The Fifth International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony ...

Outline of a Syntax of Chords in Some Songs from Samegrelo
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of E, G and A) of a harmonic sequence of chords among which only one was supposed to fit the model of the
songs of Samegrelo, while the other three had foreign elements.
With the participation of the members of the ensemble Basiani, we presented these examples to the
audience and, in accordance with our expectations, two of them were immediately rejected by the listeners
while one of them was accepted as “genuine”; this fact partly corroborated our theory. We say “partly”
because one of the examples provoked a heated debate among the audience members because it contained both
elements specific to the style of Samegrelo and others foreign to it. <strong>The</strong> discussion took on such proportions
that we had to organize an extraordinary meeting at the end of the <strong>Symposium</strong> for the purpose of continuing
the debate.
This brought us a double satisfaction: firstly because it stimulated the interest and the participation of our
Georgian colleagues, an aspect that we consider capital for the evolution of the investigation, and also because
we observed that only the experimental method and the act of “forcing” the system, will help us and lead
progressively towards the decoding and understanding of a harmonic language as singular as that of Georgia.
References
Arom, Simha, Vallejo, Polo. (2008). “Towards a <strong>The</strong>ory of the Chord Syntax of Georgian Polyphony”. In: Proceedings of the
IV <strong>International</strong> <strong>Symposium</strong> on Traditional Polyphony. P. 309-335. Editors: Tsurtsumia, Rusudan and Jordania, Joseph. Tbilisi:
<strong>International</strong> Research Center for Traditional Polyphony of Tbilisi State Conservatoire