კულტურა პლუს 4(6) 2016

kultura plus / CULTURE PLUS 34 (5) (6) 2016

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s a g a n m a n a T l e b l o - s a z o g a d o e b r i v i

J u r n a l i

sarCevi / Contents Cvens erovnul navs

2

TO THE BOAT OF OUR NATION

koleqciebis sainformacio sistema

8

INFORMATION SYSTEM OF GEORGIAN MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Telavi. festivalis anatomia

14

TELAVI – A FESTIVAL’S ANATOMY

me CemTvis vxatav...

28

I PAINT FOR MYSELF

Teatraluri vnebebis da repeticiis Semdeg

40

AFTER THEATRICAL PASSION AND REHEARSALS

aleqsiZis baleti

48

ALEKSIDZE’S BALLET

Tbilisuri ezo

60

TBILISIAN YARD

promeTes molodinSi

70

WAITING FOR PROMETHEUS

Tanamedrove evropis makbeturi suraTi

80

A MACBETHIAN PICTURE OF CONTEMPORARY EUROPE

voisa

88

VOISA

saredaqcio jgufi EDITORIAL STAFF revaz iukuriZe ramaz Wilaia xaTuna kereseliZe aleqsandre ServaSiZe qeiTi ruTi deivisi

REVAZ IUKURIDZE RAMAZ CHILAIA KHATUNA KERESELIDZE ALEKSANDRE SHERVASHIDZE KATIE RUTH DAVIES

dizaineri DESIGNER nikoloz bagrationi NIKOLOZ BAGRATIONI

el-fosta: kulturaplusm@gmail.com facebook.com/kulturaplusm tel: 032 298 96 13 gamodis kvartalSi erTxel JurnalSi ganTavsebuli masalis gamoyeneba SeiZleba mxolod redaqciis TanxmobiT

Issued quarterly The material published in this magazine cannot be used without the authorization of the editorial staff

ISSN 2346-8165 beWdva: Sps „sezani“ / Print: LTD Cezanne

garekanze: irakli farjiani, `aRdgoma~; foto: gia CxataraSvilisa Cover: Irakli Parjiani, “The Resurrection“; Photo: Gia Chkhatarashvili

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jemal qarCxaZe dRes saTqmeli araferi gvaqvs. xval rom gvqondes, dRes niRbebi unda gadavyaroT da sakuTar Tavs mware simarTle vuTxraT...

Jemal Karchkhadze Today we have nothing to say. If we want to have something to tell tomorrow, we should lay aside our masks and face the bitter truth...

Cvens erovnul navs To the boat of our nation 2

aRali inteligenturi suli dRes Cvens sazogadoebaSi ar trialebs. imitom, rom namdvili inteligencia Cven, arsebiTad, ara gvyavs. me inteligentSi ar vgulisxmob iseT kacs, romelsac axla eZaxian inteligents da romlis inteligentobis mTavari niSani umaRlesi ganaTlebis mowmobaa, aseTi inteligentebi araTu gvyavs, imaze metica gvyavs, vidre sasurvelia. inteligentSi me vgulisxmob adamians, romelsac cxoveluri sawyisi bolomde daZleuli aqvs da mxolod sulier da inteleqtualur moTxovnilebaTa Sesabamisad cxovrobs. aseTi inteligenti, upirveles yovlisa, bunebrivi movlenaa. bunebrioba misi arsebobis yovlismomcveli formaa, SeiZleba iTqvas, is enaa, romelzedac misi cxovrebis istoria iwereba. amitom inteligentis niSanTvisebebze laparaki araswori iqneba. ar SeiZleba, magaliTad, imis Tqma, rom patiosneba inteligentis Tvisebaa, rogorc ar SeiZleba imis Tqma, rom sunTqva adamianis Tvisebaa. sunTqva aris ara Tviseba, aramed garduvaloba. inteligents, ubralod, ar SeuZlia patiosani ar iyos, demokrati ar iyos, humanisti ar iyos, Sinaganad Tavisufali ar iyos, Tavmdabali ar iyos... an: inteligents ar SeuZlia pativmoyvare iyos, ampartavani iyos, Suri awuxebdes, cdunebas ahyves, kritika aRizianebdes, Cinmedlebs mieltvodes...

Tu vinmes es suraTi zedmetad maqsimalisturi moeCvenos, gadaavlos Tvali ivane javaxiSvilis, eqvTime TayaiSvilis, petre meliqiSvilis da uamrav maT TanamedroveTa pirad cxovrebas da darwmundeba, rom gadaWarbebuli aq araferia. erTi garegani niSanic vici inteligentisa: xepre ver itans. inteligenti sanTelia, romelic Tavisi cxovrebis ares anaTebs. roca qveyanaSi aseTi sanTeli bevria, maSin qveyana gaCiraRdnebulia. rac ufro cotaa sanTeli, qveyanac

There is no spirit of high intelligence in our current society. Because we essentially don’t have a real intelligentsia. By intellectual, I don’t mean someone who is called intelligent, and whose main evidence for intelligence is a university degree – we do not only have this kind of people, we have more of them than we should. By an intellectual, I mean someone who has completely conquered their animal instinct and lives only according to their spiritual and intellectual obligations.

Such intellectuals, first of all, are a natural phenomenon. Naturalness is the universal form of their existence, and we could say that it is the language in which the history of their lives is written. Therefore, it would be incorrect to talk about the characteristics of intellectuals.

For example, we cannot say that honesty is a feature of intellectuals, just as we cannot say that breathing is a feature of humans. It is not a feature, but an inevitability. In other words, intellectuals simply cannot be dishonest, nondemocratic, inhumane; nor can they not be free internally, not be modest... They cannot be arrogant, vain, moved by envy, tempted, irritated by critical approach, or have careerist passions.

If you think that this depiction is too maximalistic, you only need to look at the private lives of Ivane Javakhishvili, Ekvtime Takaishvili, Petre Melikishvili and numerous other contemporaries of theirs to understand that there is no exaggeration here.

I also know an external sign to recognize intellectuals: uncivilized people can’t stand them.

An intellectual is a candle that lights the space around him/her. When there are plenty of those candles, the country is illuminated. The fewer the candles, the darker it gets; and darkness serves as a shelter for thieves, but also for those who once thought they were honest, and maybe really were, but now they cannot resist temptation.

Just as conscience serves as a biological containment factor and is a precondition for peaceful cohabitation among people, intellectuals function as containment factors for social behavior, offering higher moral values, and acting as preconditions for lawfulness and justice.

Moreover, intelligentsia, as the symbol of the nation and the meter of its potential, is the driving force of spiritual progress, the whip and bridle of enchanted horses.

3

miT ufro Cabnelebulia, sibneleSi ki ara marto qurdebi gamodian saSovarze; bevri imaTgani, vinc Tavs patiosnad Tvlida da, SesaZlebelia, iyo kidec patiosani, ar SeiZleba nel-nela cdunebas ar ahyves. rogorc sindissa aqvs biologiuri Semkaveblis funqcia, rac adamianTa mSvidobiani Tanacxovrebis sawindaria, ise inteligencias aqvs sazogadoebrivi Semkaveblis funqcia, rac ufro maRali zneobrivi safexuria da kanonierebisa da samarTlianobis sawindari. amave dros inteligencia, rogorc eris saxe da misi potenciis sazomi, sulieri ganviTarebis mamoZravebeli Zalaa, zRapruli raSebis maTraxica da lagamic. saqarTveloSi aseTi inteligencia mTeli mecxramete saukunis ganmavlobaSi iqmneboda. saukunis miwuruls Camoyalibda kidec da Cvenma istoriamac SvebiT amoisunTqa, radgan swored es iyo eris gadarCenis erTaderTi piroba. meoce saukunis dasawyisSi ki ukve SeiZleboda laparaki ara marto imaze, rom saqarTvelom sabolood daaRwia Tavi Sua saukuneebis sibneles, aramed imazec, rom saqarTvelos amisaTvis minimaluri dro dasWirda, rac eris didi Sinagani Zalis maCvenebeli iyo. dRes inteligencia, arsebiTad, ara gvyavs. is ramdenime sanTeli, romlebic jer kidev anTia, mxolod ramdenime sanTelia da erTian sinaTles ver qmnis. ocdaaTiani wlebis najaxma Cvens erovnul xes mTavari totebi daaWra. saqarTvelo umTavresad swored inteligenciisagan gaiwminda (xepre ver itans!), tradicia ki jer kidev ar iyo iseTi Zalisa, rom gadaWrili totebis adgilas axals amoeyara. amas arc dro uwyobda xels da arc goniereba. inteligencia rom Seiqmnas iq, sadac inteligencia ar aris, pirvel rigSi saWiroa imis aRiareba, rom inteligencia ar aris. CvenSi ki drom da ugunurebam xelovnuri inteligenciis gamoCarxva scada. es uazrobac iyo da Zaladobac, radgan arainteligents iseve ver mosTxov namdvil inteligentobas, rogorc koWls ver mosTxov gamarTul siaruls. koWls SeuZlia ixtunos, icekvos, irbinos, magram gamarTulad ver ivlis, inteligentoba ki swored gamarTuli siarulia. vici, es marto saqarTvelos ubedureba ar aris, magram is ki ar vici, rodis CavrTeT damatebiTi siCqare da romel etapze gadavuswariT sxvebs, iseTi ra imaleboda Cveni bunebis Rrma SreebSi, rom drom da viTarebam aseT sarevelad wamoSala. iqneb vinmes moeCvenos, TiTqos metismetad vamuqeb ferebs, iqneb vinme Semomwyres kidec, magram wyromas axla mgoni isa sjobs, Zil-burans Tavi davaRwioT da dakvirvebiT mimovixedoT. Cven unikaluri movlenis mowme

4

This kind of intelligentsia was created throughout the 19th century in Georgia, properly establishing itself by the end of the century, and thereby relieving our history, as it was the only way of survival for our nation. So by the beginning of the 20th century, one could say that Georgia had not only finally overcome the darkness of the medieval era, but had done it very quickly, which was a sign of our inner strength.

Today, we don’t have a proper intelligentsia in Georgia. The few candles that are still burning are not enough to create an overall light. The ‘axe’ of the 1930s cut the main branches of our national tree. Intelligentsia was the first thing that was eliminated in Georgia (uncivilized people cannot stand it), and it wasn’t implemented strongly enough to blossom again. Neither the era nor the country’s stock of knowledge supported the process.

If we aim to create an intelligentsia, the first thing we need to do is acknowledge that right now we don’t have any. Our time and lack of wisdom resulted in an attempt to sculpt an artificial intelligentsia in our society. It was foolish and violent at the same time, as you cannot force a non-intellectual person to transform into an intellectual, just like you cannot force a lame person to walk properly. A lame person can jump, can dance, can run, but

varT: eri TvaldaTval icvlis saxes. cotac da im saqarTvelodan, romelic Cvens cnobierebaSia aRbeWdili da romelic gviyvars, sul sxva saqarTvelos miviRebT. vidre mteri gareT gvyavda, vebrZodiT da vumklavdebodiT kidec, roca sulSi gagviCnda da Signidan Semogvitia, davibeniT, radgan sakuTari Tavis winaaRmdeg brZola ar viciT. Cveni simRera da siyvaruli kvlavac xmauriania, mgznebare da paTetikuri, magram simRerisa da siyvarulis sagani Tu xelidan gamogvecala, usagno simRerasa da siyvaruls ras vaqnevT! droa Tvali gavaxiloT. iqneb ufskrulisken miveqanebiT, Cven ki, raki kudabzikoba amis gamxelis nebas ar gvaZlevs, gvgonia, TiTqos sazeimo demonstraciaze mivabijebT! Tu axla ar SevCerdiT, Tu axla bejiTad, Rrmad da daundobeli simarTliT ar gavarkvieT, ra Wiri gvWirs, Tu axla Cveni Sansi _ vin icis, ukanaskneli _ ar gamoviyeneT, Tu axlac ver davZlieT Cveni gularxeinoba da RvTismoimedoba, xval Cvens adgilas sxva saqarTvelo iqneba _ vaWrukana, cbieri, xarbi, uvici. visac Tvali aqvs, ar SeiZleba ver xedavdes, rom raRac gadaubijebel zRvars gadavabijeT da fexqveS niadagi gamogvecala. Cveni ganTqmuli patriotizmi farsad iqca, Cveni cnobili Tavmomwoneoba _ TvalTmaqcobad, Cveni momxiblavi artistizmi _ takimasxarobad, Cveni Rirseuli siamaye _ baqiaobad.

Cven kvlav mivadeqiT provincializmis Waobs, saidanac mecxramete saukunis titanuri mecadineobis wyalobiT amovediT. Cvenma crumxatvrulobam, crupaTetikam, cruerovnulobam, crupublicistikam, crumoralma Cvenve wagvleka. roca qveyanas provincializmis xavsi moedeba, ar SeiZleba morali ar Seiryvnas. sadac ar aris inteligencia _ bunebrivi Semkavebeli, iq gansakuTrebuli keTilsindisierebiT unda moqmedebdes kanoni _ xelovnuri Semkavebeli, magram kanons Tu rCeulebi hyavs da amgvarad sayovelTaobis funqcia dakarguli aqvs, is ukve kanoni aRar aris da es xelovnuri zRudec daqceulia. es obieqturi mizezi kia, magram obieqtur mizezs axsna SeuZlia da ara gamarTleba. saukuneebis ganmavlobaSi rom mSivrebi viyaviT,

cannot walk properly, whereas being an intellectual is exactly the ability to walk properly.

I know that Georgia is not the only country suffering from this kind of trouble, but I really don’t know when we sped up so much to outscore others, or what laid so deep in our national character that, with time and circumstances, succeeded to deface the progress. Some may think I am exaggerating and even get angry about these words, but I think that this is no time for anger – it is now more important to wake up and look around carefully. We are the witnesses of a unique phenomenon: the face of our nation is changing noticeably. Soon enough, the Georgia that is captured in our consciousness and that we love will transform. When the enemy was external, we were able to fight and repel. But we don’t know how to fight against ourselves – we are lost, confused by an internal enemy that occurred in our very souls. Our loving and singing are still loud and passionate, but without someone to love and someone to sing for, they become pointless. It is time to open our eyes! We are maybe heading into a hellhole but, blinded by our pretentiousness, we think that we are going to a festive demonstration! This might be the last chance for us to overcome this tranquil indolence, to stop and with the ruthless truth clear up the mess we are in; otherwise, we will have a different Georgia tomorrow – one of trade, crookedness, greed and ignorance.

It is impossible not to notice that we have crossed the red line and lost our footing. Our illustrious patriotism is now a farce, our famous self-respect – hypocrisy, our charming artistry – clowning, our worthy pride – bragging. We are back to the swamp of provincialism which was left far behind thanks to the titanic diligence of the 19th century. We are flooded by our own

5

gana SeiZleba es imis gamarTlebad gamodges, rom, raki saWmeli viSoveT, gaZRoma veRar gavigoT, zneoba niRbad avifaroT da gulSi oqroze vloculobdeT, omaxianad viZaxoT, umaRlesganaTlebulTa raodenobiT msoflioSi erT-erTi yvelaze mowinave qveyana varTo, WeSmaritad mowinave ki mxolod muclis garSemowerilobiT viyoT! axlac ki, roca ukandasaxevi gza aRara gvaqvs, Cveni sakvirveli gularxeinobis gamo, kvlavac Zvel instruqcias vimeorebT: „ama da am dargSi, ama da am sferoSi, ama da am ubanze, samwuxarod, jer kidev gvyavs upatiosno adamianebi~, imis nacvlad, rom gavbedoT da vTqvaT: „ama da am dargSi, ama da am sferoSi, ama da am ubanze, sabednierod, jer kidev gvyavs patiosani adamianebi~. gavbedoT da vTqvaT: Cvens erovnul navs Ziri aqvs gaxvretili da wyali Semogvdis. ki vcdilobT amovxapoT, magram Cveni mcdeloba „profilaqtikuri zomebia~ da saqmes ver Svelis. Sedegis wamloba mizezs ver gankurnavs.

TandaTan mTeli zRva Semova da mTel zRvas xom ver amovxapavT! adre Tu gvian daviqancebiT, Cveni saqmianobis uazrobasac davinaxavT, xels CaviqnevT, yvelafers bedis anabara mivatovebT da CaviZirebiT kidec. amitom me minda vuTxra yvela menaves, rom amoxapva amao garjaa. vidre naxvrets ar davgmanavT, manam araferi gveSveleba. es saqme ki _ me amaSi Rrmada var darwmunebuli _ mwerlobam unda iTavos... dRevandel viTarebaSi kiTxva _ SeuZlia Tu ara Tanamedrove qarTul mwerlobas am misiis Sesruleba, fuWi kiTxvaa. kiTxvas azri aRara aqvs, radgan pasuxi erTaderTia: unda SeZlos. imitom, rom sxva veravin SeZlebs. mecxramete saukuneSi, roca eris yofna-aryofna ido sasworze, ar dasmula kiTxva, SeZlebda Tu ara

6

false-artistry, false-pathos, falsenationality, false-morality.

When the country starts to be covered with the moss of provincialism, moral decay is inevitable.

When there is no intelligentsia (natural containment factor), the law (artificial containment factor) should be especially conscientious.

But when the law is selective and loses its universality, it isn’t the law anymore, and the artificial barrier is demolished. Though it is an objective cause, an objective cause can only explain facts, not justify them. The fact that we have been starving for centuries cannot justify greediness for food, being disguised as moral people and praying for gold in our hearts, brag about being a superior country by the quantity of high-educated people, but actually being superior only with the circumference of our stomachs!

Even now, when there is no way back, because of our astonishing tranquility we still repeat the old instruction: “In this field, in this sphere, in this district, unfortunately, we still have some dishonorable people” instead of daringly saying: “In this field, in this sphere, in this district, luckily, we still have some honest people”.

Let us dare and say it: the hull of our boat is cracked and water is flowing in. Though we try to bail it out, we are only taking “prophylactic measures,” and it just doesn’t work. Treating the result cannot eliminate the causes. When little by little all the sea flows in, we will not be able to bail it all out! Sooner or later we will be exhausted, we will see that our effort was pointless, give up, leave it all to the mercy of fate… and sink. This is why I address this message to all the people on the boat: bailing out the water is pointless: there will be no salvation until we plug the hole.

