Georgian Music

Subject: Georgian Music
From: GUEST,Shea
Date: 09 Sep 00 - 01:57 PM

Hi everyone. I'm interested in Georgian music (the country, not the state), and am trying to find music, lyrics, tunes, ANYTHING. Can anyone help?

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 Sep 00 - 02:08 PM

CD--Chant and Chant II, I believe. Also Hildegaard's music in on CD. Ask and old RC priest if he still has Mass books from the Latin era------

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Mark Clark
Date: 09 Sep 00 - 02:13 PM

I have a cassette tape of some great Georgian music (the country, not the state) given us by a young man who spent a year with us as an exchange student. The words are all in Georgian and the titles are written using the Georgian alphabet but the music is wonderful.

I'd be willing to make MP3 files of the songs but I don't think I'm set up for that. If you know how that can be accomplished, I'll give it a try.

There are downloadable Georgian fonts available in the TrueType format. If I still have those around, I can copy down the titles as well. Do you read or speak Georgian? I'm guessing yes.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Mark Clark
Date: 09 Sep 00 - 02:18 PM

Sorcha, Are you thinking Gregorian or Georgian? I understood GUEST,Shea to be speaking of the Georgian Republic, recently of the Soviet Union. This country is Orthodox and probably wouldn't be using any Gregorian chant. Also, I have the Chant album and it contains no Georgian music that I remember noticing.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 Sep 00 - 03:01 PM

oooooopppppppppssssssss, too early to be answering anything. You got it Mark, and I missed the whole ball park. Duh.

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: GUEST,Shea
Date: 09 Sep 00 - 03:19 PM

GEORGIAN, not GREGORIAN.

Gregorian chant is not what I'm looking for.

Georgian music, from the country of Georgia, located near bulgaria.

It's an a capella style that is not monophonal (only having a melody, no harmony), unlike Gregorian chant.

I recently sang a few pieces, and would like to find more.

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: GUEST,Shea
Date: 09 Sep 00 - 03:23 PM

Actually, I don't speak/read georgian very well, but my whole family in into folk dancing/singing/music/ect. I'm not sure about how to make mp3s, though.

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 09 Sep 00 - 04:36 PM

I know nothing about lyrics and music, but there's a ton of Georgian groups with cds out there. You probably already know this, but I'll mention a couple anyways:)

Rustavi Choir is probably the most famous in the USA. Their recordings are incredibly easy to find here/there. Kartuli Ensemble, Ensemble Kolkheti, Mtiebi, Ensemble Tbilisi, Kutaisi Ensemble, and more all have albums in print.

Pan Records put out a cool cd of Abkhazian and Adzharian songs called 'The Golden Fleece,' as well as a couple of Georgian ones from other regions by artists I mentioned above. I like Pan Records. Any record company that puts out cds of music from Bashkortostan is ok with me:)

A couple of (probably useless, randomly chosen) links:

Info and .wav files here.

Info, links and music samples here.

Hard to find Georgian music stuff on the web by searching with a search engine... Have to weed out everything about Georgian (state) musicians, and music from when the various Georges ruled Britain... I tried to find lyrics, but it was a real hassle. Good luck, Shea.

---Lepus Rex

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Mark Clark
Date: 09 Sep 00 - 07:11 PM

The Georgian people are known for for their wines, their singing and their great dinners where the former are combined in great quantity. A dinner (nearly any dinner from what I can gather) is assigned a master of ceremonies who is given the responsibility to see that everyone has a good time, drinks plenty of wine and sings every song he or she knows. There are elaborate ceremonial vessels from which toasts are made long into the night. The Georgian people do not take having a good time lightly.

They have a legend that relates how, shorly after God's act of creation, God called all the earth's peoples together to parcel out the land between them. The people of Georgia were enganged in a great celebration feast with singing and toasting and totally missed the distribution of lands. When at last they came to the Throne of God, all the earth's lands had been assigned. They begged God's forgiveness and explained that they had been engaged in singing a toasting the Glory of God and could not bear to leave that activity. When God had listened to their explanation, he was so touched that he gave them the one piece of the earth He'd been saving for himself.

