Music of Georgia (country)
Situated on the border of Europe and Asia, Georgia is also the home of a variety of urban singing styles with a mixture of native polyphony, Middle Eastern monophony and late European harmonic languages.
Table songs from Kakheti in eastern Georgia usually feature a long drone bass with two soloists singing the top two parts.
Perhaps the best-known example of music in Kakhetian style is the patriotic "Chakrulo", which was chosen to accompany the Voyager spacecraft in 1977.
It is widely accepted in contemporary musicology that polyphony in Georgian music predates the introduction of Christianity in Georgia (beginning of the 4th century AD).
[4] Vocal polyphony based on ostinato formulas and rhythmic drone are widely distributed in all Georgian regional styles.
[6] Both east and west Georgian polyphony is based on wide use of sharp dissonant harmonies (seconds, fourths, sevenths, ninths).
Georgian polyphonic singing was relisted on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.
[11] Because of the peculiarity of the scale system based on perfect fifths, there is often an augmented octave in Georgian songs and church-songs.
Likewise, between the fifth and the octave come two evenly spaced notes, producing a slightly compressed major sixth and a stretched minor seventh.
Despite the poor technical quality of the old recordings, they often serve as the model of high mastery of the performance of Georgian traditional songs for contemporary ensembles.
At the same time some genres were forbidden (particularly Christian church-songs), and the tendency to create huge regional choirs with big groups singing each melodic part damaged the improvisatory nature of Georgian folk music.
The ensembles Rustavi and later Georgian Voices[16] were particularly active in presenting rich polyphony of various regions of Georgia to western audiences.
[17] Georgian Voices performed alongside Billy Joel, and the Rustavi Choir was featured on the soundtrack to Coen Brothers' 1998 film, The Big Lebowski.
[20] By the mid-1980s, the first ensembles of Georgian music consisting of non-Georgian performers had started to appear outside of Georgia (first in USA and Canada, later in other European countries).
This process became particularly active after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when the Iron Curtain disappeared and travel to the Western countries became possible for Georgians.
Today it is a common practice for Georgian ensembles and traditional singers to visit Western countries for performances and workshops.
[3] Dimitri Arakishvili and Zakaria Paliashvili are considered the most influential figures of study of Georgian folk music.
Grigol Chkhikvadze and Shalva Aslanishvili, born during the last years of the 19th century, received professional education in Russia and became important figures of the study of Georgian traditional music.
Russian musicians Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov and Nikolai Klenovsky also contributed to the early study of Georgian folk music.
After the fall of the Soviet Union a number of Western Scholars started working on Georgian folk music, mostly on different aspects the traditional polyphony.
Among them are Carl Linich, Stuart Gelzer, Susanne Ziegler, Simha Arom, Polo Vallejo, John A. Graham, Lauren Ninoshvili, Caroline Bithell, and Andrea Kuzmich.
This strategic position was attracting various ethnic groups, and Tbilisi early became a cosmopolitan city with many languages and many musical styles mixed together.
Out of different styles the Middle Eastern monophony with augmented seconds, sensual melodies and instrumental accompaniment were particularly popular.
Opening of the opera in 1850 had a profound influence on Georgian urban societies and soon a new style songs became very popular.
Among the composers of the later period were Andria Balanchivadze (brother of George Balanchine), Aleksandre Machavariani, Shalva Mshvelidze, Otar Taktakishvili.
That is done generally because dampness and wind make a certain effect on the instrument's resonant body and the leather that covers it.
In Svaneti and Racha people even could make a weather forecast according to the sound produced by Chianuri.
For instance, one of the relatives (man) of a dead person would sit down in open air by the bonfire and play a sad melody.
In his song (sang in a low voice) he would remember the life of the deceased person and the lives of ancestors of the family.