I am deeply convinced that writers

saqarTvelos gadarCenas mwerloba. movale iyo da SeZlo. me ara mwams kerpebi da idealebi mwerlobaSi da emociuri damokidebulebis TvalsazrisiT arc aravin meguleba iseTi, magram gonierebis TvaliT mwerlis idealad ilia WavWavaZe mimaCnia, radgan ilia WavWavaZes, rodesac qveynis winaSe Tavisi vali gaacnobiera, eyo Zala, mwerlobaze uari eTqva. amitom aris, rom (Cven amis xmamaRla Tqma ar gviyvars) ilias mxatvruli memkvidreoba mis niWs ar Seesabameba. mwerlobas man Tavisi didi niWis mxolod mcire nawili moaxmara (vin icis, isic iqneb imitom, rom saqarTveloSi eris sulieri winamZRoli mwerali unda iyos). mTlianad rom mxatvrul literaturaSi daxarjuliyo, Seudareblad ufro didi mwerali iqneboda, magram, SesaZlebelia, saqarTvelo aRar yofiliyo. uzneobis wamlekavi senis winaaRmdeg brZola dRes mxolod erTi saSualebiT SeiZleba: piradi magaliTiT. sityva, Tqma ar unda, didi Zalaa, magram qadagebasa da mowodebas axla naklebi fasi aqvs, radgan patiosnebas axla qurdi meti paTetikiT qadagebs da gmirobisaken laCari meti mgznebarebiT mogviwodebs. realuri Zala axla mxolod piradi magaliTia. oRond piradi magaliTi unda iyos ara Cumi da SeumCneveli, aramed mebrZoli, protestantuli, agresiulic ki. aseTi piradi magaliTi mwerloba unda gaxdes. mwerlobam mRvrie zRvaSi unda Seqmnas zneobis kunZuli _ TavSesafaric, TavSesayaric da dapirispirebac. amisaTvis ki, pirvel yovlisa, saWiroa sakuTari saxli davgavoT, sakuTar qvenagrZnobebze avmaRldeT da sakuTari cdunebebi davZlioT. 1988 weli

are the ones who should undertake this task... At present, the question of whether Georgian contemporary writers can or cannot fulfill this mission is pointless to ask, as there is only one answer: they have to, because no one else can. In the 19th century, when the very existence of our nation was at stake, the question was not on the table. It was their duty and they did it. I do not believe in icons and ideals in literature, and I cannot think of anyone in this range even on a personal emotional level, but judging from a conscious perspective, I consider Ilia Chavchavadze to be an ideal writer. Because when he realized his responsibility to the country, he found the strength to stop writing.

That is why (though we do not like to talk about it) Ilia’s literary inheritance does not match his talent. Only a small amount of his enormous talent was dedicated to writing (and who knows the reason: maybe the nation’s spiritual leader was meant to be a writer). If he had dedicated all his life to fiction, he would have been a far better writer, but in that case Georgia might not exist anymore.

The only way to fight the overflowing disease of immorality is by personal examples. Words have huge power, of course, but preaching and orating is priceless nowadays, as thieves are appealing to honesty with the most pathos and cowards are talking about bravery with increasing ardor. So the only genuine way is a personal example. It should not be quiet and subtle, but loud and protestive, sometimes even radical.

And the writers should become these personal examples. They should build a land of morality in the muddy sea – an island of shelter, discussion and resistance. And for this, we should firstly sweep our floors, rise over our senses and overcome our personal temptations.

1988

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saqarTvelos muzeumebis koleqciebis sainformacio sistema egmc.gov.ge

Information System of Georgian Museum Collections

uzeumi qveynis kulturuli memkvidreobis dacvisa da momavali TaobebisTvis misi gadacemis uzrunvelyofis saxelmwifo sistemis nawilia. saqarTveloSi dRes 260-ze meti sxvadasxva profilisa da iuridiuli statusis muzeumi funqcionirebs, sadac 2016 wlis ianvris monacemebiT daculia 4.379.900 eqsponati, romelTa Soris bevri msoflio kulturuli memkvidreobis nimuSia. saqarTvelos mdidari da unikaluri samuzeumo fondi mniSvnelovanwilad gansazRvravs mis (Tu maT) adgils msoflio xelovnebaSi. dRes, rodesac saqarTvelo evropul struqturebSi integraciisken iswrafvis da aSkaraa Cveni qveynis kulturis mimarT daintereseba, kulturis strategiis erT-erT prioritets swored saqarTveloSi (Tu CvenSi) arsebuli materialuri kulturuli memkvidreobis gamovlenisa da SenarCunebisTvis garkveuli RonisZiebebis ganxorcielebis xelSewyoba, samuzeumo koleqciebis dacva, popularizaciaze zrunva da samuzeumo koleqciebis gacifreba warmoadgens. bolo aTwleulebis ganmavlobaSi evropis qveynebi udides Zalisxmevas mimarTaven kulturuli

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Museums are part of the State system, in place to ensure the preservation of cultural heritage and its transmission to future generations. There are currently more than 260 museums of various profiles and legal status functioning in Georgia, preserving 4,379,000 exhibits, according to data from January 2016, including many world cultural heritage pieces. Georgia’s rich and unique museum fund plays a prominent part in defining the country’s role in world culture.

Today, when Georgia aspires to enter European structures and there is obvious interest in our country’s culture, one of the priorities of our strategy in the field of culture should be precisely the support of the presentation and preservation of the material cultural heritage existing in Georgia, and digitalizing this heritage will be an effective step for the safekeeping and popularization of our museum collections.

Over these last decades, European countries have done a lot to digitalize their cultural heritages and to make them more accessible.

As a result, from the 1st of July 2015, together with the LEPL (Legal Entity of Public Law) ‘Financial Analytical Service’ from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection started implementing the project ‘Creation of an Information System for Georgian Museum Collections’. A working group was created,

memkvidreobis cifrul formatSi gadayvanisa da masze xelmisawvdomobis gazrdis TvalsazrisiT. aRniSnulidan gamomdinare, 2015 wlis 1 ivlisidan saqarTvelos kulturisa da ZeglTa dacvis saministrom saqarTvelos finansTa saministros ssip `safinanso-analitikur samsaxurTan“ erTad daiwyo proeqtis „saqarTvelos muzeumebis koleqciebis sainformacio sistemis Seqmnis uzrunvelyofa“ ganxorcieleba. Seiqmna samuSao jgufi muzeumebis sammarTvelos, ssip muzeumebisa da analitikuri samsaxuris TanamSromlebis monawileobiT. dRevandeli mdgomareobiT, samuzeumo faseulobis aRricxvasTan dakavSirebuli yovelgvari informacia, ZiriTadad sainventaro wignebsa da sxvadasxva werilobiT dokumentSia Tavmoyrili. Tumca, aRricxvis eleqtronuli sistemis warmoeba, ar gamoricxavs aRniSnuli dokumentaciis paralelurad warmoebasac. proeqtis mizans warmoadgens saqarTvelos samuzeumo faseulobaTa aRricxvisa da marTvis moqnili, erTiani centralizebuli sistemis Seqmna, romlis saSualebiTac martivad xelmisawvdomi gaxdeba saqarTvelos samuzeumo fondis Sesaxeb sistematizebuli monacemebis mopoveba, mkvlevarTa moTxovnebis Sesruleba da statistikuri angariSebis momzadeba, samuzeumo koleqciebis inventarizaciis/registraciis Tu damuSavebis procesis

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comprising members of the office of the Georgian National Museum, LEPL museums and the Financial Analytical Office. At this stage, information concerning the indexing of museum valuables is mainly found in inventory books and various other written documents, the parallel use of which the creation of an electronic inventory system does not necessarily exclude.

The aim of the project is to index the items of Georgian museums and to create one flexible, centralized, electronic inventory system that would allow easy access to systemic data about Georgian museum reserves in order to answer the needs of researchers and to prepare statistical reports, and would include inventorization/ registration or processing of museum collections into a unified electronic system to fill the information vacuum around Georgia’s movable cultural heritage and to popularize it to open information about any museum exhibits existing in the country at any time.

What kind of possibilities does the Information System of Georgian Museum Collections offer, and how does one access it?

This unified and centralized system makes the indexing and management of the museum collections more flexible, as it will systemize the necessary parameters for the exhibit descriptions and include information related to their registration.

Documents about the indexing, description and processing of movable heritage exhibits can be found on the portal of the Information System of Georgian Museum Collections http://egmc. gov.ge/, the homepage of which also offers general news about Georgian museums.

erTian eleqtronul sistemaSi ganTavseba, saqarTvelos moZravi kulturuli memkvidreobis Sesaxeb arsebuli informaciuli vakuumis Sevseba da misi popularizeba, nebismier dros qveyanaSi arsebul samuzeumo eqsponatebze informaciis miReba, angariSgebis warmoeba. ra SesaZlebloba gaaCnia saqarTvelos muzeumebis koleqciebis sainformacio sistemas da rogor xdeba masze daSveba? centralizebuli, erTiani sistema moqnils xdis muzeumebis koleqciebis aRricxvasa da marTvas, sadac sistematizirebulia eqsponatis aRwerisTvis saWiro parametrebi da Tavmoyrilia eqsponatebis registraciasTan dakavSirebuli informacia. moZravi eqsponatebis dokumenturi aRricxvis, aRwerisa da damuSavebis procesebi ganTavsebulia muzeumebis koleqciebis sainformacio sistemis portalze http://egmc. gov.ge/. muzeumebis koleqciebis sainformacio sistemis sawyis gverdze mocemulia siaxleebi muzeumebis Sesaxeb.

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The Information System of Georgian Museum Collections can be divided into three main modules: – Administration; – Passport registration of the exhibit; – Reports.

The passport registration of exhibits includes 24 annexes that are divided according to the exhibit’s features, condition, location, and other characteristics. We have textual, download and upload fields. After filling in all the necessary fields, the electronic system

saqarTvelos muzeumebis koleqciebis sainformacio sistemis modulebi SesaZlebelia daiyos sam ZiriTad modulad: _ administrireba; _ eqsponatis pasportis registracia; _ angariSgeba. eqsponatis pasportis registracia moicavs 24 CanarTs, CanarTebi dayofilia eqsponatebis maxasiaTeblebis, mdgomareobis, adgilmdebareobis da sxvadasxva monacemis mixedviT. gvaqvs teqsturi, CamoSladi da asatvirTi velebi. aucilebeli velebis Sevsebis Semdeg TiToeul eqsponats eleqtronuli sistema aniWebs registraciis

allocates a unique registration number to each exhibit; this number is automatically generated and is independent from the exhibit’s unique museum number and the 7-number increasing numeration system.

The system makes it possible to upload high-resolution pictures, audio and video files. One can also search for information with a filtration method.

The administration module comprises 65 so-called “classificators” aimed at structuring the data entering the system. These classificators classify data according to specific themes or specific criteria, which will give the possibility to get maximally exact information and to make the search process more operative.

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unikalur nomers, romelic avtomaturad generirdeba da damokidebulia muzeumis unikalur nomersa da zrdadobiT generirebad 7-niSna numeraciaze. sistema saSualebas iZleva atvirTul iqnas maRali rezoluciis fotoebi, audio da video masala. aseve, SesaZlebelia informaciis moZieba filtraciis saSualebiT. administrirebis moduli sistemaSi monacemebis struqturizebulad Sesatanad Seicavs 65 cnobars (e.w. klasifikators). cnobarebi, Tavis mxriv, konkretuli Tematikis an konkretuli kriteriumis mixedviTaa dalagebuli, romelic saSualebas gvaZlevs miviRoT maqsimalurad zusti informacia da operatiulad moxdes misi moZieba.

Managing the classificators of the system, or in other words filling in the data, is done through the system’s administration module by the office of the Georgian National Museum, which is also responsible for allowing any individual to access the system.

Work on the database’s classificators is still ongoing, as in order to implement the system successfully, each classificator has to be validated by specialists of various fields before transferring them to the database.

sistemis cnobarebis (klasifikatorebis) marTva, anu monacemebis Sevseba, xdeba sistemis administrirebis modulidan muzeumebis sammarTvelos mier, romelic aseve, iZleva nebarTvas sistemaSi nebismieri piris daSvebaze. monacemTa bazis klasifikatorebze muSaoba dResac grZeldeba, radgan sistemis warmatebiT dasanergad, aucilebelia TiToeuli klasifikatori monacemTa bazaSi gadatanamde Sejerdes sxvadasxva dargis specialistTan. sistemis administrirebas axorcielebs muzeumebis sammarTvelo.

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seqtembris TveSi dasrulda saqarTvelos muzeumebis koleqciebis sainformacio sistemis (egmc.gov.ge) programis Seqmnis procesi. ivlisis TveSi, monacemTa bazis danergvasTan dakavSirebiT, treningebi Cautarda 6 ssip muzeumis („saqarTvelos erovnuli muzeumi“, `giorgi leoniZis saxelobis qarTuli literaturis saxelmwifo muzeumi,“ `saqarTvelos Teatris, musikis, kinosa da qoreografiis saxelmwifo muzeumi“, `saqarTvelos xalxuri da gamoyenebiTi xelovnebis saxelmwifo muzeumi“, `abreSumis saxelmwifo muzeumi“, `qarTuli xalxuri simRerisa da sakravebis saxelmwifo muzeumi“) 29 TanamSromels. oqtombris Tvidan etapobrivad mimdinareobs saqarTvelos muzeumebis koleqciebis sainformacio sistemaSi aRniSnuli 6 muzeumis CarTva. saministros dafinansebiT SeZenilia sistemisTvis aucilebeli teqnika (dijipasebi, kompiuterebi, fotoaparatebi da multifunqciuri printerebi). 2017 wels treningebis gavlis Semdeg, moxdeba danarCen ssip muzeumebSi (18 muzeumi) aRniSnuli sistemis danergva da maTTvis teqnikis SeZena.

The administration of the system is carried out by the office of the Georgian National Museum.

The creation process of the Information System of the Georgian Museum Collections (egmc.gov.ge) ended in September. In the month of July, 29 employees from six different LEPL museums took part in a training on implementation of the database – LEPL ‘Georgian National Museum’, LEPL ‘Giorgi Leonidze State Museum of Georgian Literature’, LEPL ‘State Museum of Theater, Music, Cinema and Choreography’, LEPL ‘State Museum of Folk and Applied Arts’, LEPL ‘State Silk Museum’ and LEPL ‘State Museum of Georgian Folk Songs and Musical Instruments’. Since October, these six LEPLs are gradually getting involved in the Information System of Georgian Museum Collections. Financing from the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection allowed the purchase of the technical devices required by the system (digipasses, computers, cameras and multifunctional 2018 wlidan igegmeba sistemaSi regionuli muzeumebis etapobrivad CarTva, romelic aseve, iTavliswinebs treningebs muzeumebis TanamSromlebisTvis. aRsaniSnavia, rom sistemis Taobaze aqtiuri konsultaciebi gvqonda municipalitetebTan, aWaris a/r ganaTlebis, kulturisa da sportis saministrosTan. amasTan, sistemis danergvasTan erTad mimdinareobs iuridiuli bazis mowesrigeba. kerZod, Sesabamisi cvlilebebi Sedis `samuzeumo faseulobaTa aRricxvisa da dacvis Sesaxeb“ instruqciaSi, romelic ZalaSi saqarTvelos kanonmdeblobiT gaTvaliswinebuli qmedebebis ganxorcielebis Semdeg Seva.

printers). After another training workshop in 2017, the system will be implemented in the remaining (18) LEPL museums, which will also benefit from the required technical devices.

A gradual inclusion of regional museums is scheduled to start in 2018, which will also include trainings for museum employees.

Active consultations on the system have been held with regional municipalities, as well as with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport of Adjara’s Autonomous Republic.

Finally, the legal framework will also be renewed with the implementation of the system. Namely, following all necessary measures provided by Georgian law, we will have a new law about the ‘Indexing and Preservation of Museum Valuables’.

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Telavi

festivalis anatomia TELAVI – A FESTIVAL’S ANATOMY

© Salva leJavas foto

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uvertiura

OVERTURE

istorias ar axsovs sad da rodis Catarda pirveli musikaluri festivali. magram viciT, rom aRorZinebis epoqis damlevs florencielma humanistebma antikuri dramis restavracis mizniT Seqmnes dasi, romelsac `florenciuli kamerata~ uwodes. am Zalisxmevisa da mcire Secdomis safuZvelze warmoiSva opera, romelic maSin florencieli didebulebis karze sruldeboda. ase daedo dasabami „samusiko festivalebs“ evropaSi. axla Znelia Tqma, Tu ramdenad hgavs florecniuli festivalebi dRevandels, an ramdenad

History has not preserved the details of when and where the first music festival took place, but we know that during the late Renaissance, Florentine humanists created a troupe with the aim of restoring antique drama – they called it ‘Florentine Camerata.’ Opera was born from these efforts and small “mistakes” in the restoration of antique arts, and it was performed at the palaces of Florentine aristocrats of the time. This is how “music festivals” were born in Europe. It’s difficult to say the extent to which these Florentine festivals resemble our current ones, or how we could compare the palaces of the House of Medici to modern show business venues. But

SeiZleba mediCebis karis Tanamedrove SoubiznesTan Sedareba. magram faqtia, rom TiTqmis oTxi aswleulia festivalebi musikis ganuyofel nawilad iqca da araerTi genialuri talantis aRmoCenisa Tu dabadebis adgiladac qceula. XX saukuneSi musikaluri konkursebis mozRvavebam festivalebs Sejibris funqcia CamoaSora, riTic, vfiqrob isini kidev ufro mimzidveli gaxada. ocdameerTe aswleulSi ki, maTi arseboba sasicocxlod mniSvnelovani gaxda, radgan Soubizness miRma darCenili musikosebisTvis `maRal~ musikaze orientirebuli festivalebi (Sexvedrebi) SeiZleba erTaderTi asparezic ki iyos maTi niWisa da SesaZleblobebis gamosavlenad.

there is no doubt that in almost four centuries, festivals have become an integral part of music, as have the places where many great talents were discovered or established. In the 20th century, the flood of music contests stripped festivals of their competitive aspect, which I think made them even more attractive. And in the 21st century, festivals have become an essential part of the development of music, as beyond show business, these gatherings around qualitative music may have become the only place left for musicians to show off their talent and capabilities.

