The Fifth International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony ...

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THE DYNAMICS OF THE EVOLUTION OF ONE SONG
(ON THE EXAMPLE OF
PATARA SAQVARELO – MY LITTLE LOVE)
NINO RAZMADZE (GEORGIA)
A constant evolution, as an essential condition for the existence of oral traditional music, is one of the
significant aspects of ethnomusicology. From this viewpoint of great interest is Georgian traditional music
whose environment changed greatly in the last century.
At the junction of the nineteenth-twentieth centuries Georgian countryside led the life characteristic of
feudal society and the environment of the Georgian “homo-polyphonicuses” (I. Zemtsovski), as those adhering
to the traditional musical mentality was almost the same as several centuries before. People, living in villages,
were linked to one another both by the ties of blood, everyday life pattern and religious, ideological and other
factors. This all created the environment within which Georgian polyphony was passed down from generation
to generation in a traditional way, when young people adopt and master the repertory, the singing manner and
performing forms naturally, imitating their elders.
As it is usually known, in the twentieth century the same village population had to live under greatly
changeable socio-political conditions, which was reflected very clearly in the transformation of the forms of
folklore music and popular life pattern.
I have a unique opportunity to present the dynamics of Georgian polyphonic thinking in the traditional
performing manner of the twentieth century, also to show how the individual or ensemble forms of preserving
traditional music have changed, their diversity and richness always distinguishing Georgian musical folklore.
In the present paper I am going to focus my attention on one love song – Patara Saqvarelo, about 20
specimens of this song recorded in different periods of the twentieth century: on the basic of their analysis I
will show the possibilities of their variation evolution, the specific features of their form, melodics, harmony,
the number of parts and their coordination, I will also dwell on the constant and changeable elements of
these parameters.
<strong>The</strong> song Patara Saqvarelo is very popular in Guria and Imereti. It resembles such songs widespread in
other provinces of Georgia, which are difficult to assign to any definite part of this country.
First of all, I tried to determine the common archetypical texture of the specimens I have discussed and
present the melodic-harmonic basis on which subsequently its multifarious variants were constructed (ex. 1)
Here are the normative parameters of the song, the factors conditioning their dynamics and changeability:
1. <strong>The</strong> Performance Form:
As a rule, songs with gadadzakhili 1 (Me Rustveli, Indi Mindi and others) are performed by a trio and a
unison choir (gadadzakhili).
In the songs, I have discussed, different variants occur. For instance, the trio part is sung both by three and
several performers, when there is one performer in the upper parts and the bass part is performed by several
singers. Very rarely the latter is performed by the choir (several people in the upper voices). In such a case,
even the beginning of the song can be performed by several singers.
<strong>The</strong> part of gadadzakhili is often performed by the unison choir, sometimes by the bass part of the trio,