Incidently, according to legend, Georgia is where Jason sailed to steal the golden fleece. It also is one of the world's oldest continuous cultures preserving traditions unbroken by the vagaries of time and conflict.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Susan A-R
Date: 09 Sep 00 - 10:56 PM

I have a friend coming to visit who sings in a Georgian trio (Kavkasi? my spelling is wretched) I have some sheet music, and could ask Alan about more. Send me a personal message with snail mail and I'll see what I can do. It is lovely stuff. Also, depending on where you are located, there may be choirs. There is one in Toronto. There are folks here in Vermont who sing Georgian music now and then, and it looks like there may be a Village Harmony singing camp IN GEORGIA next summer. (They have a website about such stuff.) After having spent the day singing early music with VERY low alto parts, the whole idea of singing that lovely low Georgian music seems a bit painful, but I do like those harmonies, and also some of the wilder, more complex stuff where they yodel and such.

Susan A-R

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 09 Sep 00 - 11:58 PM

Shea--

I can probably tell you more about Georgian music (from the Caucasus, not the Southern U.S., though I know a bit about that kind of Georgian music, too) than you want to know.

Let's start with a few websites, each of which has some audio samples you can listen to, and sometimes lyrics, often transliterated in the Roman alphabet:

The Kartuli Ensemble, which I co-founded back in 1983, currently based in the Hudson River Valley of New York Iveria, the Boston, Massachusetts area branch of the Kartuli Ensemble.

Darbazi, based in Toronto, Canada, founded by Alan Gasser.

Mariani, based in Paris, France. Some of this website is in French, but the group was founded by Frank Kane, who was the other co-founder of the Kartuli Ensemble, and is an American by birth (though he's become a French citizen).

The Kavkasia Trio, who are three members of the Kartuli Ensemble who have taken the time out of their lives to go professional/semi-pro: Carl Linich (who taught at Village Harmony and is bringing Georgian music to Vermont, and who lives half the year in Tbilisi with his wife and child, where he participates in professional Georgian singing ensembles), Alan Gasser (of Darbazi, and Toronto, Canada [see above]), and Stuart Gelzer, who lives these days in Fredericksburg, VA, where his wife teaches at Mary Washington College. (N.B., this web site isn't good for much more than ordering their album.)

The Rustavi Choir/Chorus is Georgia's finest ensemble, and has been for many decades. This is not an official webpage, but has music samples for the listening in MPEG format.

I haven't put down a discography here (though there are now many CDs available, including folk, classical and liturgical). If you're after lyrics or sheet music, I can help, but my collection has hundreds of items and I'm not about to post it here. (Some of it is untransliterated in the Georgian alphabet, but I can transliterate it for you if you need that.)

If these web sites don't answer your questions, pst a specific question, or send me a personal message and I'll get back to you via e-mail, snail mail, or telephone. I've got a couple of decades of experience and involvement since I first asked the questions you did (in a pre-internet, Soviet-era time), and I'd be happy to share.

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 10 Sep 00 - 12:03 AM

Shea-- I can probably tell you more about Georgian music (from the Caucasus, not the Southern U.S., though I know a bit about that kind of Georgian music, too) than you want to know.

Let's start with a few websites, each of which has some audio samples you can listen to, and sometimes lyrics, often transliterated in the Roman alphabet:

The Kartuli Ensemble, which I co-founded back in 1983, currently based in the Hudson River Valley of New York Iveria, the Boston, Massachusetts area branch of the Kartuli Ensemble.

Darbazi, based in Toronto, Canada, founded by Alan Gasser.

Mariani, based in Paris, France. Some of this website is in French, but the group was founded by Frank Kane, who was the other co-founder of the Kartuli Ensemble, and is an American by birth (though he's become a French citizen).

The Kavkasia Trio, who are three members of the Kartuli Ensemble who have taken the time out of their lives to go professional/semi-pro: Carl Linich (who taught at Village Harmony and is bringing Georgian music to Vermont, and who lives half the year in Tbilisi with his wife and child, where he participates in professional Georgian singing ensembles), Alan Gasser (of Darbazi, and Toronto, Canada [see above]), and Stuart Gelzer, who lives these days in Fredericksburg, VA, where his wife teaches at Mary Washington College. (N.B., this web site isn't good for much more than ordering their album.)

The Rustavi Choir/Chrous is Georgia's finest ensemble, and has been for many decades. This is not an official webpage, but has musis samples for the listening in MPEG format.