The international music festival founded in Telavi on the initiative of Eliso Virsaladze and her friends’ circle, and which was first called ‘Keba Vazisa’ (‘In Praise of the Vine’) and had the charactheristics of a chamber music festival, is precisely among these. Its scale increased

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swored maT rigs ganekuTvneba TelavSi eliso virsalaZisa da misi wris iniciativiT daarsebuli musikaluri festivali, romelic Tavdapirveli CanafiqriT kameruli xasiaTisa iyo da „qeba vazisa“ erqva. aRdgenis Semdeg festivalis masStabebi gaizarda, xolo saTaurs (dasaxelebas) dRes mis logoze SemorCenili vazis rtod qceuli inicialiRa mogvagonebs, albaT gardasul droTa mosagonrad... vfiqrob, maSin, sabWoTa sivrceSi `qeba vazisa~ sviatoslav rixteris `dekembris saRamoebis~ msgavsad, oficialuri sabWoTa festivalebis erTgvar alternativad iyo Cafiqrebuli.

Tuki warmovidgenT, rom festivali musikaluri formis msgavsad erTi mocemulobaa da aqvs dasawyisi, ganviTareba, kulminacia da dasasruli, mivxvdebiT, rom mxolod mis calkeul koncertebze daswrebiT formis mTlianobis SegrZneba SeuZlebelia _ festivali midis, Cven ki mas SeZlebisdagvarad veswrebiT, radgan mocaleoba da fufuneba imisa, rom masze gaxsnidan vidre daxurvamde dahyo, dRes cotas Tu aqvs. festivali regionSi xom arasdros tardeba mxolod im konkretuli kuTxisTvis. niuportis, verbies, edinburgisa Tu bairoiTis festivalebze msoflios nebismieiri adgilidan Cadian.

Telavis festivalis ZiriTadi msmeneli saSualo an

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after it was restored with a new concept, while its former name only remained in the form of an initialized vine branch, perhaps to remind us of olden times… I think that back then, in the Soviet environment, ‘Keba Vazisa’ was founded as an alternative to official Soviet festivals, just like Sviatoslav Richter’s ‘December Nights’.

If we agree that a festival, just like a music piece, is one whole entity that includes a beginning, a development, a culmination and an end, we will also agree that it is impossible to sense its wholeness by only

saSualoze ufrosi asakisaa _ studentebi naklebad, verc gaamtyuneb... samwuxaroa, magram neba imisa, rom mTels festivalze Tu ara, Tundac ramdenime koncertze gamgzavrebis SesaZlebloba mieces, Cvens umaRles Tu profesiul musikalur saswavleblebs jer ara aqvT. bevriT verc Telavis turistuli infrastruqtura daikvexnis... Tumca, am dros maxsendeba fragmenti pablo kazalsis mogonebebidan, Tu rogor midiodnen erT-erTi festivalis gasamarTad sadRac espaneTis provinciaSi avtomobilisTvis gauval bilikze instrumentebiTa da CemodnebiT daxunZluli warsulis udidesi musikosebi... eqspozicia I rogorc ukve aRvniSneT, Telavis festivalma profili Seicvala da 2010 wlidan is simfoniuri musikiT gamdidrda. amdenad, mogveca saSualeba araerTi Sedevri mogvesmina safortepiano, saviolino Tu saviolonCelo repertuaridan, maT Soris eliso virsalaZis, natalia gutmanis da sxvaTa SesrulebiT. samwuxarod, festivalis erT-erTi damfuZnebeli oleg kagani meoTxedi saukunis win gardaicvala da dRes, roca misi Semoqmedeba musikaluri mexsierebis umaRles rangs

attending separate concerts – the festival goes on, and we attend what we can, as few people have the time and the means to follow it from beginning to end. Regional festivals are never held for the particular region itself. People from all over the world visit the festivals of Newport, Verbier, Edinburgh or Bayreuth. The audience of the Telavi International Music Festival is mainly an ‘adults or older’ one – there are not many students, but you cannot really blame them... It is unfortunate, but the will to offer them the possibility of attending at least some concerts, if not the whole festival, can’t yet seem to be found among our high or professional educational institutions in music.

And Telavi cannot boast high tourism infrastructure either… Which now reminds one of fragments from Pablo Casals’ memoirs, in which he explains how, in order to perform at a regional Spanish festival, he had to travel on an impenetrable pathway, together with some of the greatest musicians of his time, overloaded with instruments and luggage…

EXPOSITION I The profile of the Telavi International Music Festival changed, and since 2010, it has been enriched with symphonic orchestras. We have therefore been given the chance to listen to numerous masterpieces from the piano, violin, or cello repertoires, including performances by

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saqarTvelos sinfonieta repeticiaze / GEORGIAN SINFONIETTA REHEARSAL

ganekuTvneba, giWirs daijero _ man mxolod 44 weli icocxla.

2016 wlis festivali swored oleg kaganis dabadebidan 70 wlisTavs mieZRvna. wlevandelma festivalma beThovenis akademiis simfoniur orkestrs umaspinZla poloneTidan, romelsac gaxsnaze pavel pSitocki diriJorobda. miuxedavad Cemi didi survilisa, festivali Tavad eliso virsalaZes gaexsna, bolo sami welia is am privilegias stumrebs uTmobs, maT Soris gamocdil Tu axalgazrda Semsruleblebs. wlevandeli festivali germanelma meviolinem kolia blaxerma da virsalaZis mowafem, dimitri SiSkinma gaxsnes evropuli donis orkestris TanxlebiT. pirvel ganyofilebaSi Sopenis pirveli safortepiano da mendelson-bartoldis saviolino koncertebi Sesrulda, xolo meore ganyofilebaSi Sumanis meore simfonia.

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Eliso Virsaladze, Natalia Gutman, and other world-renowned musicians.

Unfortunately, Oleg Kagan, one of the founders of the festival, passed 25 years ago, and today, when his contribution has reached the highest ranks in musical achievement and he will forever be remembered, it is hard to believe that he only lived for 44 years.

The 2016 edition of the Telavi International Music Festival was dedicated to Oleg Kagan’s 70th birthday.

This year, the festival hosted the symphonic orchestra of the Polish Beethoven Academy, conducted by Pawel Przytocki during the inauguration. Despite my great wish for Eliso Virsaladze to open the festival herself, she has been granting this privilege to guest musicians, both experienced and young, for the last three years.

This year’s festival was opened by German violinist Kolja Blacher and Dmitry Shishkin, who is a student of Virsaladze, together with an orchestra of European standards who performed Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s Violin Concerto in the first part, and Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in the second part.

interludia I

INTERLUDE I

festivalis meore koncerti namdvil dResaswaulad iqca salonuri retro-musikis moyvarulTaTvis; winandalSi, WavWavaZianT sasaxleSi, nana dimitriadisa da nana avaliSvilis safortepiano dueti ukravda. ori erTmaneTisgan mkveTrad gansxvavebuli improvizatori monacvleobiT da erTad acocxlebda `Zveli firfitebidan~ gadmosul melodiebs. radgan saxlmuzeumis darbazi bevr msmenels ver itevs da adgilebi SezRudulia, werilis avtori sadRac ukan ijda da win scenis nacvlad kedeli hqonda aRmarTuli... Tumca is erTxelac ar Semcdara gamoecno, Tu romeli nana ukravda mocemul momentSi _ umciresi niuansebisa Tu pauzebis didostati dimitriadi, Tu stiqiuri avaliSvili, radgan orive maTganis Semoqmedeba kidev erTi dasturia imisa, rom anastasia virsalaZis skolisTvis mTavari piroba dRes ase iSviaTobad qceuli

The second concert of the festival was a real celebration for retro music amateurs, with Nana Dimitradi and Nana Avalishvili performing a piano duet in the Palace of the Chavchavadzes in Tsinandali; the two very distinct improvisers reviving melodies taken from “old vinyls,” together or one after the other. As the hall of the Tsinandali House-Museum cannot accommodate a large audience and the place was packed, the author of this article was sitting somewhere at the back of the room, and instead of the stage, he could only see a wall in front of him…

But even in these conditions, he could always tell apart which Nana was playing at any moment – Dimitriadi, the master of minute nuances or pauses, or the ardent Avalishvili, as both of their performances were yet another confirmation of the fact that the main characteristic of Anastasia Virsaladze’s students is their strong individuality, a feature that has become very rare today. None of the musicians raised by her resembles

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kolia blaxeri da pavel pSitocki / KOLJA BLACHER AND PAWEŁ PRZYTOCKI

individualoba iyo, rom misi arcerTi aRzrdili meores ar hgavs; amas adasturebs eliso virsalaZis, dimitri baSkirovis, lev vlasenkos Tu zemoCamoTvlili musikosebis Semoqmedeba.

the other, which can be attested by the performances of Eliso Virsaladze, Dmitri Bashkirov, Lev Vlassenko, or the musicians mentioned above.

daviT oistraxis saxelobis simebiani kvarteti - andrei baranovi, rodion petrovi, fiodor belugini, aleqsei Jilini DAVID OISTRAKH STRING QUARTET – ANDREY BARANOV, RODION PETROV, FEDOR BELUGIN, ALEXEY ZHILIN

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eqspozicia II momdevno or koncertze festivali kvlav akademiur formebs daubrunda. jer eliso virsalaZisa da kolia blaxeris SesrulebiT mocartisa da beThovenis saviolino sonatebi gveloda, xolo Semdeg david oistraxis saxelobis simebiani kvartetis koncerti, romelSic aseve monawileobda eliso virsalaZe. mocartisa da beThovenis saviolino sonatebis Sesrulebam erT-erTi yvelaze didi STabeWdileba moaxdina am festivalis istoriaSi. es iyo namdvili masterklasi maTTvis, vinc sonaturi formis Sesrulebas an gagebas eswrafvis, vinc cdilobs formaSi moqceuli Sinaarsis siRrmeebs Cawvdes da musikalur qsovilSi is idumali kavSirebi SeigrZnos, romelic zedapirze arc Tu xSirad Cndeba xolme. arcaa gasakviri, rom bolo wlebSi sonatur formas umeteswilad Tavs arideben, radgan koncertze misi gamotana did pasuxismgeblobasa da Zalisxmevas moiTxovs, msmenelic momzadebuli sWirdeba, dRes ki maTi ricxvi, samwuxarod arc ise bevria. maxsovs, am TvalsazrisiT pirveli didi STabeWdileba Tbilisis konservatoriis did darbazSi eliso virsalaZisa da natalia gutmanis monografiuli koncertiT miviRe, sadac mravalwliani gamocdilebis sasceno partniorebma

natalia gutmani / NATALIA GUTMAN

EXPOSITION II The following two concerts of the festival returned to the academic tradition. First, Eliso Virsaladze and Kolja Blacher performed Mozart and Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas, then we enjoyed a concert by the David Oistrakh String Quartet, in which Eliso Virsaladze also took part.

This year’s performances of Mozart and Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas were some of the most impressive ones in the Festival’s history. It was a real masterclass for those who aspire to perform or understand sonatas;

eliso virsalaZe da mirian xuxunaiSvili. / ELISO VIRSALADZE AND MIRIAN KHUKHUNAISHVILI

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to reach the depths of the meaning of this form of composition, and to feel the mysterious ties of this musical fabric, which cannot be perceived on the surface. It isn’t surprising that sonatas have often been avoided these recent years, as performing them in concert comes with great responsibility and requires much effort; they also demand a prepared audience, which isn’t that easy to find nowadays. I remember the first time a sonata made a great impression on me was in the large hall of the Tbilisi Conservatoire, at the monographic recital of Eliso Virsaladze and Natalia Gutman, in which the long-time stage partners performed a most difficult cycle of Beethoven’s cello sonatas. The second great impression came from Virsaladze and Kolja Blacher’s duet – an impression that will follow me for life. When two persons or more perform a sonata, the balance of sounds makes everything even more kolia blaxeri / KOLJA BLACHER

beThovenis saviolonCelo sonatebis urTulesi cikli Seasrules. virsalaZisa da blaxeris dueti iyo meore didi STabeWdileba _ STabeWdileba, romelic mTeli cxovrebis manZilze gagyveba. rodesac sonatur formas dueti an meti Semsrulebeli hyavs, xmebis balansi kidev ufro arTulebs saqmes, raSic eliso virsalaZes Znelad

dimitri SiSkini / DMITRY SHISHKIN

aleqsandre buzlovi / ALEXANDER BUZLOV

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complicated, and it is difficult to find an equal to Eliso Virsaladze in this respect – she can be a leader and the best ensemble member at the same time, especially when she has a violinist of the standing of Kolja Blacher at her side. Besides, their performances are improvisational: both of them are faithful to their musical beliefs and interpretation principles, but they never follow a prearranged plan, each of their performances is different. So whether they perform lyrical or dramatic parts of Beethoven’s monumental “Kreutzer” Sonata, the feeling of unexpectedness never leaves the audience.

Tu moeZebneba badali _ mas SeuZlia erTdroulad iyos lideri da saukeTeso ansamblisti, miT umetes roca gverdiT kolia blaxeris rangis mevioline udgas. amasTan, maTi Sesruleba improvizaciulicaa _ orive yovelTvis erTgulia Tavisi samusiko mrwamsisa da interpretaciis principebis, magram arasdros mihyvebian winaswarganzraxul gegmas, yoveli momdevno Sesruleba gansxvavebulia, amitom, iqneba es beThovenis `kroiceris~ monumenturi sonatis lirikuli Tu dramatuli nawilebi, mosmenisas moulodnelobis gancda arasdros gtovebs. safestivalo kalendris rigiT meoTxe dRes festivalis kidev erTi gamorCeuli stumris, david oistraxis saxelobis kvartetis koncerti gaimarTa. is SedarebiT axalgazrdaa. legendaruli meviolinis saxeli 2012 wels mieniWa, rac dasturia musikaluri sazogadoebis maRal ndobisa. kvartetis dasaxasiaTeblad ki sakmarisia imis aRniSvna, rom misi TiToeuli wevri _ andrei baranovi, rodion petrovi, fiodor belugini da aleqsei Jilini _ Tavisi instrumentis namdvili virtuozia. kvarteti Telavis festivals ukve meored ewvia. pirvel ganyofilebaSi Subertisa da SostakoviCis kvartetebi, meore ganyofilebaSi ki eliso virsalaZesTan erTad bramsis safortepiano kvinteti Sesrulda. dasanania, rom didi molodinis mouxedavad, Telavis festivalis programaSi ar aRmoCnda SostakoviCis safortepiano kvinteti, romelic oistraxis kvartetma bramsTan erTad jer moskovSi, xolo TelavSi Camosvlamde cota xniT adre, peterburgSi eliso virsalaZesTan erTad Seasrula.

uiliam datoni da CJan uei / WILLIAM DUTTON AND ZHANG WEI

The concert of the David Oistrakh String Quartet, yet another distinguished guest of the festival, was held on the fourth day. The quartet is relatively young, and was honored with the name of the legendary violinist in 2012, which attests to the high level of trust it boasts from music society. To describe the quartet, it is enough to mention that its members – Andrey Baranov, Rodion Petrov, Fedor Belugin and Alexey Zhilin – are all true virtuosi at their respective instruments. The quartet was visiting the Telavi International Music Festival for the second time. In the first part of the concert, they performed Schubert and Shostakovich’s quartets; in the second part, they presented Brahms’ Piano Quintet together with Eliso Virsaladze.

Unfortunately, despite the high expectations, Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet, which the Oistrakh String Quartet had already performed together with Eliso Virsaladze first in Moscow, and then in Petersburg prior to arriving in Telavi, didn’t make it into the festival program.

interludia II oleg kaganis xsovnas mieZRvna daxurvamde, erTi dRiT adre gamarTuli `Tbilisis sinfonietas~ koncerti. barokos musikaze daxelovnebulma orkestrma or axalgazrda solistTan, cJan ueisTan da uiliam datonTan erTad, vivaldis, grigis, elgarisa da Sandor varesis musika Seasrula.

INTERLUDE II A concert dedicated to the memory of Oleg Kagan was performed by the ‘Tbilisi Sinfonietta’ the day before the closing of the festival.

Proficient in baroque, the orchestra played pieces by Vivaldi, Grieg, Elgar and Sandor Veress, together with two young soloists, Zhang Wei and William Dutton.

saorganizacio jgufi / ORGANIZERS

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repriza

REPRISE

festivali TandaTan dasasruls uaxlovdeboda da Sinaganad yvela Sepirebul beThovenis meoTxe safortepiano koncertisTvis vemzadebodiT, romelic eliso virsalaZis mier TelavSi Sesrulebul beThovenis koncertebis rigs kidev erTs Sematebda. mcire gamonaklisis garda (Tu SeiZleba Subertisa da Sumanis kvintetebs mcire gamonaklisi ewodos) eliso virsalaZe TiTqmis arasdros imeorebs safestivalo programas da Tu gaviTvaliswinebT, rom gasul wlebSi man ukve Seasrula mesame da mexuTe koncertebi, garkveuli molodini, rom amjerad rigSi beThovenis meoTxe koncerti iqneboda, programis gamocxadebamde bevrad ufro adre gvqonda. daskvniT koncertze beThovenis akademiis orkestrisTvis amjerad axalgazrda qarTvel diriJors, krakovis musikis akademiis doqtorants, mirian xuxunaiSvils unda ediriJora, rac garkveuli gamowvevac iyo misTvis da festivalisTvis. Tuki gaxsnis koncertze axalgazrda pianistisTvis gamocdil polonel diriJors uwevda Tanxlebis gaweva, daxurvaze rolebi Seicvala _ axla gamocdili solisti unda warmdgariyo axalgazrda

The festival was slowly coming to an end, and we were all preparing for the promised Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, which would be an additional piece on the list of Beethoven concertos performed

by Eliso Virsaladze in Telavi. Apart from small exceptions (if we can consider Shubert and Schumann’s quintets as small exceptions), Virsaladze almost never plays the same piece twice at festivals, and if we take into account the fact that she had already performed the third and fifth concertos, it was natural to expect her to play Concerto No. 4 this year, even before the official announcement of the program.

The person who would conduct the Symphonic Orchestra of the Beethoven Academy during the closing concert was young Georgian conductor Mirian Khukhunaishvili, doctoral student at the Academy of Music in Kraków, which was a certain challenge both for him and the festival. If at the opening concert an accomplished Pole conductor had to accompany a young pianist, the roles were switched at the closing concert, in which an experienced soloist was accompanied by a young conductor – and unlike Chopin’s piece, it is difficult to call the orchestra parts of Beethoven’s concertos an accompaniment. Rehearsals were held before the concert…

eliso virsalaZis masterklasi / MASTERCLASS OF ELISO VIRSALADZE

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diriJoris TanxlebiT, beThovenis koncertis saorkestro partias ki gansxvavebiT Sopenisgan Tanxlebas Znelad daarqmev. koncertamde iyo repeticiebi... vaRiareb, eliso virsalaZis repeticiaze daswreba koncertze daswrebis tolfasia. orkestrisa da diriJorisken mimarTuli misi yoveli Jesti Tu remarka (maT Soris, orkestris mSobliur polonur enaze) didi skolaa maTTvis, vinc seriozulad apirebs Tavi musikas miuZRvnas, radgan am dros namdvili, cocxali SemoqmedebiTi procesis mowme xdebi Tu gagimarTla _ monawilis, da Tu naklebad, damkvirveblis statusiT mainc. albaT, imitom, rom me mirianze naklebad gamimarTla, pultis nacvlad darbazidan, mSvidad, Cumi aRfrTovanebiT vucqerdi scenaze musikis dabadebas.

