Musically speaking, Georgia is divided into two
regions: east and west. However, both regions share many of the same styles and
are known for their vocal polyphony.
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| Panduri |
Polyphony is when each line of music has its own
individual line, as opposed to harmony lines. No matter the region, a cappella singing
is generally the form of a lot of vocal music, especially music before the 20th
century. Typically, this vocal style consists of two to four voices sung in a
polyphonic fashion, but it’s also based on an ostinato bass and rhythmic
drones. You’ll also find the use of the drones a common practice throughout
much of the Balkans. In Western Georgia, they have their own type of yodel
called krimanchuli that utilizes many of these contrapuntal and polyphonic
features.
Another key feature is the use of dissonant interval
notes. These include 2nds, 4ths, 7ths, and 9ths. They often make use of
suspended chords, which gives a dissonance between the 4th and the 5th
notes of the chord. I remember
reading about Albanian and Bulgarian music that these dissonant chords were
often used in shepherds’ songs as a way of communicating to other shepherds in
neighboring fields. The dissonant notes carried farther.
Tuning was originally based on perfect fourths and
perfect fifths. This goes back to Medieval music traditions. If you listen to
Gregorian (or other) chants, you’ll hear the how the music is based on this. However,
traditional Georgian music is tuned slightly differently than the twelve
evenly-spaced half notes that comprise an octave used in most of the rest of
Europe.
Georgians view music as a social or community
event. Whenever there is any call for a celebration –a birth, a wedding, a
birthday– people gather to sing. Many times, small groups of singers are more
popular, especially trios. Dancing is also tied in with social events. They
have several types of dances performed in a number of situations: Kartuli (a
romantic dance danced by a couple, slow and dignified movements), Khorumi (a
men-only dance performed by as many as 30-40 men as a pre-war dance), Partsa
(fast-paced, rhythmic, characterized by dancer’s ability for quick movements,
incites a party atmosphere), Khanjluri (men dress in traditional red chokhas,
the dance is performed with daggers and knives), Jeirani (a type of hunting
dance), Davluri (a type of city dance), and Mkhedruli (a type of cavalryman’s
dance).
Their music isn’t all vocal music however. They do
play instruments as well. Some of
the most commonly played instruments in Georgian music are the larchemi (a
Georgian panpipe), stviri (flute), changi (harp), gudastviri (bagpipe),
chonguri (four-stringed, unfretted, long-neck lute), panduri (three-stringed,
fretted, long-neck lute), and several different types of percussion
instruments, such as the doli, daira, and diplipito.
One of the most well-known bands from Georgia is
called The Shin, which means “home” or “going home” in Georgia. (Not to be confused
with The Shins, an American indie rock band.) They represented their country in
this year’s (2014) Eurovision Song Contest; however, they got last place and
didn’t advance. But I like their
style. It’s a mix of jazz and blues with minimal vocals. They have some interesting chord changes,
something that stems from traditional Georgian music, yet it all seems to mesh
quite nicely.
Another band that seems to find inspiration in some
of their styles is called 33a. Minimal to a degree, at times it reminds me of
Phil Collins or Sting. He also incorporates jazz elements into him music, and
with his bass voice, it adds a unique quality to the music. He's actually pretty versatile.
And of course, Georgians are not exempt from girl
pop music. The band Candy fulfills it to every extend needed. Singing in a mix
of Georgian and English, they remind me of Japanese pop music groups. A few
moderately catchy tunes sung by cute girls is probably enough to draw the
attention of teenagers across the country. It’s as my dad used to call pop
music: bubblegum music.
Sofia Nizharadze sings entirely in English on the
album I listened to called We Are All.
When I listened to this album, I felt that it would fit right in nicely with
early-to-mid-1990s albums, even though it was produced this year. She actually
represented Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2010, which brought
attention not only to Georgian musicians, but pushed her own music career as
well. In fact, she was a judge on the “Georgia’s Got Talent” TV show. Needless
to say, she’s pretty popular.
I also listened to Lela Tsurtsumia’s album Yamo Helessa. She’s been performing
since the late 1990s. I found her music unique because it’s a fusion of pop and
folk. It’s a pretty good example of listening for the drone I talked about
earlier. I actually really like this album. I found the combination of strings and harp with the hollow
vocal harmonies of the perfect fourths and fifth mystifying yet relaxing. In
other songs, the traditional rhythms and moving flute lines reminded me of
Renaissance dance music. It definitely made me feel as if I were part of something
very ancient.
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