Welcome
Folk music is one of the most important elements in the treasure house of Georgian spiritual culture, an aural chronicle of Georgia's centuries-old history.
Through the centuries. Georgia suffered numerous incursions by foreign invaders - Arabs, Mongols, Turks, Persians and other. Georgians have nonetheless preserved their native language and writing, architecture, religion, and unique culture of polyphonic singing. The last is particularly remarkable since Georgian polyphonic folk singing has developed amidst countries whose folk songs is mostly monodic.
The specific geography of Georgia, its historic and social conditions have brought about the development of a number of dialects both linguistic and musical, that are named after the respective place-names: Kakheti, Kartli, Racha, Svaneti, Samegrelo, Imereti, Guria, Ajara and others. The musical dialects of all those regions differ in rhythm, intonation, texture and harmony, while haring one common feature: polyphonic singing.
Three types of polyphonic singing are recognized in Georgia:
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Complex polyphonic singing that is singing in which the different voices are aligned in chords by a common rhythm. This type of polyphonic singing is typical of Svaneti and is of a relatively older region. |
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Polyphonic dialogue of two voices agains a drone base, typical of Eastern Georgia. |
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Contrasting polyphony, that is three independent voices, typical of Western Georgia. |
Georgian folk songs mostly contain three voice parts. However, four-part labour songs are encountered in Guria and Ajara. In these parts of Western Georgia a distinct kind of figurative polyphonic-singing is widespread: "krimanchuli" or "gamkivani", a type of yodel.
Unison singing has survived in the Georgian highland areas - Khevsureti, Tusheti and others.
Monophonic singing is also common for some songs both in the West and in east of Georgia. These are labour songs, lullabies and ritual lament songs. Occasionally they are accompanied by folk instruments - chonguri, panduri, chuniri and others.
Georgian folk music features a wealth and diversity of genres, inexhaustible artistic imagination, exquisitely refined taste, are elaborate and highly developed musical thought. The style and tree diction of Georgian folk singing have come down to us through time being handed down from generation to generation by those outstanding performers whose names are cherished in the people's memory. More than 150 Georgian folk songs from different parts of the country are included in the repertoire of the company: labour songs, lyrical songs, ritual-lament and drinking songs, healing songs and genre songs telling of daily life, traveling and marching songs, songs narrating historic, epic and heroic events, comic and dance songs, and chorales.
Labour songs are an important part of Georgian folk music. They include both solo and group songs reflecting individual and collective labour. Collective labour songs are classified into especially named types: "naduri" in Western Georgia and "mamitadi" in Eastern Georgia.