Tuki koncertze erT konkretul interpretacias ismen da mxolod varaudi SegiZlia imisa, Tu rogori SeiZleboda sxvagvari interpretacia yofiliyo, repeticia am mxriv mravalferovnebis namdvili sabadoa _ TiTqos gamudmebiT sul odnav icvleba dinamika, bgera, frazebi da am umciresi varirebisTvis diriJoric da orkestric mudmivad mzad unda iyvnen, ucnob orkestrTan ki es arc Tu iolia. aman kidev ufro saintereso gaxada

gia qobulaSvilis masterklasi / MASTERCLASS OF GIA KOBULASHVILI

repeticia, TiTqos kamaTSi axali esTetikuri WeSmariteba ibadeboda. eliso virsalaZe am koncertSi beThovenisve cnobil kadencias iyenebs, Tumca beThovens aqvs meore disonansebiani kadenciac, romelsac didi pianistebidan mxolod emil gilelsi ukravs. ramdenadac repeticiaze eliso virsalaZem kadencia gamotova, gamiCnda survili Tu eWvi, rom amjerad koncertze swored meore, naklebad cnobil kadencias movismendi. amas daerTo Sesvenebaze dakruli baxis uvertiuris sensansiseuli transkripcia, romelic bisze Sesasruleblad miviCnie... survilebi survilebadve darCa, win ki koncerti gveloda.

I have to say, attending a rehearsal of Eliso Virsaladze is like attending a concert. Every gesture or remark she has towards the orchestra or the conductor (including remarks in Polish) teaches a lot to those who seriously contemplate devoting their lives to music, as during these rehearsals you become a witness to the authentic, live creative process – if you are lucky enough, as a participant, and if you are less lucky, at least as an observer. Perhaps because I wasn’t as lucky as Mirian Khukhunaishvili, instead of being in front of the music stand, I was peacefully looking at the genesis of the concert from the audience, with silent delight.

If at a concert, you hear one specific interpretation and can only imagine what other interpretations the composition could have had, rehearsals are real goldmines in that respect – it is as if the dynamics, sound, and musical phases are constantly and almost imperceptibly transforming; both the conductor and the orchestra have to always be ready for these minute variations, which isn’t that easy with an unknown orchestra. All this made the rehearsal even more interesting, and it looked as if a new aesthetic truth was being created in this process. Virsaladze used the famous Beethoven cadenza for this concert, though Beethoven also has another, dissonant cadenza that Emil Gilels is the only one to perform among great pianists.

Because Virsaladze left out the cadenza during the rehearsal, I had the

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koda koncerti gaixsna beThovenis uvertiuriT `leonora~, Semdeg scena daeTmo koncertis pirvel solists _ aleqsandr buzlovs, romelmac Telavis festivals ori wlis win Tavi lalos Celos koncertiT daamaxsovra. amjerad man Caikovskis `rokokos variaciebi~ Seasrula. scenaze ukravda dasavluri kalibris polonuri orkestri, rogoriTac Cven arc Tu ganebivrebuli varT. xolo festivalis organizatorebis neba, sadiriJoro pultTan evropuli ganaTlebis mqone axalgazrda qarTveli diriJori gvexila, vfiqrob Zalian zusti gamovlineba iyo, im aucilebeli musikaluri politikisa, romelic qarTul kulturas samomavlod Zalian sWirdeba.

wish or guess that we would maybe have the chance to listen to the second, lesser-known cadenza during the concert. In addition to this, we were offered a Saint-Saëns transcription of Bach’s Overture during the break, which I thought would have perfectly fitted an encore…

My wishes remained wishes, and the concert was still ahead of us.

CODA

nana dimitriadi da nana avaliSvili / NANA DIMITRIADI AND NANA AVALISHVILI

roca darbazSi dabrunebuls Telavis Teatris scenaze roiali gxvdeba, ukve ici rac gelis, imasac grZnob rom yvelaferi Zalian male unda damTavrdes da cdilob STabeWdileba, sul cota erTi wliT, momaval festivalamde mainc gaixangrZlivo. beThovenis meoTxe koncerti pirvelia koncertebis istoriaSi, romelsac ara orkestri, aramed solisti iwyebs da amitom pirvelive akordebidan grZnob, rom is rac gelodeba, sinamdvileSi ufro metia vidre erTwliani STabeWdileba _ is maradiulobaa. magram... Telavis festivalis kalendari erTi wlis Semdeg, 2017 wlis Semodgomaze mainc Segaxsenebs Tavs.

Salva cxovrebaZe foto: © derek praJeri

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The concert started with Beethoven’s overture ‘Leonore’, then the stage was handed to the first soloist of the concert, Alexander Buzlov, who had already marked the memories of the festival’s audience two years ago, when he performed Lalo’s Cello Concerto. This time, he played Tchaikovsky’s ‘Rococo Variations’. He was accompanied on stage by a Pole orchestra of western level. As for the decision of the festival’s organizers to put a young Georgian conductor who received his education in Europe behind the music stand, I think that it was the right one and a true display of the music policy that Georgian culture will need in the future.

When you return after the break and see a grand piano on the stage, you already know what is awaiting you; you also feel that everything will soon reach an end, and you try to make your impressions last at least until the following year, until the next festival. Beethoven’s Concerto No. 4 is the first in history in which the soloist starts instead of the orchestra, and therefore you can feel from the very first chords that what you will be experiencing is more than a strong, year-lasting impression – it will be an eternal one.

And… after a year, in autumn 2017, the Telavi International Music Festival will be knocking on your door with a new program.

Shalva Tskhovrebadze Photography: © Derek Prager

me CemTvis vxatav... gza adamianebisken Cemma naxatebma Tavad unda gaikvlion

I paint for myself My paintings are to pave their way to people themselves

rakli farjianis `xarebis~ kompoziciebSi RvTismSobeli meore evad warmogvidgeba. „ezoTeruli interpretaciebis mixedviT, mariami da ieso Tavdapirveli RvTaebrivi arsebebis _ adam da evas reinkarnaciad ganixileba“ _ miTxra mxatvarma da fra anjelikos „xarebaze“ mimiTiTa, sadac xarebis ukana fons adam da evas samoTxidan gaZevebis scena qmnis. „...etyoba, florencieli ostati am TemasTan dakavSirebul saidumlo codnas flobda“. ai, ase JRers misi xareba, romelic aRmosavleTis mistiuri siRrmeebidan iRebs dasabams“.

In Irakli Parjiani’s ‘Annunciation’ composition, Mary appears as a new Eve. “In esoteric interpretations, Mary and Jesus are seen as the reincarnation of the original divine creatures – Adam and Eve,” the artist told me and pointed to Fra Angelico’s ‘Annunciation,’ where the Annunciation is set against the scene of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden. “The Florentine painter must have possessed the sacral knowledge associated with the theme.” This is how his Annunciation sounds, emerging from the mystical depths of the East.

Irakli Parjiani discovered new horizons of abstraction. He paved a new path for abstraction to bring to perfection and comprehend the

`xareba~ tilo, zeTi, 64X83 sm. / “ANNUNCIATION” CANVAS, OIL, 42X32,5 CM.

irakli farjiani abstraqciis axalaRmomCenicaa, mas gahyavs abstraqciis axali gza, raTa ufro srulyos da bolomde Seimecnos Tavisi xelovnebis sulieri sawyisi _ imaterialuri drama, romelsac mxatvarma Tavadve mouZebna formula: „yovelgvari materia _ Sededebuli sinaTlea“. irakli farjianis ferweruli namuSevrebis seria, saxelwodebiT `berlinis cikli~, 1989-90 wlebSi Seiqmna, germaniis dedaqalaqSi, mxatvris gardacvalebamde erTi wliT adre. is misi Semoqmedebis bolo etapia,

spiritual beginnings of his art – the non-material drama for which the artist found a formula from the very start: “Any kind of matter is condensed light.”

Parjiani created a series of paintings called the ‘Berlin Cycle’ in the city of Berlin between 1989-1990, a year before his death. The cycle is the final stage of his work and includes religious compositions, landscapes and abstractions, featuring all the trends he had been following throughout his artistic career. By that time, the artist had already created a series of portraits and flowers, illustrations of the Gospel, Goethe’s Faust, the Homeric Odysseus, Galaktion Tabidze’s

`avtoportreti~ tilo, zeTi, 42X32,5 sm.

“SELF-PORTRAIT” CANVAS, OIL, 42X32,5 CM.

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`abasTumnis Soba~ qaRaldi, pasteli, 48,4X60 sm. / CHRISTMAS IN ABASTUMANI, PAPER, PASTEL 48,4X60 CM.

finaluri nawili. es seria _ religiuri kompoziciebis, landSaftebis da abstraqciebis saxismetyvelebiT _ farjianis SemoqmedebaSi manamde arsebul da mimdinare yvela nakads aerTianebs. am dros ukve Seqmnilia portretebis da yvavilebis seria, saxarebis, homerosis „odiseas“, goeTes `faustis~, qarTuli da germanuli miTebis da zRaprebis, galaktion tabiZis poeziis ilustraciebi, „xarebis“, `jvarcmis“, `adam da evas“ seriuli kompoziciebi, „navebis“ cikli, abstraqciebi. rogorc mcenare ikrebs sasicocxlo energias da yvavilebiT irTveba, aseve gvirgvindeba berlinuri cikliT irakli farjianis Semoqmedeba. is masStaburi proeqtia, ara mxolod suraTebis odenobiT, formatiT, aramed TemiT, koncefciiT, SesrulebiT, emociis

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poetry and Georgian and German myths and fairy tales. Among his previous works, there was also a series of compositions on the Annunciation, Crucifixion, Adam and Eve, abstractions and ‘boats’.

As a plant gathers life energy and appears in full bloom at the end of its life, the Berlin Cycle is the crown of Parjiani’s works. It is a large-scale project not only in terms of the number of paintings and the size of format, but also because of the themes, the manner of execution and the emotion they convey. They are the final stage, the culmination of the artist’s awareness of the world, and a way to express his attitude and emotions. They are the solemn concluding manifestations of sharing knowledge and experience. Moreover, they reflect the final stage of the artist’s abiding in this world and even suggest his conscious anticipation of his possible transition to the other world. This is perhaps the reason why the messages they convey are at the peak of emotional strain, at

koncentraciiT... erTgvari finalia _ samyaros Sesaxeb fermweris miseuli codnis, damokidebulebis, emociis gamovlenis. codnis da gamocdilebis gaziarebis sazeimo da daskvniTi manifestia. amave dros, mxatvris am samyaroSi arsebobis bolo etapia, sxva samyaroSi misi SesaZlo gadasvlis TiTqosda gacnobierebuli molodinic igrZnoba. albaT, amitomaa, rom yovelive, rac am suraTebSia gadmocemuli, emociuri daZabulobis pikzea misuli, arseboba-ararsebobis zRvarze. namuSevrebis are sinaTlis `sivrcea~, romelic ise moicavs sxeulebsa da sagnebs, rogorc wyalSi areklili obieqtebi _ wonis, materialurobis da konkretulobis gareSe; TiTqos obieqtis `saxesac~ afiqsirebs da imavdroulad mis materialur realurobaSic Seaqvs eWvi. faqturis mixedviTac suraTis sibrtye wylis zedapiris vibrirebis msgavsia; sivrce sinaTlis `dinebiTaa~ konstruirebuli, masSi areklili aseve manaTobeli `obieqtebiT~, romelTa sxeulebrioba Zvirfasi kristalis STabeWdilebas iwvevs.

the boundary between existence and non-existence. The background of the painted images is the space of light that sets off the bodies and things as if they were reflected in water – their weight, material nature and concreteness is lost. The paintings feature the appearance of the depicted images and at the same time question their materiality. The manner of execution, too, resembles the vibration of water surface.

The space of the paintings is composed of streams of light, and of the likewise gleaming objects they reflect, whose physical essence weaves the impression of a precious crystal. The painter depicts a different ‘matter’ and from the world of physical objects transcends to the world of concepts. In the paintings, the transcendence is rendered through religious themes. With the help of this radiating, festive scene, the artist seems to allude to the supremacy of the other world.

“My miniatures can be considered as sketches for larger paintings.

My dream is to fulfill this idea,” the artist said in Berlin, where he had an opportunity to accomplish his dream. He started working immediately and transferred Adam and Eve, the Annunciation and

`Soba~ tilo, zeTi, 100X132 sm. / “THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST”, CANVAS, OIL, 100X132 CM.

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`xareba~ qaRaldi, Sereuli teqnika, 53X54 sm. / “ANNUNCIATION” PAPER, MIXED MEDIA, 53X54 CM.

anu sxva `materias~ xatavs, fizikuri `obieqtebis~ samyarodan `ideebis~ samyaroSi gadadis, romlis translirebas religiuri TemiT axorcielebs. TiTqos am manaTobeli, sazeimo sanaxaobiT sxva samyaros upiratesobas gvamcnobs.

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the Crucifixion to large canvases. “Concerning the recurrence of the themes, I treat it as meditation. Maybe I think I am through with the theme of, let’s say, the Annunciation, but the more variations I paint, the more new ideas crop up and it has become an endless, inexhaustible theme in my work. Concentration on one theme for its profound conceptualization and perception is far more important to me than rapid progression and variety.”

ciklidan `Sexvedrebi~ tilo, zeTi, 79X137 sm. / FROM THE CYCLE “THE MEETINGS”, CANVAS, OIL, 79X137 CM.

`Cemi miniaturebi didi ferweruli tiloebis eskizebad SeiZleba CaiTvalos. vocnebob, rom odesme es Canafiqri ganvaxorcielo~ _ ambobda mxatvari da berlinSi, sadac mas Canafiqris ganxorcielebis SesaZlebloba mieca, dauyovnebliv daiwyo am ideis xorcSesxma, did tiloebze gadaitana `adam da eva~, `xareba~, `jvarcma~... `rac Seexeba Temebis ganmeorebadobas, es meditaciasaviT aris CemTvis. mgonia rom amovwure, vTqvaT, `xarebis~ Tema, magram rac ufro met variacias vxatav, miT meti axali idea Cndeba da es ukve dausrulebel, amouwurav Temad iqca Cems SemoqmedebaSi. erT Temaze amgvari koncentracia am Temis siRrmiseuli gaazrebisa da SemecnebisTvis, bevrad ufro mniSvnelovania CemTvis, vidre TemaTa swrafi monacvleoba da mravalferovneba~. irakli farjiani am suraTebisTvis axal teqnikas da masalas iyenebs. akrilis saRebavs, romelic erTgvarad aerTianebs mxatvrisTvis sayvareli ori masalis _ pastelisa da zeTis saRebavebis Tvisebebs. `akrilis saRebavi erTi mxriv Txieri, meore mxriv ki Cem mier gamoyenebuli pastelis saRebavis grafikul xasiaTsac atarebs da saSualebas maZlevs es orive teqnika erT masalaSi vcado~. seriidan `odisea~ qaRaldi, Sereuli teqnika, 34X22 sm.

FROM THE SERIES “ODYSSEY”, PAPER, MIXED MEDIA, 34X22 CM.

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`xareba~ tilo, zeTi, 34,5X48,5 sm. / “ANNUNCIATION” CANVAS, OIL, 34,5X48,5 CM.

irakli farjianis SemoqmedebaSi „xareba“ „adam da evas“ motivTan aris dakavSirebuli. berlinSi Seqmnili didi ferweruli tiloebi adastureben, rom farjianma Semoqmedebis sruliad axal simaRleze gadainacvla, romlisken mimaval safexurebs „adam da eva“ da „xareba“ aSeneben. pragmatul berlinSi suliereba mainc TvalSisacemia, Tumca irakli farjianTan yovelgvari skepsisi ukan ixevs, uZluria. erT-erTi `xarebis~ kompoziciuri xelwera, romelic naivur figuratiulobasa Tu feradovan abstraqcias Soris meryeobs, savsebiT gajerebuli da gansazRvrulia xelovanis emociuri impulsiT. ferTa nazi SeTanxmebiT Seqmnil saocar sivrceSi angelozis Tavi, maxaroblis xelebi da xarebis mimRebi mariamis sxeulia gamosaxuli, yvavilTan erTad. Tumca yvelaze WeSmarit `movlenad~ aq angelozismieri suliereba gvevlineba, romlis samosi da frTebi sinaTliT gamsWvalulia da Signidan asxivebs. farjianis

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He employed new techniques and materials for these paintings – acrylic paints, which to some extent combined the properties of the painter’s two favorite materials – pastel and oil paints.

“On the one hand, acrylic is liquid, while on the other hand it conveys the same graphical effect as the pastels that I use, which allows me to try both techniques in one material.”

In Parjiani’s works, the Annunciation is associated with the motifs of Adam and Eve. The large canvases created in Berlin attest that Parjiani moved to an altogether new stage and the Annunciation and Adam and Eve are the steps leading to these new heights.

The subtle spirituality is surprisingly conspicuous in pragmatic Berlin.

However, any scepsis is rendered helpless against Parjiani’s paintings.

One of the artist’s Annunciation compositions, fluctuating between naive sketchy style and colorful abstraction, is completely inundated and determined by the artist’s emotive impulses. Within the miraculous space created by a tender combination of colors, appear the head of the Angel, the Annunciating Hands and the figure of Mary receiving the

TeTri tonaloba cnobil frazas gvaxsenebs, es aris `diadi dumili~; Tumca iseve aRvsili SesaZleblobiT, rogorc arara dabadebis win. vasili kandinskis davesesxebiT: `wminda JReradoba wina planze gamodis. suli usagno vibrirebas iwyebs, rac ufro rTulia da zegrZnobadi...~

Annunciation, who is depicted with a flower. However, the most genuine ‘happening’ seems to be the spiritual representation of the Angel, whose garments and wings, inundated with light, irradiate from within. Parjiani’s white tones remind me of a well-known phrase – the ‘Great Silence,’ though as full of prospects as a non-being before birth. I will quote Wassily Kandinsky: “A pure sound comes to the foreground; the soul is set into incorporeal vibration, which is more complex and ‘supra-perceptional’.”

