About Georgian Folk Song
The most distinctive feature of Georgian
folk song is that it is polyphonic in its original folk context. Scholars
believe Georgian folk song has been polyphonic for many centuries, perhaps even
for a millennium or more. The vast
majority of these songs are in three voice parts. Georgians are proud of their traditional polyphony,
designated by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of
Humanity.
Georgian polyphony takes a wide variety of
forms and regional varieties. Some
songs use ornamented upper parts over a drone bass (e. g. TsÕintÕsqaro): these songs are most prevalent in the eastern part of the
country. Some polyphony is
completely independent, with the three parts singing different melody, rhythm
and text at the same time (e. g. Perad shindi):
these are typical of the region of Guria in western Georgia. Other songs are homophonic, with text
in all three parts generally moving at the same time (e. g. MokÕle
shemodzakhili).
The homophonic approach is generally used
in Georgian Orthodox liturgical music, a very rich and long-standing musical
tradition now being revitalized in churches across Georgia. Shen khar venakhi, one of the best known and revered of Georgian liturgical texts, is
included in this collection, along with Aliluia.
Like folk songs from the rest of the world,
Georgian songs are traditionally connected with events of daily life. There are work songs, laments,
lullabies, songs about historical events or figures, ritual songs, healing
songs, traveling songs, comic and dance songs. Table songs are a particularly important genre, with the
tradition of the supra (feast) with an elaborate
series of toasts and songs occupying a central position in Georgian traditional
culture.
Georgian Folk Song in Performance
Near the turn of the 20th
century, Georgian folk songs began to attract the attention of the wider
musical community, through early wax and gramophone recordings, then through
ensembles that presented this repertoire on the concert stage. Soviet-era emphasis on folk music as
evidence of the power of native peoples brought a number of changes, as
performance by large choirs and folk instrument ensembles was promoted, and
content of song lyrics was altered to fit socialist ideology. Today, folk performance ensembles in
Georgia rarely number more than 15 voices. Many of the best-known ensembles are male voice groups, such
as the Rustavi Choir. Mixed-voice ensembles
often include members of families, in which many of these songs were handed
down through the generations.
There are womenÕs ensembles as well, often performing music
traditionally associated with women.
The distribution of singers on the various
voice parts has been done in different ways by Georgian ensembles. Often, there is just one singer on each
of the top two parts, with all other singers on the bass or bani part. Even when this
practice is not followed, the number of singers on the bottom part is usually
the largest, and the Western choral concept of numerical voice-part balance is
not applicable to Georgian folk music.