Georgian Resources probably the best meta-page (list of links) about Georgian music. It includes links to Georgian folk-music, classical music, art music, even Georgian heavy metal music. (Years ago (1990), I remember taking a bus through a small Georgian town called "Hevi," near the Surami Pass, and on the sign that announced the town limits, someone had scrawled grafitti underneath the "Hevi": "Metal".

I haven't put down a discography here (though there are now many CDs available, including folk, classical and liturgical). If you're after lyrics or sheet music, I can help, but my collection has hundreds of items and I'm not about to post it here. (Some of it is untransliterated in the Georgian alphabet, but I can transliterate it for you if you need that.)

If these web sites don't answer your questions, pst a specific question, or send me a personal message and I'll get back to you via e-mail, snail mail, or telephone. I've got a couple of decades of experience and involvement since I first asked the questions you did (in a pre-internet, Soviet-era time), and I'd be happy to share.

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 10 Sep 00 - 01:15 AM

Wooo, I got a link in common with a guy who actually knows about Georgian music! AND I named his band in my list. So I got some of it right, at least. Swell! :)

Charlie, do you know of any good recordings of non-choral Georgian music, perhaps of chonguri or panduri playing or something? All I ever find is the stuff we're talking about here, which is cool, too, but not so much my thing...

---Lepus Rex

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Callie
Date: 10 Sep 00 - 07:31 AM

There are 2 fantastic Georgian performing groups in Australia: Golden Fleece and Nana. Nana is a female trio. They are all wonderful. Joseph Jordania is in Golden Fleece and also collects folk music from traditional singers in Georgia. I learnt a song from them which I perform with my trio. The song is "Nardanina". I'd be happy to send you sheet music.

Callie

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 10 Sep 00 - 11:15 PM

There are fairly few recordings of Georgian non-choral folk music. Everyone is interested in the polyphonic choral stuff, which is widely available. There is also some classical music available written by Georgian composers (Paliashvili, who lived 90-100 years ago, Otar Taktakishvili from the 1970-1980s, Gia Kancheli, who is a contemporary composer recorded by the Kronos Quartet and others). The Georgian Resources link above will take you to some of clasical music. But the traditional instrumental repertoire has been ignored, which is a pity, because it is wonderful stuff.

Aside from the occasional accompaniment of chorus by panduri (a Georgian lute-like instrument) and chonguri (which is a lute with a half-drone string much like the American banjo), the instruments rarely make it to recordings. I've got some vinyl recordings issued on Melodiya in the late 1980s: The Kolkheti Ensemble; (Melodiya C30 27543 003); Dance Melodies of the Caucasus (Melodiya C30 24681 002); The Georgia Radio Folk Instrumental Orchestra (Melodiya C30 24165 001). These were issued in small "tirazhes" (printings/editions) of 2000 copies or fewer, and were only available at record stores in Georgia (i.e., they couldn't be obtained even in Russia). But one Melodiya recording was jointly issued with Harmonia Mundi: "Voyage en URSS: Anthologie de al Musique Instrumentale et Vocale Des Peuples de l'URSS." Volume 4 (Georgie-Armenie) contains some fantastic instrumental music, including salamuri (end-blown flute) and duduki and zurna (oboe-bombarde) performances to make your jaw drop. It was Chant du MOnde 335/Harmonia Mundi LDX 74004/Melodiya 23249-23250. I have no idea if it was ever converted to CD format (I have it as a vinyl issued in the mid- to late-1980s.) but at least it was widely issued in the West, with a large tirazhe.

HOWEVER, I found 3 CDs with iunstrumental music, though I make no claim for their still being in print, and they were/are fairly obscure imports to begin with:

SOINARI is an ensemble playing dudukis (oboes), dholi (drum) and accordion. (I also have them on a Melodiya vinyl from the 1980s). Their cd is entitled "Soinari: Folk Music from Georgia Today" and also includes cuts by Mtiebi, a fine men's chroal group that toured America in 1990, and Mzetamze, a Georgia women's choral group, specializing in women's music. (Haus der Kulturen der Welt, SM 1510-2, Germany, 1993.) Good liner notes in German and English, including translations of song texts.

Ensemble AEAGVELEBI has a CD, "Chants et Musiques du Monde/Georgie/ Ensemble Aragvelebi," and they have instrumentals on their recording. Its on the Planett or WMD label (or both) (Planett/WMD 242037/ADD, France, 1993.) Minimal liner notes in French and English.

