Georgian Music
The many-voiced Georgian songs and national dances corresponds to the Georgian temperament, the everyday life and the character of the Georgians.
Georgian singing is considered as a unique creation of mankind. Folk songs and Georgian chorales are sung by three to four independent voices. The archaic tone sequences are simple and shows a great tension and intensity in the multitude. In Georgian singing there are eight voices, which are still performed today:
Known as Georgian polyphony.
The ancient ways are unanimous or solo songs and usually purely vocal. They are characterized by melismatic, improvisation and their rhythmic freedom. These include cradles, a song sung by plowing, threshing, the sun song "Lile" or the swan ritualized "Kviria", sung in honor of the fertility god of the same name of the day of St. Quiricus (Kvirike).
The two-voice songs, especially among the East Georgian Mountains, also bears very archaic features.
From the 11th century onwards, three-voice chants, which reached a high level in secular and spiritual singing art in the 12th and 13th century. To this day, the trinity remained the main form of traditional Georgian vocal music.
In the great cities of Georgia, Tbilisi and Kutaisi, an independent urban singing art is developed. In Tbilisi, which was a multiethnic city until the 20th century, one also encounters non-Georgian oriental music melodies.
In the 19th century an European subsidiary form of the Georgian folk was created. It came from the influence of Italian, especially Neapolitan songs, which learned the Georgians in the port cities. Many folks are sung without instrumental accompaniment. They are distinguished by their melody and variety. They are based on different diatonic tonality.
The importance of Georgian singing is also demonstrated by the fact that, in 1977, NASA sent the Georgian folk song "Chakrulo" on board of the Voyager spacecraft, on a golden CD with 25 best songs in the world. Chakrulo is the classic Georgian choral song, which is recorded on the World Heritage List of UNESCO.
Georgian Dance
Georgian dances belong to the cultural creation of the world. From the field of peasant dances, he has attained a high artistic level.
The Georgian dance tells the story of love, war, and heroism. In breathtaking dances reflects the relationship between man and woman, their dignity and the importance in society. Although Christianity (4th century BC) has influenced the Georgian dance, pagan traditions have survived, especially in remote mountain regions. The dancers often revert to old traditional or long introduced dance elements.
Georgian dance is wild passionate. In fast body movements, the dancers often swirl on toes on the stage. Ten different rotations are marked in the male top dance. Significant are the standing, the rotation, and the one-or two-legged jump on the top with the legs.
In the dancers, the top dance is unimaginative. They make small, easy steps, their long robes concealing the individual steps. Important elements are twists. Her art shows her self-confidence, her knowledge of her beauty, her irresistible charm, and finally the understanding of his conquest. It is typical of the Georgian dance that the back as in men, so also with women remain immobile, while the arms and legs are in a whirling movement.
"Your body control makes your breath stop. Like an arrow headed by an arch, they flutter over the stage, absolutely synchronous. What they show is much more than just folklore. It is acrobatics in the highest perfection. "- GENERALINWAGER BONN.