`ioanes saxareba~ qaRaldi, pasteli, 22X22 sm. / “GOSPEL OF JOHN”, PAPER, PASTEL, 22X22 CM.

`navebi~ qaRaldi, pasteli, 37X57,5 sm. / “BOATS”, PAPER, PASTEL, 37X57,5 CM.

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`naturmorti~ tilo, zeTi, 51X81 sm. / “STILL LIFE”, CANVAS, OIL, 51X81 CM.

`xareba~ qaRaldi, pasteli, 25X25 sm. / “ANNUNCIATION” PAPER, PASTEL, 25X25 CM.

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`xareba~ qaRaldi, pasteli, 50X60 sm. / “ANNUNCIATION” PAPER, PASTEL, 50X60 CM.

P. S. irakli farjiani 1950 wlis 22 maiss daibada zemo svaneTSi, mestiaSi. xatva adreul asakSive daiwyo. mogvianebiT, skolis damTavrebis Semdeg, TbilisSi mosamzadebeli kursebi gaiara da akademiaSi, ferweris fakultetze Caabara. 21 wlis asakSi is werda: `Cemi saqme Cemi RmerTia, vici, siberes ver moveswrebi...~ gardaicvala 41 wlis asakSi 1991 wlis 23 dekembers. baia wiqoriZe, mixael hedteri foto: gia CxataraSvili, sergo ediSeraSvili

P. S. Irakli Parjiani was born on the 22nd of May, 1950, in the township of Mestia, in the Zemo Svaneti region. He started painting from an early age. After finishing school, he studied painting at the Tbilisi State Academy of Fine Arts. When he was 21, he wrote: “My work is my god, and I know I won’t be able to experience old age…” Parjiani died on the 23rd of December, 1991, at 41 years of age.

Baia Tsikoridze, Mikhail Hedter Photography: Gia Chkhatarashvili, Sergo Edisherashvili

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Teatraluri vnebebis da repeticiis Semdeg

After theatrical passion and rehearsals 40

ukve ori welia, rac samefo ubnis TeatrSi Tanamedrove Teatraluri xelovnebis ganviTarebis centri arsebobs. Teatralebi da ukve mayurebelic, mas Temur CxeiZis saxelosnod ufro icnoben, radgan centris daarsebis mTavari iniciatori swored cnobili qarTveli reJisori iyo. 2013 wels sanktpeterburgis, tovstonogovis saxelobis dramatuli Teatridan wamosvlis Semdeg, sadac Temur CxeiZe TiTqmis cxra wlis ganmavlobaSi samxatvro xelmZRvanelad muSaobda, is saqarTveloSi dabrunda. axalgazrda msaxiobebTan, reJisorebTan da dramaturgebTan muSaobisa da gamocdilebis gaziarebis survili mas didi xania hqonda; rac saqarTvelos ZeglTa dacvisa da kulturis saministros gadawyvetilebiT, 2014 wlis Semodgomaze realobad iqca: am proeqtiT Teatris reJisorebi, dramaturgebi da Teatrmcodneebi ori saswavlo wlis ganmavlobaSi, samefo ubnis Teatris bazaze TavianT profesiul unarebs srulyofen. baton Temur CxeiZes swored samefo ubnis TeatrSi, saxelosnoSi Catarebuli erT-erTi repeticiis Semdeg SevxvdiT.

The Center of Contemporary Theater Development has been housed at the Royal District Theater for two years now. People involved in theater, and one could say the audience too, know it as the “Temur Chkheidze Studio,” as the famous Georgian theater director was the main founder of the Center. In 2013, after working for almost nine years as the artistic director of the Tovstonogov Drama Theater in St. Petersburg, Chkheidze decided to return to Georgia.

He’d wanted to work and share his experience with young actors, directors and playwrights for a long time, and this wish came true in 2014 in Georgia thanks to the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection. Through the new project, theater directors, playwrights and critics have the opportunity to develop their professional skills over two years at the studio.

We met Mr. Temur Chkheidze at the Royal District Theater after a rehearsal in the Studio:

_ ukve ori welia, rac Tanamedrove Teatraluri xelovnebis ganviTarebis centri daarsda. SegiZliaT ukve konkretul Sedegebze gvesaubroT? _ ho, swrafad gasula ori weli... arada, guSindeliviT maxsovs Teatraluri centris daarsebis idea da proeqtis mxardaWerac kulturis saministros mier. cotaTi gadaWarbebuli molodini da vnebaTaRelvac iyo, rogorc yovelTvis, roca saqme siaxles exeba. mTavaria, rom Cvens axalgazrda, niWier Taobas aucileblad sWirdeba xelSewyoba da ganviTareba. Teatraluri xelovnebis centri, ufro zustad, Teatraluri saxelosno (simarTle giTxraT, saxelosno ufro momwons) swored imazea orientirebuli, rom maqsimalurad SevinarCunoT xarisxi da gaviTvaliswinoT Teatris dRevandeli moTxovnac.

Tell us about the results you’ve achieved in your two years at the Center of Contemporary Theater Development Temur – These two years flew by… I can remember like it was yesterday when I had the idea to found the Center of Contemporary Theater and we got support from the Ministry of Culture. Our expectations and excitement were a little over the top, as you might expect. The most important thing is to have our talented young generation well promoted and supported in its development. The Center of Contemporary Theater, or the Theater Studio (to tell you the truth, I prefer the word Studio) is oriented towards maximally preserving quality while at the same time taking into account the requirements of contemporary theater.

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So you feel that there is a problem in terms of quality?

– I don’t want to whine about the past, but Georgian theater used to be one of the most distinguished, daring and avant-garde in Soviet times- that’s the kind of quality I mean and which we’re trying to preserve in our studio.

The fact that the project is free is quite significant…

– Naturally, and this is primarily thanks to the Ministry of Culture.

It’s becoming more and more difficult to get a thorough, qualified education, especially for free. Of course, there is the Theater and Film University, which carries out a most important task, but our Studio was created precisely because we want to deepen this knowledge and to support the further development of theater. _ e.i. dRes xarisxis problema realurad arsebobs? _ ar minda warsulze wuwuni gamomivides, magram sabWoTa epoqis qarTuli Teatri erT-erTi yvelaze gamorCeuli, Tamami da avangarduli iyo. swored im drois xarisxs vgulisxmobdi, romlis SenarCunebasac aq, Cvens saxelosnoSi vcdilobT. _ albaT, mniSvnelovania, rom proeqti ufasoa... _ cxadia, da es pirvel rigSi kulturis saministros damsaxurebaa. dRes sul ufro Zneli xdeba safuZvliani, kvalificiuri codnis miReba, Tanac ufasod. ki batono, arsebobs Teatraluri universiteti, romelic Tavis uaRresad mniSvnelovan saqmes akeTebs, magram Cveni saxelosno swored imitom daarsda, rom am codnis kidev ufro gaRrmavebasa da ganviTarebas SevuwyoT xeli. _ SeiZleba iTqvas, rom Sedegi TvalsaCinoa? kmayofili Tu xarT im axalgazrdebiT, romlebic saxelosnoSi movidnen? _ saxelosnoSi ara marto reJisuris xelovnebas, dramaturgiasac swavloben da kargi iqneba Tu momavalSi Teatraluri codnis areali kidev ufro gafarTovdeba. magaliTad, Tu reJisorebi, dramaturgebi, scenografebi da Teatrmcodneebi erTad iswavlian da erTad gaiazreben _ Tu ra gziT da rogor unda ganviTardes Teatraluri xelovneba. ramdenad SeiZleba am etapze Sedegze saubari, CemTvis cota rTulia. ukeTesia, mayurebelma da kritikosebma Seafason. _ 2015-16 wlebis sezoni samefo ubnis TeatrSi erTgvarad, „qarTul sezonad“ moinaTla... _ swored am periodSi saxelosnoSi daidga maka kukulavas piesa „meore naxevari“ (reJisori vano xuciSvili), daTa fircxalavas „didi Sesveneba“ (romelic giorgi qaTamaZem dadga), aleqs CiRvinaZis „olimpiuri TamaSebi“ (reJisori TaTa popiaSvili) da aseve misi meore, Zalian saintereso piesa „marina revia“ (reJisori guram RonRaZe)... ar minda vinme gamomrCes. ho, aseve mayurebeli

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Have you achieved visible results? Are you satisfied with the young people who come to your studio?

– At the Studio, they learn not only the art of directing, but also dramaturgy, and it would be great if in future, the scope of theatrical knowledge would grow: if directors, playwrights, scenographers and theater critics studied together and decided together which direction theater, as an art, should be heading in, for example. It’s a little difficult for me to talk about our results at this stage. It’s better if our audience and critics assess this themselves.

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naxavs sofo qelbaqianisa da nini CakvetaZis speqtaklebs ukve regionebSi. _ regionuli speqtaklebic Tqveni saxelosnos proeqtis nawilia? _ roca qarTuli sezoni daviwyeT, maSin SevTanxmdiT, rom reJisorebi erT piesas samefo ubnis Teatris scenaze, xolo meores _ regionSi dadgamdnen. magaliTad, TaTa popiaSvili wavida goris TeatrSi, vano xuciSvilma ukve dadga „didi Sesveneba“ axalcixeSi, nini CakvetaZem patrik marberis „ufro axlos“ baTumSi, giorgi qaTamaZe Tu ar vcdebi, dgams mroJekis piesas zugdidSi, Tumca rogorc vici, iq katastrofuli viTarebaa da Teatri lamis dangreulia.

mixeil TumaniSvilTan da robert sturuasTan erTad WITH MIKHEIL TUMANISHVILI AND ROBERT STURUA

_ ras gulisxmobs Tqveni TanamSromloba axalgazrda reJisorebTan? Tu ereviT, an ra doziT ereviT maT SemoqmedebiT procesSi? _ SemoqmedebaSi Careva gamoricxulia. jer erTi, es ewinaaRmdegeba Cems princips da meorec, isini ukve profesionali reJisorebi da dramaturgebi arian da Tavad ukeT ician, rogor da ra formiT unda gamoxaton saTqmeli. Cemi roli am SemTxvevaSi bevrad mokrZalebulia, vidre Tqven warmogidgeniaT. es ufro konsultaciiT, misaRebi rCeviT, mizanscenebis CvenebiTa da tepmo-ritmis koreqtivebiT Semoifargleba. Tavad reJisorebis koncefcia, xedva da Sexeduleba cxadia, ucvleli rCeba. _ marTalia, rom Tavidan ar gindodaT centrs Tqveni saxeli darqmeoda? _ arc axla minda... roca Tavidan miTxres, CxeiZis saxelosno xom ar davarqvaTo, me xumrobiT vTqvi, „griSas Teatraluri TavSesafari“ xom ar sjobs-meTqi! mere es fraza mediam aitaca. bolos Tanamedrove Teatraluri xelovnebis ganviTarebis centri daarqves. Tumca mainc saxelosnos eZaxian... bolos da bolos, mTavari Sedegia da ara saxelwodeba.

giorgi tovstonogovi, svetlana kruCkova, evgeni lebedevi da oleg basilaSvili GEORGY TOVSTONOGOV, SVETLANA KRYUCHKOVA, YEVGENY LEBEDEV AND OLEG BASILASHVILI

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The 2015-2016 season of the Royal District Theater was a kind of “Georgian Season,” wasn’t it?

– We did stage many Georgian plays: Maka Kukulava’s ‘Second Half’ (directed by Vano Khutsishvili), Data Pirtskhalava’s ‘A Long Break’ (directed by Giorgi Katamadze), Alex Chighvinadze’s ‘Olympic Games’ (directed by Tata Popiashvili), as well as his other, very interesting play ‘Marina Revia’ (directed by Guram Ghonghadze)… I don’t want to forget anyone. And yes, the audience will also have the opportunity to see Sopo Kelbakiani and Nini Chakvetadze’s spectacles in regional theaters.

Are regional spectacles also part of your studio project?

– When we started the so-called “Georgian Season,” we agreed that the directors would stage one play in the Royal Theater District, and another in a region of Georgia. For instance, Tata Popiashvili went to the Gori Theater, Vano Khutsishvili already staged ‘A Long Break’ in Akhaltsikhe, Nini Chakvetadze staged Patrick Marber’s ‘Closer’ in Batumi, Giorgi Katamadze, if I’m not mistaken, is preparing a play by Mrożek in Zugdidi, though, as I know, the situation there is horrible – the theater is on the verge of collapsing.

How do you collaborate with young theater directors? How involved do you get?

– Getting involved in their creative process is out of the question for me as it goes against my principles, and as they are already professional directors and playwrights, they know better than me how and in which form they need to convey what they want to express. In this aspect, my role is much smaller than you might think.

It consists of consultation, advice, and corrections in the mise en scène and the tempo-rhythm. As for the director’s conception, vision and stance, I simply don’t get involved.

Is it true that you didn’t want the center to be named after you?

– I still don’t want it to be named after me… When I was first told that it would be called ‘Chkheidze’s Studio,’ I joked about it – “Maybe Grisha’s Theatre Refuge would be better,” I said. The media liked that! In the end, they named it the Center of Contemporary Theater

_ saxelosnodan didi scenuri vnebebisken gadavinacvloT. didi da patara rolebis msgavsad, arsebobs Tu ara didi da patara Teatris cneba? _ ra giTxraT, yvela zomis TeatrSi mimuSavia _ didSi, Zalian didSi, pataraSi, uzarmazar saopero sivrceSi, erTi msaxiobis TeatrSic. Tumca, Teatris arsi yvelgan erTia _ yvelgan da yvelaferi SegiZlia Tqva, Tu gaqvs niWi, mondomeba, SesaZlebloba da rac mTavaria, saTqmeli.

CemTvis Teatri (didic da patarac) aris adgili, sadac ufro vikvlev da vakvirdebi movlenebsa da adamianebs.

SesaZloa, warmodgena sxvadasxva esTetikis mixedviT davdga, magram sabolood, ise gamodis, rom mainc Cems mdgomareobas vubrundebi.

oleg basilaSvilTan erTad / WITH OLEG BASILASHVILI

_ arsebobs didi xniTa da argumentebiT gamyarebuli mosazreba Tu kliSe, rom Temur CxeiZe aris „fsiqologiuri Teatris“ reJisori da is Sesabamisad dgams mxolod misTvis „saWiro“ dramaturgebsa da teqsts. _ SeiZleba did xans da detalurad ganvixiloT, an vidavoT, ras gulisxmobs dRes es cneba _ fsiqologiuri Teatri, magram erTi ram SemiZlia giTxraT: stanislavskis sitema da misi „qmediTi analizi“, iseve rogorc, giorgi tovstonogovi da mixeil TumaniSvili, Cems Semoqmedebaze dRemde mainc gavlenas axdenen. saerTod, reJisori safuZvliani codnisa Tu viRacis gavlenis gareSe, sterilurad da Teoriulad, reJisorad arc yalibdeba. dramaturgebs rac Seexeba, „saWiros“ garda, bevr moulodnel Tu „ucnaur“ dramaturgs vicnob da vdgam _ SileriTa da artur mileriT dawyebuli, JorJ galseranis „gronholmis meTodiT“ damTavrebuli... _ romlis dadgmaSic, marjaniSvilis TeatrSi, 2014 wels, saukeTeso reJisurisTvis premia „duruji“daimsaxureT. _ marto premiaSi araa saqme, Tumca Zalian mniSvnelovania, roca Semoqmedebas ase afaseben. me vsaubrob, am SemTxvevaSi dramaturgiis, rogorc konkretuli „masalis“ droul da swor gamoyenebaze,

Development. But people still call it the Theater Studio…What’s important is the results it brings, not its name.

Let us move from the Studio to the stage. Is there a concept of big and smaller theaters, like there are big and smaller roles?

– I don’t really know how to answer this, though I’ve worked with theaters of all sizes – big ones, very big ones, small ones, enormous opera halls, a one-man-theater… But the essence of theater is the same everywhere – you can depict whatever you want wherever you want if you have the talent, the power of will, the opportunity, and most importantly, something to say. For me, all theaters, both big and small, are places where I’m more concentrated, where I pay more attention to people and events. Maybe I’ll stage a play with different aesthetics because of the particularity of the theater, but in the end, it always depends more on the conception itself than on the size of the theater.

Some clichés categorize you as a representative of “psychological theater” and claim you only stage the “necessary” playwrights and plays.

– We could discuss in detail and at length what the term, “psychological theater” means today, but I can tell you one thing for sure: the Stanislavski System and his “art of experiencing”, as well as Giorgi Tovstonogov and Mikheil Tumanishvili, have a great influence on my creations to this day. In general, directors cannot establish themselves in a sterile and theoretic way without in-depth knowledge and influence from somewhere. As for playwrights, apart from the “necessary” ones, I know many unexpected or “strange” playwrights whose works I also stage – from Schiller and Arthur Miller to Jordi Galceran’s ‘Grönholm Method’…

In 2014, you were awarded the prize for best directing at the Marjanishvili Theater for staging this play.

– It’s not only about the prize, though it’s always very nice when your work is valued like that. I’m talking about the timely and proper way to use dramaturgy as a specific “material”, though this word doesn’t exactly translate what I mean. In any case, the most important

rezo CxeiZesTan da aleqsandre rondelTan erTad WITH REZO CHKHEIDZE AND ALEXANDER RONDELI

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Tumca es sityva bolomde zusti mainc ar aris. nebismier SemTxvevaSi, mTavaria ara is, realisturia Tu pirobiTi Teatris ena, aramed ramdenad axdens is gavlenas mayurebelze, ramdenad ipyrobs mis gonebas da fantazias. _ SemoqmedebiTi TvalsazrisiT, sad ufro ukeTesad grZnobdiT Tavs: marjaniSvilis TeatrSi Tu sanktpeterburgis did dramatul TeatrSi? _ im SekiTxvas hgavs, deda ufro mniSvnelovania Tu mama. cota seriozulad rom gipasuxoT, CemTvis rogorc cotaTi konservatori reJisorisTvis, mniSvnelovania msaxiobma mTlianad rolic kargad icodes da isic _ konkretul momentSi ras da ratom akeTebs. thing is not whether theatrical language is realistic or not, but to what extent it influences the audience; to what degree it conquers their consciousness and imagination.

From a creative point of view, where do you feel more at home: at the Marjanishvili Theater or in St Petersburg’s Tovstonogov Drama Theater?