Lastly, "The Golden Fleece: Songs from Abkhazia and Adzharia" is an anthology containing both field and studio recordings, some of which are accompanied by apkhiartsa (a bowed two-string fiddle), archipan (a shepard's flute), salamuri (end-blown flute/recorder), akhym (zither), adjumu (harp), or achangur (plucked string instrument), as well as chonguri and various percussion instruments. Some of the cuts are entirely instrumental. (Pan 2009CD, Holland, 1993). Extensive liner notes in English.

Other than that? I will keep searching. I wil also contact a friend of mine in Ithaca, New York, to see what has. He has a very large colection of Georgian music--we used to think it was the largest collection of Georgian music outside of Georgia, until we went to Georgia in 1990, and discovered that the qualification "outside of Georgia" might not hold.

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: hesperis
Date: 11 Sep 00 - 11:35 AM

You can make mp3 files from CDs easily. Go to MP3.com and download the software. You'll need a CD ripper and an mp3 player, some software has both at once.
Just read about it on that website, I'm not too good at giving directions.
Some software makes a .wav file and then converts it to .mp3, and some of the newer ones do it all in one step.

To make mp3 files from a tape you first have to record the tape into your computer. Other people can help you more with that than I can.

Enjoy!

hesperis

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 11 Sep 00 - 04:32 PM

Cool, Charlie, thanks alot. :) I'll keep an eye out for those ones. The only one I know is "The Golden Fleece," on Pan. Pan put out a cd of Daghestani music, too... You heard that one? "Ay Lazzat."

Daghestani, and pretty much any Caucasian music besides Azerbaijani, Georgian choral stuff, and Armenian, aren't all that common in the USA either, it seems... Bummer.

---Lepus Rex

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Susan A-R
Date: 11 Sep 00 - 09:31 PM

Charlie, Alan Gasser has been bringing a bit of Georgian music to Vermont too. He has been here for two Village Harmony camps, and is, in fact due in for a beer this evening. Rumor has it you know him as well.

Susan A-R

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Mark Clark
Date: 14 Sep 00 - 12:34 AM

hespris, Thanks for the response. That would work if the misic I have was on CD---a digital format---but the music I have is on a cassette tape. I need to play the cassette tape into my computer and record the input stream as a wav file or something. Then I can create an MP3 file from that. Unfortunately, all the programs to produce MP3 files seem focused on having a CD mounted from which to read the source.

- Mark

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 30 Dec 07 - 07:33 AM

"Pan Records put out a cool cd of Abkhazian and Adzharian songs called 'The Golden Fleece,' as well as a couple of Georgian ones from other regions by artists I mentioned above. I like Pan Records. Any record company that puts out cds of music from Bashkortostan is ok with me:) "

I bought this in Novorossiysk. WOW! It's well worth a listen.

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 30 Dec 07 - 07:42 AM

What an interesting, informative thread - but:

MUD CLONE ALERT - Can an elf please amend the thread title? I managed to misread it, not as Georgian country-vs.-state but as Georgian PERIOD music, i.e. England under the Hanoverian king Georges! Glad I looked in though -

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 02:06 PM

refresh- how about Georgian *women's* music? sheet music sources? A frazzled women's chorus director thanks you!

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: bubblyrat
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 02:14 PM

I think that the Australian male voice choir ( they are VERY eccentric) called "The Spooky Mens Chorale" perform some Georgian songs ; I have no idea as to WHY, but I guess they just like it.Have a listen anyway ( if you think you might like songs about Mastodons, beards,and mens' power-tools !!).

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 Dec 15 - 07:57 PM

Reminded of this by a Georgian Christmas dinner with the neighbours.

I have a couple of salamuris (very good ones, bought by my Georgian neighbour from the best maker in the country) but I am a bit lost as to what to do with them. There doesn't seem to be any material about them on paper, in Georgian or any other languages. One has a fingering system something like one of the varieties of Turkish kaval, the other is just plain weird. I can't begin to match what I see on YouTube videos with what I can pull off on my salamuris. Anybody know of any introductory videos or texts? (Material in Georgian is fine, I can just go across the road for a translation).

Animaterra - look up Sathanao. They are the business.

