who asked the first question? - International Research Center For ...
who asked the first question? - International Research Center For ... who asked the first question? - International Research Center For ...
78East GeorgiaEast Georgia consists of two of Georgia’s biggest ethnographic regions – Kakheti(the Southeastern part) and Kartli (the central part) and five (some maintain six) smallmountain regions in the Northeastern part of Georgia: Khevsureti, Pshavi, Tusheti,Khevi, Mtiuleti (and according to some classifications – Gudamakari as well.Garakanidze, 1991).The plain regions of eastern Georgia – Kartli and Kakheti - have always beenhistorically central for Georgia. State unity started here, and the capital city (Tbilisi) hasbeen the centre of Georgia for the last 1500 years. The best-known feature of easternGeorgian traditional singing is the presence of long, “drawn-out” table songs from Kartliand particularly Kakheti. These songs are performed by the two melodic lines singingagainst a background of a steady pedal drone on “O”. The leading melodies are alwaysperformed by the individual singers, and the drone by all the others. So, for example, ifthere are two hundred singers at the wedding, and (as usual) they all join in singing, onlytwo of the best singers would sing the two leading top parts, and the other 198 will singthe drone. The leading melodic lines have a wide range (about an octave or wider) and ofthese two melodies one is usually a bit higher than the other. The lower melody isconsidered to be the leading part of the song (mkmeli, the one who speaks, or the “firstvoice”), who usually starts a song, followed by the higher “second voice” or modzakhili(the one who follows). The main task of both lead singers is to ornament their melodiclines. The tempo is usually slow, and the songs are mostly performed in free time. Todaythese two parts quite often sing in parallel thirds, although recordings of the first half ofthe 20 th century show that the coordination between these two melodic lines was freer,ranging from seconds to sixths. Some major sections of eastern Georgian table songs areperformed in two parts, as the leading singers sometimes alternate with each other.Ex. 29. Tamar Kalo [Maiden Tamar]. East Georgian table song (openingsection). (Garakanidze, Jordania, 2004:114)
79According to a common belief of Georgian ethnomusicologists, this kind of threepartdrone polyphony evolved from two-part drone polyphony with alternating mainsingers, when the two main singers started singing some sections together, graduallyincreasing these sections. As a matter of fact, in a few of my earlier publications Isuggested that the enigmatic name of the most famous East Georgian table song“Chakrulo” represents this historical evolution from a two-part (alternating) to a threepart(combined, “embraced”) singing of two lead singers. The term Chakrulo literallymeans “embraced”, of “tied together” (Jordania, 1981, 1984, 1989).Although the base is a pedal drone in eastern Georgian “long” table songs, it doesmove, leading to key changes (modulations). These occasional base moves are extremelyimportant for the overall form of a song. These key changes, or modulations, make up themain tonal body of the table song. For example, the tonal body of the famous table song“Chakrulo” consists of the following modulations (indicating only the key changes): G –E – F# – G# – A# – G# – F – G – A – B. These base movements are the most stableelement of East Georgian table songs, as they are performed by a big group of singers inunison and are less prone to any changes and improvisations.These modulations are one of the most fascinating elements of East Georgiantable songs, as they are relatively rare among traditional polyphonic cultures. Aslanishviliwas the first to investigate this important sphere (Aslanishvili, 1970). I have dedicatedmy 1982 PhD thesis (Jordania, 1982) to them, and they deserve to be discussed at leastbriefly.Modulations can go both ways – downwards and upwards. More varieties occurduring downward modulations. Downwards modulations can bring the key a majorsecond, minor and major third down. Upwards modulations are almost exclusively by themajor second up. Two more complex modulations – by the minor second down and theminor second up - happen only in another famous eastern Georgian “long” table song –“Long Kakhetian Mravalzhamier”. Here are the “harmonic skeletons” of twomodulations that take place in East Georgian table songs: (1) minor third down (from Gto E). This modulation is prepared by the specific melodic formula in the top part, singingthe phrase from the octave to the fifths of the future scale, and (2) minor second up (fromG to G#). This modulation involves complex chain of chord progression from G, A, B,F# and finally G#:Fig. 2. Modulation from G to E tonal centre
- Page 28 and 29: western Georgian polyphonic “trio
- Page 30 and 31: 30contains more than one compositio
- Page 32 and 33: 32rhythmic component in African mus
- Page 34 and 35: Gerhard Kubik, if you want to count
- Page 36 and 37: 36missionaries was very much aided
- Page 38 and 39: as witness recordings by barely a d
- Page 40 and 41: 40England provides an incredibly in
- Page 42 and 43: of West Africa is a well-known and
- Page 44 and 45: 44African populations played a cruc
- Page 46 and 47: 46unusual element of Tuareg culture
- Page 48 and 49: 48heterophony). European profession
- Page 50 and 51: 50famously declared that to verify
- Page 52 and 53: Out of these five main types of Rus
- Page 54 and 55: 54heterophonic and octave forms of
- Page 56 and 57: 56Ex. 3. Abkhazia. (Akhobadze, Kort
- Page 58 and 59: 58Balkarians and KarachaevisThese t
- Page 60 and 61: 60Ossetian polyphony is based on th
- Page 62 and 63: 62Garakanidze, who conducted a shor
- Page 64 and 65: 64in the southern part of the settl
- Page 66 and 67: 66Almeeva noted the presence of the
- Page 68 and 69: 68UkraineRegarding polyphonic singi
- Page 70 and 71: 70200), the difference between dron
- Page 72 and 73: 72BelarusBelarus is a part of the
- Page 74 and 75: 74Besides the drone and heterophoni
- Page 76 and 77: 76of the feast traditions and long
- Page 80 and 81: 80Fig. 3. Modulation from G to G# t
- Page 82 and 83: 82Polyphonic singing traditions in
- Page 84 and 85: 84In this four-part section we can
- Page 86 and 87: 86Improvisation in western Georgian
- Page 88 and 89: 88During our 1999 fieldwork in Geor
- Page 90 and 91: 90Interestingly, as Anzor Erkomaish
- Page 92 and 93: 92Different western Georgian dialec
- Page 95 and 96: 95Ex. 37. Lile. Ritual song dedicat
- Page 97 and 98: 97David Shugliashvili, both eastern
- Page 99 and 100: 99Urban MusicThe urban singing styl
- Page 101 and 102: 101Ex. 42. Suliko. Urban love song.
