Recent Posts
Maksime Sharadze
Maksime Sharadze (1859-1908) Publisher, Cultural activist, Organizer See original 2005 publication of this article here. Maksime Sharadze remains a relatively unknown figure to historians. Few personal artifacts, photographs, or written accounts... Read More
Karbelashvili brothers history
Karbelashvili brothers In the nineteenth century, as Georgia was subsumed into the cultural and political arena of the expanding Russian Empire, various traditional art forms began to be forgotten amidst increasing urbanization,... Read More
Kviria – Svan Ritual Chant
One of the most important and historically layered Svan ritual songs is the hymn Kviria. Like many hymns passed down orally over the centuries, Kviria exists in multiple variants. However, some of... Read More
Svanetian Chant: Introduction
Svaneti’s culture is famed in Georgia for being archaic and harsh, with Upper Svaneti often described as a “living museum” that offers insights into the worldview and customs of ancient Georgia.... Read More
Ts’utisopeli Project: A Soundscape of Eastern Georgia
I can’t remember when I first heard ts’utisopeli spoken, though it impressed me that so much could be communicated in a single word. Translated literally, ts’utisopeli means “minute village.” The expression, a... Read More
One Old Georgian Musical Term (Mortuleba)
Of the musical terms attested in Medieval Georgian written sources, special attention attaches to the term mortuleba (“harmony”). It is polysemantic and occurs in various branches of Georgian literature (theological... Read More
The Georgian Modal System
1. INTRODUCTION The present paper discusses selected results from my dissertation work on “The History of Georgian Chant Notation and the Georgian Musical System” (Erkvanidze, 2014). One of the main challenges in the... Read More
Trisagion Hymn – East Syriac and Georgian connections
Part III: East Syriac and Georgian Connections Part I: Chanting Around the Throne of God (Theological and Ritual Perspectives) Part II: Musical Analysis of the Georgian Trisagion Hymn We now return... Read More