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: Jack Campin
Date: 26 Dec 15 - 11:37 AM

And another group of women singers, in Laz (a closely related language) rather than Georgian, is Tutarchela (several videos on Youtube). And a Laz woman singer who mostly works solo is Aysenur Kolivar (her style is more Turkish-influenced).

Here is another Laz song, a lullaby with a subtitled text translated into Turkish, about getting mothers to have their babies grow up speaking Laz:

Nini-nana

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Dec 15 - 03:25 PM

Thanks for that link, Jack. A beautiful rendering. Here is
Miriam Elieshvili singing Chven Exla Erturts(have no idea what it's about, but...)

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 26 Dec 15 - 03:33 PM

Sorry, I actual do know what it's about-


Mariam Elieshvili - Now we are looking at each other

Now we are looking at each other through the eyes of love,
And who knows what fire is burning in the heart...
You fiercely threw me a lover's desired look,
I staggered and heartedly laughed.
How strange, who you are, I don't know...
Always looking away, aren't you doing it wrong?
I've got my way and you've got yours to go.
Then, what if I sang you a small love song?
I've no other way; I will put my slings on
I'll take you to Aragvi like a slave on a horse.
What on earth you do, girl, what a time you chose!
Why did you make me think love has no age at all?

ჩვენ ახლა ერთურთს

ჩვენ ახლა ერთურთს სიყვარულის თვალებით ვუმზერთ,
და ვინ რა იცის ვის გულში რა ცეცხლი გიზგიზებს...
უნდობლად დამკარ ნანდაურის ნანატრი მზერა
შევბარბაცდი და გულიანად გადვიკისკისე.
რა საცნაური გახდი ჩემთვის,არ ვიცი ვინ ხარ,
თვალს რომ მარიდებ ჩემო კარგო,ხომ არა სცოდავ,
მე ჩემი გზა მაქვს,გატყობ შენაც თავისით მიხვალ,
მერე რა,თუ კი სიყვარულზე გიმღერე ცოტა.
მეტი გზა არ მაქვს,ამოვიკრავ ფეხზე წრიაპებს,
შეგსვამ ცხენზე და ტყვე ქალივით აგავლებ არაგვს,
რას სჩადი ქალავ ე რაღა დროს ამაწრიალე,
რად დამაჯერე სიყვარულს რომ ასაკი არ აქვს?!

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 03 Sep 17 - 07:55 AM

Feast Like A Georgian

BBC programme about the Georgian "Supra" feast but including some singing in the first half and something from a song collector towards the end.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b092k22x 

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 09 Jun 19 - 07:03 PM

BBC Radio4
Suppression and Survival
The Song Hunters

Singer and song collector Sam Lee travels to Tbilisi to explore the ancient polyphonic folk songs and sacred chants of Georgia. He discovers a nation where singing is in the blood.

With some of Georgia's finest singers and musicologists as his guides, Sam is introduced to the ritualistic folk songs that are said to the control the weather and even cure the sick. He is invited to a feast, high on a mountainside above Tbilisi, where he meets the Chamgelianis - a singing family from the remote region of Svaneti who are keeping the tradition of age-old pre-Christian folk songs alive.

At the beautiful Kashveti Church in the heart of Tbilisi, Sam meets singer and ethno-musicologist John Graham who introduces him to the liturgical chanting tradition. These orthodox Christian chants feature sacrosanct melodies that are said to have been passed down by God and transmitted orally over the centuries.

Bordered by powerful neighbours including Russia and Turkey, Georgia has been attacked and invaded persistently over the centuries, its traditional songs suppressed. Sam learns that, under Soviet rule, sacred chanting was banned in Georgia and chanters threatened with exile and even death. Practitioners were forced to go underground from the early 1920s.

The tradition might have died out entirely were it not for the efforts of a single monk who buried manuscripts containing the forbidden sacred songs in order to keep them safe. Many years later, following the end of the Soviet stranglehold, the buried manuscripts were rediscovered and became the backbone of a chant revival that has seen Georgian singing spread around the world.

Presenter: Sam Lee
Producer: Max O'Brien
A TBI production for BBC Radio 4

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004cpm

Subject: RE: Georgian Music
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 09 Jun 19 - 10:35 PM

Gorani is an Australian male a cappella group who put out a CD in 1999, Traditional Songs from Georgia and Bulgaria. 10 tracks are Georgian, 10 are Bulgarian.