- Page 103 and 104: 103In Georgian traditional polyphon
- Page 105 and 106: 105BalkansThe Balkans are one of th
- Page 107 and 108: 107the tradition of polyphonic sing
- Page 109 and 110: 109It represents an interesting mix
- Page 111 and 112: 111Ex. 54. Bosnia and Herzegovina,
- Page 113 and 114: 113MacedoniaSpeaking about Macedoni
- Page 115 and 116: 115Ex. 59. Albania. Laberi style po
- Page 117 and 118: 117of fact, together with Romania,
- Page 119 and 120: 119countries of the Baltic region a
- Page 121 and 122: 121research about sutartines (Slavi
- Page 123 and 124: 123LatviaAnother Baltic country, La
- Page 125 and 126: 125Ex. 68. Estonia. Setu polyphony
- Page 127 and 128: 127Tbilisi State Conservatory in th
78East GeorgiaEast Georgia consists of two of Georgia’s biggest ethnographic regions – Kakheti(<strong>the</strong> Sou<strong>the</strong>astern part) and Kartli (<strong>the</strong> central part) and five (some maintain six) smallmountain regions in <strong>the</strong> Nor<strong>the</strong>astern part of Georgia: Khevsureti, Pshavi, Tusheti,Khevi, Mtiuleti (and according to some classifications – Gudamakari as well.Garakanidze, 1991).The plain regions of eastern Georgia – Kartli and Kakheti - have always beenhistorically central for Georgia. State unity started here, and <strong>the</strong> capital city (Tbilisi) hasbeen <strong>the</strong> centre of Georgia for <strong>the</strong> last 1500 years. The best-known feature of easternGeorgian traditional singing is <strong>the</strong> presence of long, “drawn-out” table songs from Kartliand particularly Kakheti. These songs are performed by <strong>the</strong> two melodic lines singingagainst a background of a steady pedal drone on “O”. The leading melodies are alwaysperformed by <strong>the</strong> individual singers, and <strong>the</strong> drone by all <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rs. So, for example, if<strong>the</strong>re are two hundred singers at <strong>the</strong> wedding, and (as usual) <strong>the</strong>y all join in singing, onlytwo of <strong>the</strong> best singers would sing <strong>the</strong> two leading top parts, and <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r 198 will sing<strong>the</strong> drone. The leading melodic lines have a wide range (about an octave or wider) and of<strong>the</strong>se two melodies one is usually a bit higher than <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r. The lower melody isconsidered to be <strong>the</strong> leading part of <strong>the</strong> song (mkmeli, <strong>the</strong> one <strong>who</strong> speaks, or <strong>the</strong> “<strong>first</strong>voice”), <strong>who</strong> usually starts a song, followed by <strong>the</strong> higher “second voice” or modzakhili(<strong>the</strong> one <strong>who</strong> follows). The main task of both lead singers is to ornament <strong>the</strong>ir melodiclines. The tempo is usually slow, and <strong>the</strong> songs are mostly performed in free time. Today<strong>the</strong>se two parts quite often sing in parallel thirds, although recordings of <strong>the</strong> <strong>first</strong> half of<strong>the</strong> 20 th century show that <strong>the</strong> coordination between <strong>the</strong>se two melodic lines was freer,ranging from seconds to sixths. Some major sections of eastern Georgian table songs areperformed in two parts, as <strong>the</strong> leading singers sometimes alternate with each o<strong>the</strong>r.Ex. 29. Tamar Kalo [Maiden Tamar]. East Georgian table song (openingsection). (Garakanidze, Jordania, 2004:114)
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