– This is like asking me if I prefer my mother or my father. If I have to answer you seriously, as a somewhat conservative theater director, I feel it important for the actors to fully know not only their role, but also where and why they are acting at that specific moment and location.

_ magram es saubari isev stanislavskisken gvabrunebs... _ es imisTvisaa saWiro, rom msaxiobi darwmunebuli iyos, rom yvelaferi, rasac ambobs, akeTebs, an icis, bolomde gaazrebuli aqvs. am mxriv, gansxvaveba qarTvel da rus msaxiobebs Soris marTlac didia. roca marjaniSvilis TeatrSi „Art _ xelovnebaze“ vmuSaobdi, raRac epizodi miSa gomiaSvilisa da zura yifSiZis monawileobiT, ar gamomdioda _ arc axsniT, arc mizanscenis damuSavebiT, arc improvizaciiT... momdevno dReebSi, sruliad SemTxveviT zura yifSiZis gaTamaSebulma orazrovanma frazam da etiudma yvelaferi Secvala. es rus msaxiobebTan TiTqmis gamoricxulia da ara imitom, rom improvizacia naklebad SeuZliaT, ubralod isini bevrad ufro pedanturad misdeven teqstsac da reJisorsac. _ Tqven zemoT opera axseneT. Tqveni Semoqmedebidan romel mniSvnelovan dadgmebs gaixsenebT? pirvel rigSi, prokofievis „moTamaSe“ gamaxsenda, romelic „la skalaSi“ dadgiT. _ „moTamaSe“ marTlac, erT-erTi yvelaze saintereso dadgma gamovida. rom ara damdgmeli diriJori valeri gergievi, SesaniSnavi momRerlebi da mxatvroba, SesaZloa, aseTi Sedegi arc yofiliyo. „la skalas“

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But this brings us back to Stanislavski…

– This is necessary in order for the actors to be fully aware of everything they say, do, or know. In this regard, there’s a real difference between Georgian and Russian actors. When I was working on a scene of ‘Art’ involving Misha Gomiashvili and Zura Kipshidze at the Marjanishvili Theater, I wasn’t able to get the result I wanted, though I tried explaining, changing the mise en scène, improvisation… And in the following days, by complete coincidence, an equivocal sentence made up by Zura Kipshidze changed everything. This would almost never happen with Russian actors because they’re not used to improvising: they follow the text and the director’s instructions in a much more pedantic manner.

Semdeg „moTamaSes“ dadgma ukve „metropoliten operis“ xelmZRvanelobam SemomTavaza. aseve unda iTqvas, rimskikorsakovis „mefis sacoles“ dadgmis Sesaxeb milanSi da verdis „don-karlosic ar iyo cudi genuis saopero TeatrSi. _ sxvaTa Soris, Tqvens mier dadgmuli „jambazebi“ ganaxlebul Tbilisis operisa da baletis TeatrSi isev aRadgines. _ diax, magram es sakmaod moZvelebuli dadgmaa, romelsac cota ganaxleba sWirdeba. simarTle, rom vTqva, saopero dadgmebi, originalobis miuxedavad, gacilebiT met da mkacr pirobiTobas gulisxmobs, vidre dramatuli Teatri. albaT, amitomac isev dramatul Teatrs varCev. _ warmatebas gisurvebT da momaval wels Tqveni saxelosnos mier dadgmul kidev ufro karg speqtaklebs velodebiT. _ gmadlobT! esaubra daviT buxrikiZe foto: CxeiZeebis saojaxo arqividan

Which important opera performances would you pick from your career? I am reminded of Prokofiev’s ‘The Gambler,’ which you staged at ‘La Scala’.

– ‘The Gambler’ was indeed one of the most interesting shows of my career. If it weren’t for the conductor Valery Gergiev, the wonderful singers and set design, I think we wouldn’t have achieved such success.

After ‘La Scala’, I was offered to stage ‘The Gambler’ by ‘The Metropolitan Opera’. I’d also like to mention the staging of Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘The Tsar’s Bride’ in Milan and Verdi’s ‘Don Carlos’ in Genoa’s Opera Theater.

Your play ‘Clowns’ was restaged at the renovated Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theater.

– Yes, but it is quite an old staging that needs to be renewed. To tell you the truth, despite their originality, opera performances always require much stricter conditions than drama theater. This is probably why I still prefer the latter.

We wish you success, and we’ll be looking forward to even greater shows prepared in your Studio for next year.

Thank you!

Interviewer: David Bukhrikidze Photography: Chkheidze family archive

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aleqsiZis baleti Aleksidze’s Ballet

2009 wels rusTavelis Teatris mcire scenaze mariam aleqsiZis, rogorc qoreografis debiuti Sedga. galaktionis poeziaze Seqmnili erTmoqmedebiani baleti „dovin-dovendovli...“ mariamma mamis, gamoCenili qarTveli qoreografis, giorgi aleqsiZis xsovnas miuZRvna. Svidi wlis Semdeg, imave scenaze giorgi aleqsiZis saxelobis kameruli dasma _ „Tbilisis Tanamedrove baletma“ _ pirveli sezoni swored am speqtakliT gaxsna. mariam aleqsiZe axladSeqmnili dasis Sesaxeb gvesaubreba: Mariam Aleksidze’s debut took place on the small stage of the Rustaveli Theatre in 2009.

She dedicated her one-act ballet ‘Dovin-Doven-Dovli...’, based on Galaktion’s poetry, to the memory of her distinguished father Giorgi Aleksidze. Seven years later, her Giorgi Aleksidze Tbilisi Contemporary Ballet chamber company opened its first season on the same stage with the very same performance. Mariam Aleksidze told us about the newly founded company:

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ama meubneboda, rom `qoreografisTvis pirveli dadgma umniSvnelovanesia da es xelwera mTeli Semoqmedebis manZilze gagyveba. Semdeg is SeiZleba ramdenjerme gadaakeTo, Seitano koreqtivebi, magram ZiriTadi impulsebi darCeba, rac SemoqmedisTvis mniSvnelovania. garkveul etapze Cavardnebic geqneba, Secdomebic, raRac procesebs daewevi, raRacas vera, magram pirveli ganacxadi mayureblis winaSe scenidan yovelTvis gansakuTrebulia...~ „dovin-doven-dovli...“ CemTvis amgvaria da axali Tanamedrove sabaleto dasisTvisac pirveli speqtakli. giorgi aleqsiZis saxelobis „Tbilisis Tanamedrove baletis“ oficialuri gaxsna am warmodgeniT simbolur datvirTvas atarebs. pirvel rigSi is mamas ukavSirdeba _ misi ideis, misi Canafiqris da misi esTetikuri principebis gagrZelebaa. speqtakli giorgi aleqsiZes eZRvneba da misi saxelobis sabaleto dasis wardgenisTvis saukeTeso arCevani iyo. „dovin-doven-dovli...“-ze reJisor gela kandelakTan erTad vimuSave, romelmac, vfiqrob, rom gamorCeulad aawyo galaktionis leqsebis musikaluri partitura da dramaturgia. yvela sxva namuSevars Soris, es marTalia formiT mokle, magram Cemi yvelaze srulyofili namuSevaria, romelsac jer kidev eskizad miviCnev; „dovin-doven-dovli...“ Zalian qarTuli da Zalian Tanamedrove baletia. adrec dadgmula, albaT, leqsze, zogadad teqstze speqtakli, sadac musika ar dominirebs, magram aseTi, sadac leqsis dramaturgias mihyveba sxeulis moZraoba da garkveul ganwyobas qmnis, bevri araa... meorec, Cems cxovrebaSi sul aris raRac miniSnebebi. axlac dasis Camoyalibeba galaktionis 125 wlis iubiles daemTxva da pirveli speqtakli swored galaktionis poeziaze Seiqmna. asec rom ar yofiliyo, es dadgma mainc upirvelesi iqneboda CvenTvis. Tbilisis Semdeg, 17 noembers, galaktionis dabadebis dRes, speqtakli vaCveneT quTaisSi, meliton balanCivaZis saxelobis operisa da baletis TeatrSi. Tbilisis Tanamedrove baletis Seqmna, Camoyalibeba Zalian swrafad moxda. dasis dafuZnebis proeqti da

giorgi da mariam aleqsiZeebi GIORGI AND MARIAM ALEKSIDZE

Father used to tell me that “the first performance of a choreographer is the most significant, and the way you do it will follow you your whole life. Then you can transform it several times, make some amendments, but the main impulses of the creator will remain. At some point, you will have downs, you will make mistakes, you will reach some goals, and some not, but your first statement on the stage, in front of the audience, is always a special one...” ‘DovinDoven-Dovli...’ was that kind of show for me, and it was also the first performance of the newly founded contemporary ballet company.

The fact that we chose this particular performance for the official inauguration of the Giorgi Aleksidze Tbilisi Contemporary Ballet carries a symbolic meaning. First of all, it is connected to my father – to his idea, his endeavor, and the continuation of his aesthetic principles. The performance was dedicated to Giorgi Aleksidze and it was the best choice for the presentation of the ballet company

giorgi aleqsiZe, irina kolpakova da mixail bariSnikovi GIORGI ALEKSIDZE, IRINA KOLPAKOVA AND MIKHAIL BARISHNIKOV

named after him. I started working on ‘Dovin-Doven-Dovli...’ with director Gela Kandelaki, and I think he fine-tuned the musical score and dramaturgy of Galaktion’s poems in a wonderful way. Compared to my other creations, it is maybe a small one, but is definitely the one I feel is most complete, even if I still look at it as a sketch. ‘DovinDoven-Dovli...’ is a very Georgian and very contemporary ballet. There must have been other performances based on poetry or on texts in general, in which music is not the dominant feature, but there won’t be many like this one, in which the movement of the body follows the dramaturgy of the poetry and creates a particular mood… Secondly, I feel there are always signs in my life: the foundation of our company happened to take place on the 125th anniversary of Galaktioni, and our first show was based on Galaktioni’s poetry… But this performance would have been our first one even without these coincidences. After Tbilisi, on Galaktioni’s birthday on the 17th of November, we performed in Kutaisi’s Meliton Balanchivadze Opera and Ballet Theatre.

The creation of the Tbilisi Contemporary Ballet happened very fast. We started the project and concept of founding the company in 2015; by we, I mean myself, my mother Marina Aleksidze, who

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koncefcia 2015 wlis martSi CamovayalibeT me, dedaCemma _ marina aleqsiZem, romelic giorgi aleqsiZis qoreografiis memkvidre, misi saqmis Rirseuli gamgrZelebeli da axla axali dasis mmarTveli da mTavari baletmaisteria da daviT maziaSvilma, literaturaTmcodnem da rusTavelis Teatris samxatvro xelmZRvanelis robert sturuas mrCevelma. daviTi dRes „Tbilisis Tanamedrove baletis“ direqtoria.

Tanamedrove sabaleto dasis daarsebis ideis iniciatori Cveni ojaxis megobari, akademikosi rismag gordeziani gaxldaT. mxarSi amogvidga profesori valeri asaTiani. gagvimarTla, rom Tbilisis meriasa da sakrebuloSi is adamianebi aRmoCndnen, romlebmac kargad gaiges Tanamedrove sabaleto dasis Seqmnis mniSvneloba da drouli, gabeduli gadawyvetileba miiRes, amisTvis madlierni varT maTi! yvelaze mniSvnelovania, rom es pirveli Tanamedrove sabaleto dasia saqarTveloSi, romelsac saxelmwifo mxardaWera eqneba. es aris novatoruli, axalgazrduli gundi, romelic dafuZnebulia qarTuli klasikuri baletis tradiciebze. Tbilisis operis Teatris sabaleto dasis garda sxva alternatiuli sabaleto sivrce qalaqSi ar arsebobda. kameruli dasis SeqmniT es sivrce gaCnda da kargia, rom Cvens mocekvaveebs, romlebsac qoreografiaSi gansxvavebuli Rirebulebebi da Ziebebi ainteresebT, aq muSaobis saSualeba eqnebaT. dasi ramdenime principis irgvliv Camoyalibda. erT-

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gia yanCelTan erTad WITH GIYA KANCHELI

inherited Giorgi Aleksidze’s choreography, is the worthy successor of his work and now the company manager and principal ballet master of Giorgi Aleksidze Contemporary Ballet chamber company, and David Maziashvili, associate professor at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, advisor for educational and academic affairs to the Shota Rustaveli State Drama Theatre Artistic Director Robert Sturua, trained literary historian. David is the current director of the Tbilisi Contemporary Ballet. The idea to create a contemporary ballet company came from a family friend, academician Rismag Gordeziani, and professor Valeri Asatiani kindly assisted us. We were lucky that

ana ninuasTan da robert sturuasTan erTad WITH ANA NINUA AND ROBERT STURUA

erTi giorgi aleqsiZis qoreografiuli memkvidreobis SenarCuneba da aRdgena gaxlavT. mamas 200-ze meti baleti aqvs dadgmuli, speqtaklebi ZiriTadad did Semadgenlobazea gaTvlili, romlebic mimaCnia, rom operisa da baletis Teatris repertuarSi unda iyos; magram aqvs bevri dadgma kameruli SemadgenlobisTvisac. kameruloba giorgi aleqsiZis SemoqmedebaSi gansakuTrebuli xazia. kamerul baletSi TiToeuli Semsrulebeli gamoyofilia da maTi individualoba gundSic xilulia. rogorc kamerul musikaSi, sadac TiToeul instruments aqvs Tavisi damoukidebeli partia, magram Cawnulia saerTo faqturaSi, aseve kamerul baletSic TiToeul Semsrulebels aqvs damoukidebeli saxe da amave dros saerTo qargis nawilia. am TvalsazrisiT giorgi aleqsiZe aris kameruli azrovnebis da xarisxobrivi maCveneblis baletmaisteri da es ar gulisxmobs mxolod mcire formaSi muSaobas. meore es aris _ Cemi, rogorc dasis samxatvro xelmZRvanelis da rogorc qoreografis mimarTuleba. samwuxarod, dRes CvenSi bevri qoreografi ar moRvaweobs, vinc dgams originalur, saavtoro qoreografias, visac

representatives of the City Hall and the City Council understood the importance of creating a contemporary ballet company, and took the timely and daring decision to help us in our enterprise – we are very thankful to them in this regard! This is the first contemporary ballet company in Georgia that will benefit from the support of the State.

The company is an innovative young group of dancers that bases itself on the traditions of classic Georgian ballet. Apart from Tbilisi’s Opera Theater troupe, there were no other alternative ballets in the city. By creating this chamber dance company, we also created a new alternative, and it is a very positive thing that today our dancers, who are interested in different choreographic values and topics, have the opportunity to work in this environment.

The company was established around several guiding principles.

The first is the preservation and restoration of Giorgi Aleksidze’s choreographic heritage. Father created more than 200 ballets, mainly large ones with many dancers, and I think they belong in the repertoire of the Opera and Ballet Theater; but he also had many chamber dance choreographies, which were a particular feature of his. In chamber ballet, each performer has a distinct role, and their individuality creates the harmony as a whole. Just like in chamber music, in which each instrument has its own, independent part but is

ioseb bardanaSvilTan erTad WITH JOSEF BARDANASHVILI

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`dovin-doven-dovli~ / “DOVIN-DOVEN-DOVLI”

aqvs sakuTari xelwera. es mainc individualuria, misi xelweraa, misi Canafiqria, misi qoreografiuli mignebebia, saavtoro speqtaklia. da Tu dass ar eqna sagangebod misTvis dadgmuli originaluri qoreografiuli speqtaklebi, maSin verc qoreografia ganviTardeba da verc sabaleto dasis mxatvruli saxe Camoyalibdeba. garda amisa, Tanamedrove qoreografia ar aris mxolod baleti, aq erTiandeba musika, literatura, poezia, mxatvroba, filosofia, mecniereba. es aris dRevandeli xelovanis sxeuliT gamoxatuli fiqri. mesame mimarTuleba gaxlavT Tanamedrove qoreografebis mowveva. minda, rom sxvadasxva stilis, xelweris

`xamse~ / “KHAMSA”

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also tied in the musical fabric as a whole, each dancer is independent in chamber dance, but is also an inseparable part of the whole performance. In this regard, Aleksidze is a choreographer with a mindset and quality that fit chamber dance, which doesn’t mean he was or should have been working only on small-scale performances.

The second principle is my stance as a choreographer and as the artistic director of the company. Unfortunately, we currently don’t have many distinctive choreographers who stage original, artistic performances. It should be individual; after all it is the choreographer’s signature, his/her idea, choreographic findings, and creation as an artist. And if dance troupes don’t have original choreographic performances created especially for them, then

nino gogua / NINO GOGUA

qoreografebTan muSaobas SeeCvion mocekvaveebi. mayurebelma ki naxos da gaiziaros Tanadrouli xelovanebis guliscema da saTqmeli, msoflmxedveloba, romelic erTmaneTisgan gansxvavebuli qoreografiuli eniTaa gadmocemuli. vfiqrob, iseTi qoreografiuli margalitebic Semovitano repertuarSi, romelic msoflioSi cnobilia da didi gavlena moaxdines cekvis ganviTarebaze. axla rom mkiTxoT romeli iqneba es, konkretulad ver getyviT. saerTod, arasdros vasaxeleb romelime erT qoreografs, romelic Zalian momwons, radgan SeiZleba erTi xelovanis mxolod erTi konkretuli baleti momwondes da mimaCndes, rom isaa mniSvnelovani qoreografiaSi ideis, formis, musikalobis gamo... kidev erTi Zalian mniSvnelovani mimarTuleba esaa dasTan arsebuli saswavleblis dafuZneba. Tanamedrove

the choreography cannot thrive, and the intrinsic nature of the ballet troupe won’t be established either. Apart from that, contemporary choreography does not end at ballet; it blends music, literature, poetry, fine arts, philosophy, science... It is an idea expressed by the body of the “artist of our times”.

The third principle is to invite many foreign contemporary choreographers. I want the dancers to get used to working with choreographers of diverse styles. As for the audience, it will enjoy the heartbeat, the vision of the world of various modern artists and what they have to say, all this expressed by differing choreographic means.

