Music of Georgia
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- This article is about the music of the country Georgia also known as Sakartvelo. For information about the US state, see Music of Georgia (U.S. state).
| Music of the Caucasus |
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| Abkhazia |
| Adygea |
| Armenia |
| Astrakhan |
| Azerbaijan |
| Chechnya |
| Dagestan |
| Georgia |
| Ingushetia |
| Kalmykia |
| Krasnodar |
| Ossetia |
| Rostov |
Georgian music is characterized by polyphony, which distinguishes it from its neighbors like Armenia. Georgian folk remains vibrant across the country, while modern rock and pop also exists.
Georgian folk songs are often centered around feasts, where songs and toasts to God, long life and other topics. Traditional feast songs include "Zamtari", which is about winter and is sung to commemorate ancestors, and "Mravalzhamier", a joyous hymn. Work songs are also widespread. The orovela, for example, is a type of work song found in eastern Georgia with Armenian characteristics such as a lack of polyphony.
Complex polyphony is distinctively Georgian, usually featuring a primarily melody sung by the middle voice with supporting vocals often producing countermelodies. Choirs are generally entirely male, though some female groups also exist; mixed-gender choirs are rare. Kakheti in eastern Georgia has the most famous polyphonic vocal traditions. The drinking song "Chakrulo", featuring typically Kakhetian voices, two intertwined soloists with dissonance, tensions and releases, was chosen to accompany the Voyager spacecraft in 1977. Dissonance is prominent in the west, in Mingrelia and Guria, which also features, high pitches and outrageous, yodelling-like vocals called krimanchuli. Svaneti's traditions are perhaps the oldest and most traditional due to the region's isolation. Svan harmonies are irregular and angular, and the middle voice leads two supporting vocals, all with a narrow range. The 20th century has seen professional choirs achieve renown in Georgia, especially Anzor Erkomaishvili's Rustavi Choir.
Georgia is home to a form of urban music with sentimental, lovelorn lyrics, as well as a more rough and crude urban music featuring clarinets, doli and duduks.
References
- Broughton, Simon. "A Feast of Songs". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 347-350. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0