repression. They were called American spies. Most of them were imprisoned and exiled and their exploits were taboo during Soviet times. Most of the documents concerning their travels in America and Europe were destroyed. For this reason the surviving letters and photos have particular historical importance.

Even today horse races are held in Guria. In Bakhmaro the race day is the most popular social occasion. A lot of guests go there especially to see this competition, with its Gurian Krimanchuli songs and Adjaran Gandagana dances, which is traditionally held on 19 August, the Feast of Transfiguration.

Source: Georgian Times
By Nino Markozia
2010.07.26 09:48