Georgia : Sacred And Secular Vocal Polyphony

Description

Today, still intimately intertwined with daily and spiritual life (through Orthodox liturgy as well as epic songs, entertainment, weddings, work, lullabies, etc.), the sophisticated polyphony of Georgia – passionately and inventively performed by the Basiani Ensemble – evokes a distant musical past while also demonstrating a surprising modernity. Polyphonic singing has been practiced in Georgia since time immemorial. Even today, this remarkably varied musical heritage continues to be associated with the material and symbolic life of a people who express their emotions and reaffirm their existence through collective singing. This traditional art plays a central role during important moments of daily life. It is practiced by all: especially by groups of men, groups of women (fewer in number), and by rare mixed groups. However, this music belongs to the entire community, and every Georgian is qualified to take part. Each region of Georgia has its own linguistic characteristics, dialects, as well as its own forms of music with diverse styles and processes linked to specific circumstances. The beauty, refinement, and complexity of its sacred and secular vocal polyphony, deeply rooted in Europe within a clearly Mediterranean atmosphere (a true ancestral tradition of viticulture and gastronomy), go hand in hand with the use since the 11th century of a language (kartuli) in a non-Cyrillic alphabet (mkhedruli), which is also unique in the world.