My greatly-missed friend Edisher Garikadnitze was an ethnomusicologist from Georgia in Eastern Europe. The oral song tradition there is still much prized and has been for some time (as you will see).

The first time that we met was when he and his colleague, Josef Giordanskia, were teaching a week-long workshop in Cardiff, Wales. They taught us many songs that week, one of which was, how shall we say, a little tricky. The song was called "Lilé" and is from the Svaneti region of Georgia. Even though it is in a language that nobody speaks any more Edisher explained that the song was still sung there because it was a song that was sung, just that. So the ethnomusicologists and linguistic archaeologists studied the words to try and trace the song's roots. They worked out that the language in which the song was sung was last in common use . . . about three thousand years ago.

Gave me the chills when he told us.

There's a version of it on the Rustavi Choir CD "Mirangula" - Sony St. Petersburg Classics label SMK66 588.

It is not what I would call easy listening, but I like it.

His group Mtiebi are still together and have been touring Britain recently. If you get the chance to go to one of their concerts, I recommend them. If they don't sing it in concert, try asking them afterwards. Georgians don't need much encouragement to sing. I can just about guarantee that the experience will overwhelm you.