I’m also thinking to introduce choreographic “pearls” into our repertoire – works that are globally famous and have had a great influence on the development of the history of dance. If you were to ask me to specify which ones, I couldn’t tell you. In general, I never name a particular

`harira~ / “HARIRA”

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nino gogua / NINO GOGUA

cekvis saSemsruleblo skola, teqnika, romelic Tanamedrove cekvis safuZvelia CvenTan ar iswavleba da aucilebelia misi danergva da ganviTareba. qoreografisaTvis mocekvaves upirvelesi mniSvneloba aqvs, misi qoreografia mocekvaveebis individualobazea damokidebuli. amitom, Zalian vRelavdi dasis Camoyalibebisas. gogonebs, romlebic SevarCieT damTavrebuli aqvT Wabukianis saxelobis qoreografiuli saswavlebeli, magram operis Teatris sabaleto dasSi ar umuSaviaT. maTSi gansakuTrebuli potencia SevamCnieT. ramdenime maTgani axla yalibdeba profesional mocekvaved. Cven xom nulidan viwyebT da es momwons yvelaze metad. erTad veCveviT sirTuleebs, vmsjelobT...

Tu winaaRmdegoba iqmneba, mxolod imitom, rom Ziebis procesia.

Tu dasSi ori gamorCeuli saxe gyavs miiCneva, rom es dasi Semdgaria. Zalian gamimarTla naTia bunturis gamo. wlebia vTanamSromlobT, xSirad gvqonda rTuli periodebi. raRac Sedegs vaRwevdiT, mere naTia axal saqmes iwyebda, me ki axal proeqtze viwyebdi fiqrs da mas Tavidan uwevda formaSi Sesvla. stabiluri dasis ararsebobis gamo es muSaoba sistemuri ar iyo. mocekvaves ki, mogexsenebaT, sWirdeba yoveldRiuri varjiSi, mecadineoba. axla rom vukvirdebi, naTias albaT sjeroda, rom odesRac Cveni sabaleto Teatri gveqneboda da mgoni, masac gaumarTla, rom am dasSi movida da wamyvani solistia. kargad daemTxva, rom nino gogua dabrunda Sveicariidan, lozanadan, moris beJaris dasidan da

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choreographer that I am fond of, because I sometimes like only one particular ballet from a choreographer, deeming it significant for choreography because of its idea, form, musicality...

Another very important principle is to establish a school around the existing troupe. In Georgia, there is no contemporary dance school teaching the technique on which contemporary dance is based, and it is crucial to implement and develop one.

The most important thing for choreographers are dancers, as choreographies depend on the individuality of the dancers themselves. Therefore, I was very nervous while founding the company. The girls we selected graduated the Vakhtang Chabukiani Ballet School, but had never worked in the ballet company of the Opera Theatre. We saw great potential in them. Some of them are currently in the process of transforming into professional dancers. We started from zero, and this is the aspect I like most. We get used to overcoming difficulties together, we discuss them... If there are some small differences of opinion, it is only because we are in a process of study.

If you have two distinguished “faces” in your company, it is considered to be well-established. In this respect, I was very lucky to find Natia Bunturi. We’ve been collaborating for years, and we went through many difficult times together. We would achieve results but then Natia would start a new assignment, while I would start thinking about a new project, and she would need to get back in shape again.

Because of the inexistence of a stable dance troupe, our collaboration didn’t have a continuous character. And dancers need to train and study on a daily basis. When I look at it now, Natia probably believed that we would one day have our own ballet

misTvisac saintereso aRmoCnda CvenTan muSaoba. vfiqrob, nino axla sul sxva ampluaSi SeZlebs Tavis warmoCenas. gamovarCev axalgazrda mocekvaves mariam darCias, romelmac qoreografiuli saswavleblis damTavrebis Semdeg swavla ucxoeTSi gaagrZela da ramdenime weli iq icekva. vfiqrob, mocekvaveebisTvis Rirebuli unda iyos, rom isini axali saqmis dasabams SemomierTdnen da mniSvnelovani movlenis Tanamonawileebi arian.

Tavidan garkveuli SiSi mqonda _ miCveuli viyavi erT gundTan muSaobas. isini Tbilisis operis Teatris mocekvaveebi iyvnen da viwvevdi Cems speqtaklebSi. axal dasTan pirveli speqtakli rom gavakeTe, mivxvdi, TiTqos axal saxeebTan, axal sxeulebTan, axal gonebasTan mec, rogorc qoreografs, gazrdis meti saSualeba meqneboda. mivxvdi, rom dadga imis aucilebloba, rom myoloda stabiluri mocekvaveebi, romlebTanac bevrs vimuSavebdi. axla cxra mocekvave gvyavs, aqedan ori vaJia. isini baqodan Camovidnen saerTaSoriso proeqtSi „xamse“ (nizami ganjelis poemebis mixedviT, folad bulbul oRlis musikaze) monawileobis misaRebad. imdenad moewonaT da dainteresdnen CveniT, rom darCnen. morigi premiera gazafxulze Sedgeba. erTi Tvea daviwyeT muSaoba giorgi aleqsiZis qoreografiis aRdgenaze. aRvadgenT mis erT-erT gamorCeul da saintereso Tanamedrove qarTul balets _ „diplipito“, gia yanCelis musikaze da aseve, ramdenime qoreografiul miniaturas. Cveni dasis `gamarTleba~ pedagog-repetitori qeTevan muxaSavriaa, romelTanac mamas bevri umuSavia. fedras partia baletidan „diplipito“ swored masze daidga. qeTino Zalian gvexmareba aRdgenis procesSi da diplipitos axla Cveni dasis wevrebs gadascems. dasis administratoria energiuli nino gogsaZe, speqtaklebis

mariam darCia / MARIAM DARCHIA

naTia bunturi / NATIA BUNTURI

theatre, and I think it was really timely for her to enter this company and become its lead soloist. We were also fortunate that it coincided with Nino Gogua’s return from Maurice Béjart’s Ballet in Switzerland, as working together turned out to be utterly interesting both for her and the company. I think that Nino will now be able to display her talent in a very different way. I would also pick out young dancer Mariam Darchia, who continued studying dance and performing abroad for several years after finishing the Ballet School in Georgia.

I think we should value all these dancers for joining us in this new enterprise and taking part in this important process.

In the beginning, I was somewhat nervous, because I was accustomed to working with the dancers of the Tbilisi Opera Theatre, whom I used to invite to participate in my performances. But after doing the first performance with the new company, I realized that with these new faces, new bodies, new minds, I would also have more opportunity to evolve as a choreographer myself. I realized that it was crucial for me to have a stable group of dancers with whom I would constantly work. We now have nine dancers. Two of them are male – they came to Tbilisi from Baku to participate in the International project ‘Khamsa’ (based on Nizami Ganjavi’s poems, with the music of Polad Bülbüloğlu). They got so interested and enjoyed working with us so much, that they simply decided to stay.

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The next premiere will take place in spring. We started working on reviving Giorgi Aleksidze’s choreography one month ago. We will perform one of his most interesting contemporary Georgian ballets, ‘Diplipito’, staged to Giya Kancheli’s music together with a number of dance miniatures. We feel very lucky to have pedagogue and researcher Ketevan Mukhashavria with us, who worked with father on many projects. Ketevan is helping us a lot in restoring ‘Diplipito’, and is currently transmitting to the dancers of our company. The administrator of the company is the ever-energetic Nino Gogsadze, and the stage manager is distinguished professional Niala Godziashvili. I am glad that we managed to gather such a great and devoted team.

Until now, our projects were carried out under the aegis of the Giorgi Aleksidze Foundation for the Development of Contemporary Choreography, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection and Tbilisi City Hall’s Center for Cultural Events.

In April 2016, we presented a performance together with the Rustaveli Theatre and Robert Sturua – a choreographic fantasy called ‘Shakespeare.

Love’. I hope that our projects will still get support and that contemporary dance and dance schools will evolve and become ever more popular in Georgia. From the 11 ballets I have staged since 2009, I think that ‘Alva’ will be added to the repertoire of the Tbilisi Contemporary Ballet – it is a choreography to the music of Bach and contemporary composers Giya Kancheli, Arvo Pärt and Valentyn Sylvestrov. We could only stage this spectacle twice. Before the premiere, because one of the dancers was sick, I had to change the performance, and I have the feeling that it

`xamse~ / “KHAMSA”

wamyvani reJisori, gamorCeuli profesionali niala goZiaSvili da sxvebi. bednieri var, rom aseTi kargi da saqmis erTguli gundi Seikra. aqamde Cvens proeqtebs kulturis saministrosa da Tbilisis meriis kulturuli RonisZiebebis centris mxardaWeriT giorgi aleqsiZis saxelobis Tanamedrove qoreografiis ganviTarebis fondis egidiT vaxorcielebdiT. 2016 wlis aprilSi rusTavelis TeatrTan da robert sturuasTan erTad sinTezuri warmodgena _ qoreografiuli fantazia, „Seqspiri. siyvaruli“ davdgiT. imedi maqvs, rom proeqtebs mxardaWera kvlav eqneba da Tanamedrove cekva da cekvis Teatri saqarTveloSi kidev ufro ganviTardeba, popularuli gaxdeba. Cemi TerTmeti baletidan ki, romelic 2009 wlidan dRemde davdgi, albaT dasis repertuarSi gadmova „alva“ _ baxis da Tanamedrove kompozitorebis gia yanCelis, arvo piartisa da valentin silvestrovis musikaze. moxda ise, rom es speqtakli mxolod orjer vaCveneT. premieris win, mocekvavis avadmyofobis gamo, misi gadakeTeba momiwia da iseTi gancda maqvs, rom ver davasrule da aucileblad mivubrundebi. mayurebels kvlav vaCvenebT balets „gurji-xaTuni“, romelic daTo turaSvilis romanis mixedviT, ioseb bardanaSvilis SesaniSnav musikaze daidga. saerTod, rogorc mama, mec vcdilob qarTveli

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`xamse~ / “KHAMSA”

`xamse~ / “KHAMSA”

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`dovin-doven-dovli~ / “DOVIN-DOVEN-DOVLI”

kompozitorebis musikaze bevri vimuSao. didi pativia, roca gia yanCeli, ioseb bardanaSvili, Teimuraz bakuraZe, eka WabaSvili, gandoben sakuTar nawarmoebebze baletis dadgmas. vaxtang kaxiZesTan TanamSromlobiT jansuR kaxiZis simRerebze davdgi qoreografiuli warmodgena „harira“, rusTavelis Teatris msaxiobebis monawileobiT da is Teatris repertuarSi kvlavac iqneba warmodgenili. Cems baletebSi SeiZleba yovelTvis ar Candes gamokveTilad qarTuli cekvis elementebi, magram es araa aucilebeli...

`xamse~ / “KHAMSA”

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isn’t complete, so I will definitely return to it. We will once again present the ballet ‘Gurji-Khatun’, based on Dato Turashvili’s novel, and staged to the wonderful music of Josef Bardanashvili. Just like my father, I try to work to music from Georgian composers as much as I can. It is a great honor when composers such as Kancheli, Josef Bardanashvili, Teimuraz Bakuradze and Eka Chabashvili have enough trust in you to let you stage your ballets to their compositions. Together with Vakhtang Kakhidze, I staged the choreography ‘Harira’ based on Jansug Kakhidze’s songs, with the participation of actors from the Rustaveli Theatre, and it will

radgan Tanamedrove qoreografiaSi isea gajerebuli, rom axal enas badebs, axal formaSi eqceva da temporitmiT, struqturiT, emociuri ganviTarebiT vfiqrob, rom isini Tanamedrove qarTuli qoreografiis nimuSebia, raSic rasakvirvelia didad mexmareba qarTveli kompozitorebis musika da zogadad Cem saqmeSi, iseT did xelovanebTan urTierToba, rogorebic arian robert sturua, gela kandelaki, gia yanCeli, gogi aleqsi-mesxiSvili, ioseb bardanaSvili, muraz murvaniZe da sxvebi.

be presented again this year at the Theatre. Perhaps Georgian dance elements are not always clearly perceivable in my ballets, but this is not an imperative, as contemporary choreography is so rich that it gives way to a whole new language; it takes on a new form, and with their temporhythm, structure, emotional development, I see my contemporary ballets as contemporary Georgian choreography, and this feeling is made even stronger thanks to the music of Georgian composers, and more generally, the honor to collaborate with great artists such as Robert Sturua, Gela Kandelaki, Giya Kancheli, Gogi Alexi-Meskhishvili, Josef

`dovin-doven-dovli~ / “DOVIN-DOVEN-DOVLI”

vfiqrob, rom giorgi aleqsiZis saxelobis kameruli dasi „Tbilisis Tanamedrove baleti“ Tavis erTgul mayurebels SeiZens, gveqneba sazogadoebis mxardaWera da CvenTvis saintereso, axali sivrcec. samomavlod, saswavleblis gaxsniT da momavali Taobebis aRzrdis saSualebiT gavizrdebiT da ganvviTardebiT. rasakvirvelia yovelTvis vecdebiT SevinarCunoT Cveni saqmis ZiriTadi idea _ qoreografiaSi Tavisufali azrovnebis damkvidreba, xelovnebaSi sufTa formebis Zieba da tradiciebis SenarCunebiT mudmivad ganviTarebis procesisken swrafva..

Bardanashvili, Muraz Murvanidze and others.

I think that the Giorgi Aleksidze Tbilisi Contemporary Ballet chamber company will attract a faithful audience; that it will benefit from the support of Georgian society, and will have an interesting, new rehearsal space. We will be developing next year, as we will open a contemporary dance school and start educating the next generations in the field. Naturally, we will do everything to maintain the main idea of our company – to implement freethinking in choreography, to look for pure forms in art, and to strive for constant progress while at the same time preserving our traditions.

ilia TavberiZe

Ilia Tavberidze

Tina yazaxaSvilis, iuri muradovis da Tamar jibutis fotoebi, besik danelias dizaini

Pictures by Tina Kazakhashvili, Yuri Muradov and Tamar Jibuti, Design by Besik Danelia

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Tbilisuri ezo

Tbilisian Yard 60

zoSi, CvenTan TuTis xe idga. daxveuli kibis Tavidan mis totze gadacocebac ki SeiZleboda da Zalian msuqani, muxluxosaviT gabuTqunebuli nayofis dagemovnebac. kaba, rac unda gameSavebina, sayvedurs aravin metyoda _ saxli didi bebiebis iyo. sami da cxovrobda, rogorc Zvel romanebSia _ ori qvrivi da erTic Sinabera, gauTxovari... ana, mariami da ekaterine. maTi Zma bolSevikebs dauxvretiaT, erTi da ki axalgazrdobaSi gardacvliliyo, mSobiarobas gadahyoloda. yvelaze lamazi CvenSi is iyoo, ambobda ekaterine. ara, es sofeli ar iyo. Suagul TbilisSi, plexanovis gamziris dasawyisSi, Tbilisur ezoSi aguris saxli idga, sadac sxvadasxva erovnebis ojaxi cxovrobda. Cems Tanatol qurT konstantine, igive kotikosTan erTad, wvimis mere guburaSi talaxs vzeldiT... kargi iyo. am ezoSi, bebiebTan, SabaT-kviras vxvdebodi. ise, ki saburTalos betonis junglebSi viyavi gamomwyvdeuli da urbanul adamianad vyalibdebodi. mere, Zalian didi xniT am garemos xiblma mimatova; didi bebiebi `wavidnen~ da TuTis xec moWres, svriso... da rodesac, SemTxveviT, artareas proeqtis „Tbilisuri ezos“ Sesaxeb gavige, mivxvdi, am wlebis ganmavlobaSi, ra danaklissac ganvicdidi. qalaqi Seicvala. asec unda iyos. ganviTarebis xelovnurad Seferxeba, oden zianis momtania; Tumca Tbilisi ase ar unda icvlebodes. qalaqis xibls, mis arss da suls, uxeSad, gauazreblad da codnis gareSe ar unda exebodnen. es progresi ar aris. msoflio gamocdileba

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There used to be a mulberry tree in our yard. We could even climb onto it from the top of the circular staircase and get a taste of its rich, caterpillar-like fruit. I could dirty my dress as much as I wanted knowing nobody would scold me – I was at my grandmother’s home, after all. Three sisters lived together there, just like in old novels – two widows and a spinster: Ana, Mariam and Ekaterine. Their brother was put to death by the Bolsheviks, and another sister died young while giving birth. “She was the most beautiful among us,” Ekaterine used to say.

No, I wasn’t talking about a village. All this happened in the heart of Tbilisi, at the far end of Aghmashenebeli Avenue in a brick house with a Tbilisian Yard. Families of various origins used to live around that yard and after rainy weather, I would play with the mud in the puddles with my Kurdish neighbor Konstantine (or “Kotiko”). They were good times. icnobs Zveli qalaqebis axlebur cvlas, unikaluris SenarCunebiT da axali sicocxlis miniWebiTac. metic, am Zvelis, sinaTleze gamotaniT da Rirsebad gadaqceviT. savizito baraTad warmoCeniT. diax, Tbilisuri ezo, Tbilisis savizito baraTia da qalaqis SenarCuneba-ganviTareba Tu gvinda, am Zvel ezoebs axali sicocxle, siTbo da yuradReba, axal binadarT ki, Taoba Z-s, memkvidreobis, udidesi kulturuli potencialis gadacema sWirdeba. artareas proeqti am gegmis TvalnaTeli magaliTia. sagangebod SerCeul Zvel Tbilisur ezoebSi art saRamoebis mowyoba am sivrcis funqcias saukeTsod

I used to go to that yard on weekends to visit my grandmother and her sisters. The rest of the time, I was locked in the concrete jungle of the Saburtalo district, where I was becoming a common urban citizen.

As I grew, I lost the sense of charm this atmosphere had held and I didn’t get it back for a very long time; my grandmothers “left,” the mulberry tree was cut down because it was “dirtying the yard” …

But when, by chance, I heard about Artarea’s project ‘Tbilisian Yard,’ I realized the absence I had felt all these years.

warmoaCens. SeRamebisas gaRebuli sarkmlebi, aivnebidan gadmofenili fardagebi da gamofenili binadarni, romlebic ara marto mayureblebi, aramed performansis Tanamonawileebic arian _ am qalaqis daniSnulebaa _ sulieri da adamianuri kavSiri, xelovnebiT, silaRiTa da sikeTiT gabmuli uxilavi ZafebiT. aq, „xelovansa“ da mayurebels Soris, zRvari iSleba. am koncefcias artaream zustad miagno da amiT msoflio saxelovnebo tendenciebTan, romlebic mayurebelsa da warmomdgens

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Soris `gamyofi xazis~ waSlasa da maT maqsimalur daaxloebas, CarTulobas gulisxmobs, gagvaTanabra: daviT evgeniZis da gaga naxucriSvilis performansisas, winamZRvriSvilis quCis ezos macxovrebelma sarkmlidan damswre sazogadoebas leqsi miageba. mogvianebiT, gaga naxucriSvili miseul gancdas, damokidebulebas gviziarebs: „icvleba Cveni samyaro, dro gadis da aba, ras izams. bunebrivia. icvleboda, icvleba da Seicvleba. ucvleli xom mxolod cvlilebaa. Tan miaqvs, cudic da kargic, dasananic da mosawyenic. magram aris raRac, rac ar ginda cvlilebebs daemorCilos, rac gansakuTrebiT genaneba dasakargad. drosa da sivrceSi asaorTqleblad. ginda sul darCes, sul SenTan iyos. mis gareSe cxovrebac ver warmogidgenia. aseTia CemTvis Tbilisuri ezoc. iq xom sxva sinaTlea, sxvanairi Rameebi, sxva Suq-Crdilebi, sxva xmebi ismis, adamianebic erTmaneTTan sxvanairad urTierToben, Riad, gulwrfelad da uSualod. iq xom ucnaurad keTili xalxi cxovrobs. ara Cveulebrivi xalxi. yoveli SemTxvevisTvis, me ase mgonia“. artareas, es proeqti, `kulturul reidebad~ hqonda

The city has changed. This is how it has to be. Artificially countering development is risky, and Tbilisi should not be changing in this way.

