The Fifth International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony ...

398
Jeremy Foutz
Many Georgians that I have interviewed assert that Georgian traditional vocal music – especially sacred
vocal music – is unchanged and originates in the distant past. A choirmaster at a Georgian Orthodox church
said (through a translator) that though it is impossible to know the exact origins of Georgian traditional vocal
music, she asserts that it dates to the beginning of Georgia, before Christ, as this music was such an integral
part of Georgian life. As she put it, when they mourned, they sang. When they were happy, they sang. When
they worked in the field, they sang. She also expressed faith in the Orthodox church, and the patriarchs
specifically, in preserving this “treasure of Georgia”, despite its transcription into “international”/Western
notation. Later in the interview, she states that the sacred music is unchanged from the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, with the exception of some variations of tonal modes, due to careful, deliberate oral transmission
and because of the faithfulness of the Georgian people to Christianity (Foutz, Interview subject B011, 2009).
Similar issues of what I call traditionality arise in Ellen Koskoff’s work, Music in the Lubavitcher Life, in
which she describes the music of a specific Jewish subgroup, the Lubavitchers. <strong>The</strong> exact meaning and reality
of this claim of tradition varies depending on age and religion. Just as the there were differences in musical
practice within the Lubavitcher community (Koskoff, 2001), there are differences in perceptions and practice
of traditionality among Georgians. Many Georgians acknowledge that “of course” changes were made, but
the essence is untouched.
In the case of Georgian traditional vocal music, many specifics regarding the performance traditions and
the songs themselves have been preserved and revived. Thankfully, research into vocal traditions of specific
chanting schools and other forms of traditional vocal music continues through the work of many scholars
and musicians. In many cases, the work of the scholars directly informs the musical performances, such as
in Ensemble Sakhioba, Ensemble Mtiebi, and in many Georgian Orthodox church choirs. Field recording
expeditions are used to help preserve and further understanding of Georgian traditional vocal music, as heard
in the work of Ensemble Mzetamze.
Initial Implications and Applications of Ancientness and Traditionality
At this stage of investigation, the importance of ancientness and traditionality is embodied in the efforts
of Georgians and Georgian ethnomusicologists to lay claim to musics of the past. In my upcoming theses,
I suggest that ancientness and traditionality in the context of Georgian traditional vocal music are part of a
natural dialogue of difference-making.
Two main types of difference-making are especially relevant in the work of the social theorist, Georg
Simmel. Firstly, he describes spheres of influence/organization in Essays on Religion. Religion is one of the
great spheres or “great forms of existence”, as Simmel states, organizing everything else within its body of
beliefs and creating an independent hierarchy of ideas. He asserts that as we interact with “personal or material
forces”, they are mostly made subordinate to the whole of our life as it currently exists (Simmel, 1977: 137).
Different cultures may have different organizing spheres of existence. Furthermore, if forces are sufficiently
disruptive or “urgent”, they can only be acknowledged and resolved by a reorganizing of life elements in which
the disruption becomes the primary sphere (Simmel, 1977: 137). Georgia’s history is filled with examples of
the Russian and Soviet government’s push for a sphere centered on the czar, or later, the cult of personality of
Stalin. In contrast, my understanding – informed by Georgian traditional vocal music, written representations
of history, ethnomusicological literature, as well as my interviews and discussions with current Georgians– is
that the Georgian sphere is organized around religion and agrarian lifestyle. Though she does not mention these
theories, Tamar Meskhi gives this example: “If traditional folklore preached for generations against violence,