The charm of the city, its essence and soul, should not be handled without proper planning and knowledge. This is not what progress is. Many old cities have experienced transformation worldwide, and many of them managed to preserve their uniqueness while at the same time gaining a new life. Even more, they managed this by bringing their old landmarks and features to the light and transforming them into treasures or must-see sights.

And yes, Tbilisian yards can be considered the visit cards of the city, and if we want to both preserve and develop the face of the city, we should give new life to them; we should give them the care they deserve in order to transfer the great cultural potential of this heritage to their new inhabitants, Generation Z. Artarea’s project is a very good example of how to go about doing so, as they arrange art evenings in specially selected old Tbilisian

yards, which has proved to be the best way to display the function of such spaces. Open windows, carpets hanging from balconies, and the inhabitants themselves looking from above; not only an audience, but also participants in the performance – this is precisely the role of this city and these yards: tying invisible, spiritual and human links between people by using art, joy and kindness. The boundaries between the artists and the audience are blurred. Artarea found the perfect concept, and with it, it introduced us to the latest tendency in international contemporary art, which precisely focuses on blurring the lines between artists and their audiences, on bringing them as close as possible together, and on getting the public involved. During the performance by David Evegnidze and Gaga Nakhutsrishvili, a man living in a yard on Tsinamdzghvrishvili Street dedicated a poem from his apartment window to the people who had come. Later, Gaga

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Cafiqrebuli. _ Cven patara satelevizio arxi varT _ ixsenebs qalbatoni sofo xunwaria _ da didi arxebisgan gansxvavebiT naklebad gvicnobs mayurebeli. amitom gvsurda Tavad movsuliyaviT maTTan. marketinguladac momxiblveli Canda: adamiani Tu ver gpoulobs, Tavad vipovoT, Tumca mere mivxvdiT, rom Cven `kulturuli desanti~ varT iq, sadac warsuli waSlis zRvarzea.

Tbilisuri ezo Tbilisis istoriis ganuyofeli nawilia da misi gaqroba, ufro didis gaqrobas moaswavebs.

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Nakhutsrishvili told us his feelings and impressions: “Our world is changing. Time goes by. And it’s a natural thing. It was changing, it is changing, and it will keep on changing. The only thing that doesn’t change is that everything changes. And change takes everything with it – the good and the bad, the regrettable and the boring. But there are some things that you don’t want to change, or see evaporate in space and time; things that you will particularly miss.

You want them to remain, to stay with you eternally. You couldn’t even imagine living without them.

ki, dedaqalaqi iarsebebs, Tumca sakuTari warsulis, istoriis gareSe. amitom am proeqtma Tbilisisadmi mgrZnobelobis gazrdis movaleoba itvirTa da sabolood socialur proeqtad Camoyalibda _ bevrTaTvis kulturul RonisZiebebze daswreba fufunebaa. amitom, rodesac Tbiliselebs xelovanni stumroben da sruliad usasyidlod uziareben sakuTar Semoqmedebas, Cven, axali, gulidan wamosuli kavSirebis gabmis momswrenni vxdebiT. metic, batoni miSa mdinaraZis azriT, am proeqtma

“This is precisely how I feel about Tbilisian yards. They are something different; they offer extraordinary lights and shadows, specific sounds; they make people interact in a different way – more openly, honestly and directly. The people living in these yards are surprisingly kind.”

For Artarea, this project was something of a “cultural raid”.

“We are a small TV channel,” says Sopo Khuntsaria. “And compared to larger stations, far fewer people know us. That’s why we wanted to come and meet them ourselves. It was also good from a marketing point of view: if people don’t find us, let’s find them ourselves, we

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SeiZleba Taobebi gaucxoebas gadaarCinos: „sivrceSi da droSi gayinuli qalaqi, is qalaqia, romelic swrafad iviwyebs enas romelzec is saukuneebis ganmavlobaSi laparakobda. es urTierTobis, TanagrZnobis, mezoblobis gansakuTrebuli enaa, romelic adamianebs aerTianebda erTi niSniT; maT aqcevda moqalaqeebad da aniWebda pasuxismgeblobasac. es saocari ena Tavis

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thought – though we later realized that, more importantly, we were carrying out our “cultural descent” just before the past gets erased for good.”

Tbilisian yards are an inseparable part of Tbilisi’s history, and their disappearance means the disappearance of much more than just the yards themselves. Yes, the city will still go on, but without its own past, without its history. This is why this project took on the responsibility to try and increase sensitivity about Tbilisi, and was finally established as a social project – as, unfortunately, there are many people who don’t have the means or time to attend cultural events these days. Therefore, when artists visit Tbilisi and offer their creations to city inhabitants for free, we become witnesses to the birth of new, heartfelt links between people.

Moreover, according to Misha Mdinaradze, this project may prevent different generations drifting apart.

“A city frozen in time and space is a city that easily forgets the language it had been speaking for centuries. It is a particular language of relationships, empathy, neighborliness; a language that united people; transforming them into citizens and giving them responsibilities. The existence of this wonderful language automatically meant the existence of a lively city; but from time to time, cities can become museum exhibits; soulless and loveless

TavSi ukve gulisxmobda cocxal qalaqs, romelic drodadro samuzeumo eqsponatad qceuli, sulwarTmeuli da siyvarulgamoclili mxolod urbanul erTeulad rCeba; roca mas mTavars, suls arTmeven da betonis poeziagamoclil nekropoliss amsgavseben, sadac moqalaqiseuli ena, ese igi kavSiri adamianTa Soris anu cocxali qalaqi, mexsierebis Tu piriqiT, miviwyebis Rrma ufskruls miecema xolme. axla swored is droa, rodesac am miviwyebul mTvlemare siRrmeebs unda mivubrundeT da dakvirvebiT CavixedoT iq... ra dagvxvdeba? gzamkvlevi, rogor gavacocxloT Tbilisis suli, namdvili, ara fasaduri, ara snoburi, ara.. aramed iseTi, rogoric Tbilisur ezoSi gvxvdeba, Seulamazebeli, mourTavi, magram xelSesaxebi, TavisTavadi, gulwrfeli. proeqtma romelmac SesaZloa yvelaze didi gavlena moaxdinos Tanamedrove Tbilisis swor ganviTarebaze wesiT unda daicvas Cveni Svilebi yalbi Tbilisuri manerulobisgan da aCvenos maT dedaqalaqis realuri saxe, arc kargi da arc cudi, ubralod realuri, iseTi rogoric aris. me miyvars proeqti „Tbilisuri ezo“ da mgonia rom aseTi proeqti aTwleulebia ar gakeTebula Cvens qalaqSi.“

urban entities – this happens when people take away their soul and poetry, making them look like necropolises where the language of civility, or relationships between their inhabitants, or simply the liveliness of these cities, is thrown into the deep pit of forgetfulness. Today is a time when we have to go back to these forgotten depths and take a careful look… What will we discover there? Advice on how to revive Tbilisi’s soul, the authentic one, not its façade soul, not its snobbish soul… we need to revive the soul of Tbilisi by basing ourselves on the soul that we find in Tbilisi’s yards – an unadorned, undecorated one, but one that you can touch and feel, one that is original and honest,” he says. “A project that may have the greatest impact on the proper development of today’s Tbilisi should protect our children from fake Tbilisian manners and show them the real face of the capital. Neither a good nor a bad one, it simply needs to show the real one, and show it as it is. I very much like the project ‘Tbilisian Yard,’ and I think that such a project in our city was decades in the coming.”

‘Tbilisian Yard’ started developing on its own. Its format included musicians and documentary storytelling, but unexpectedly enough, it became enriched with a hint of mysticism, and the troupe of the Marjanishvili Theater, which happened to be passing by the Tekla Caravanserai, performed an unprogrammed ‘Faust’.

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Tbilisurma ezom sakuTari cxovrebiT ganviTareba daiwyo. formati musikosebisa da dokumenturi Txrobis sinTezs iTvaliswinebda, Tumca, moulodnelad mas mistikis elferma gadaurbina da Teklas qarvaslaSi, daugegmavad „Semovlilma“ marjaniSvilis Teatris dasma, `fausti~ gaiTamaSa. Toma CageliSvilis azriT, ki am proeqts sxvadasxva, saintereso mimarTulebiT ganviTrebis potenciali aqvs, Tundac macxovreblebma murabebi gamoitanon da stumrebi Caize moipatiJon. qalbatoni nino Wyonias azriT am proeqtma miviwyebuli tradiciebi gaacocxla da bevri saintereso ezos aRmoCenas Seuwyo xeli: „Cemi azriT, „Tbilisuri ezo“ erT-erTi saukeTesoa ganxorcielebul kulturul proeqtebs Soris. igi sakmaod mravalferovania da iTvaliswinebs sxvadasxva gemovnebis mqone msmenelebis moTxovnebs. TiTqmis yvela koncerts daveswari. SesaniSnavi iyo inola gurgulias SemoqmedebiTi saRamo, agreTve rezo kiknaZis, nikoloz raWvelis, saopero momRerlebis, miSa mdinaraZis, miSo javaxiSvilisa da jguf „barakas“, rati amaRlobelisa da gogi ZoZuaSvilis monawileobiT Catarebuli warmodgenebi.

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According to Toma Chagelishvili, this project has the potential to develop in several interesting ways; for instance, the inhabitants could come out with some snacks or invite spectators for tea.

Nino Chkhonia believes that this project has revived forgotten traditions and helped discover many interesting yards: “I think that ‘Tbilisian Yard’ is one of the best cultural projects I’ve seen. It’s diverse and incorporates the requirements of listeners of various tastes. I attended almost all the concerts carried out in the

rac gansakuTrebiT mniSvnelovania, mec da, albaT, CemsaviT sxvebmac swored am RonisZiebebis meSveobiT aRmovaCineT mSvenieri, kolorituli, Tbilisuri ezoebi. imedi maqvs, rom es uaRresad saintereso proeqti momavalSic gagrZeldeba da kidev uamrav sasiamovno siurprizs mogviwyobs.“ momaval gazafxulze proeqtis gafarToebas vgegmavT _ gviTxra sofo xunwariam _ gvaqvs survili eqspoziciebi saxlebSi, gavmarToT. ezodan, ojaxebSi gadavinacvloT da qalaqis istoria ase gavagrZeloT. ver getyviT ramdenad SeinarCunebs Tbilisi sakuTari sxeulis am nawils. urbanizacia ulmobelia. arabeskebiani aivnebis adgils „hairaizebi“ ikaveben da sakuTar wesebs weren. maTi kultura ki karCaketilobaze gadis. mixuruli karebis miRma sxva ambebi iwereba, iseTebi, romlebic ucxoa Tbil wyaroebze gaSenebuli qalaqisTvis. aseTi qalaqi mxolod Ria karebis da farTod gaxsnili WiSkrebis pirobebSi iqneba cocxali. hoda, davelodoT aprils. ira WeliZe foto: giorgi ZiZikaSvili

framework of this project. The evening dedicated to Inola Gurgulia was wonderful, as were the concerts of Rezo Kiknadze, Nikoloz Rachveli, opera singers, Misha Mdinaradze, Misho Javakhishvili and the band ‘Baraka’, the shows with the participation of Rati Amaghlobeli and Gogi Dzodzuashvili… Most importantly, I discovered superb, picturesque Tbilisian yards thanks to these events – and I’m sure that I’m not the only one. I really hope that this utterly interesting project will continue in the future, and that it will offer us many other pleasant surprises.”

“We are planning to broaden the project next spring,” Khuntsaria says. “We want to arrange exhibitions in private homes; to move from the yards to the interior of the homes, and to continue the story of the city in this way.”

We cannot say to what extent Tbilisi will be able to preserve its yards. Urbanization is merciless. Skyscrapers are replacing balconies and their beautiful arabesques and are writing their own rules. And their culture is based on closed doors. Stories written behind these closed doors are not stories for a city built on warm waters. Such a city will only be alive with doors open and yard gates widely spread. So let’s wait for April.

Ira Chelidze Photography: Giorgi Dzidzikashvili

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promeTes molodinSi Waiting for Prometheus Tbilisis saerTaSoriso kinofestivali „promeTe“ rom mTavrdeba, vfiqrobT, Semdeg wels festivali rogori iqneba da romel axal filmebs vnaxavT ase monatrebul `qarTul~ did ekranze. mayureblis mxridan es safestivalo molodini imis maniSnebelia, rom Tbilisis saerTaSoriso kinofestivali, romelic wels meCvidmeted Catarda, wlis yvelaze mniSvnelovani da warmatebuli kinomovlenaa CvenSi. gagvimarTla da, wlevandeli festivalis gansakuTrebuli stumari germaneli reJisori margarete fon trota iyo, romelsac sapatio `promeTe~ gadaeca kinematografSi Setanili wvlilisTvis. misi erT-erTi gamorCeuli filmiT _ „roza luqsemburgi“ _ Tbilisis meCvidmete saerTaSoriso kinofestivali gaixsna.

When the Tbilisi International Film Festival (TIFF) ‘Prometheus’ ends, we already get thinking about what’s in store for us next year and which new films will be screened. This expectation from the audience points to the fact that TIFF, which was in its 17th edition this year, was the most important and successful cinema event of 2016. We were lucky to have had German director Margarethe von Trotta as the special guest, who was given an honorary ‘Prometheus’ for her contribution to cinema, and saw the festival being opened by one of her most distinguished films – ‘Rosa Luxembourg’.

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estivalis saerTaSoriso programas frangi msaxiobi aleqsandra stiuarti, italieli reJisori davide ferario, germaneli prodiuseri peter romeli, Svedi kinomcodne eva geierstami da qarTveli kinoprodiuseri gia bazRaZe sjidnen. seqciaSi aTi sadebiuto mxatvruli filmi iyo warmodgenili, maT Soris ori qarTuli _ nino basilias „anas cxovreba“ da rusudan glurjiZis „sxvisi saxli“... ukanaskneli ki oqros `promeTes~ mflobeli gaxda. es filmi amerikis kinoakademiisTvis warsadgen saukeTeso ucxourenovani filmis nominaciisTvisac SeirCa. saukeTeso reJisurisTvis vercxlis `promeTe~ ianiv bermanis films `patara adamianebis miwa~ xvda wilad. kinofestivalze tradiciul seqciaSi `evropuli kinos forumi~ bolo ori wlis yvelaze mniSvnelovani filmebi iyo warmodgenili: ken louCis `deniel bleiqi~; qristian munjius `bolo zari~; maren ades `toni ertmani”; Jan-pier da luk dardenebis `ucnobi gogona”... saukeTeso filmebs aziidan, afrikidan, avstraliidan, CrdiloeT da samxreT amerikidan seqcia `horizontebi~ aerTianebs.

Tumca, saerTaSoriso konkursis da sxva seqciebis ganxilvas samomavlod gadavdebT da Cvens werilSi yuradRebas qarTul kinoproduqciaze gavamaxvilebT... axali qarTuli kino Tbilisis me-17 saerTaSoriso kinofestivalze wels Tbilisis me-17 saerTaSoriso kinofestivalis qarTul panoramaSi 18 sakonkurso filmi iyo warmodgenili. qarTuli panoramis Jiuris `tradiciul~ wevrebs erika da ulrix gregorebs, romlebic festivalis yovelwliuri stumrebi da gulSematkivrebi arian, wels ori kinomcodne _ glen mireni da liza neselsoni Seematnen. rogorc ukve aRvniSneT, wlevandeli „promeTes“ saerTaSoriso konkursSi ori qarTuli filmi iRebda monawileobas: nino basilias „anas cxovreba“ da rusudan glurjiZis „sxvisi saxli“.

`Tve, rogorc erTi dRe~ / “MONTH AS ONE DAY’”

`Tve, rogorc erTi dRe~ / “MONTH AS ONE DAY’”

The jury of this year’s festival’s international competition, the main theme of which was politics, was composed of French actress Alexandra Stewart, Italian director Davide Ferrario, German producer Peter Rommel, Swedish film critic Eva Geijerstam and Georgian producer Gia Bazghadze. Ten debut films were presented in this section, including two Georgian ones – Nino Basilia’s ‘Ana’s Life’ and Rusudan Glurjidze’s ‘House of Others’… The latter winning the Golden Prometheus. This film was also selected to be presented at the nominations of the Best Film in a Foreign Language at the American Academy Awards. Yaniv Berman’s film ‘Land of the Little People’ won the Silver Prometheus for Best Directing.

The major European films of the past two years were presented in the festival’s traditional section ‘European Film Forum’: Ken Loach’s ‘I, Daniel Blake’; Cristian Mungiu’s ‘Graduation’; Maren Ade’s ‘Toni Erdmann’; and Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s ‘The Unknown Girl,’ while the best films from Asia, Africa, Australia, North and South America were united in the section ‘Horizons’.

However, in this article, we will save the review of the international competition and the other sections for later, and will concentrate just on Georgian film production.

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NEW GEORGIAN CINEMA AT TBILISI’S 17TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

`sxvisi saxli~ / “HOUSE OF OTHERS”

gasuli saukunis 90-iani wlebis Sesaxeb bevr qarTul films vicnobT. afxazeTis Temas araerTi qarTveli reJisori Sexebia. avtorTa erTi nawili omis paralelur movlenebs ikvlevs da am movlenebSi adamianTa beds, nawili ki postsaomari movlenebis „narCenebiT“ interesdeba. rusudan glurjiZis „sxvisi saxli“ ori ojaxis yofas aRwers, romlebic oms fizikurad gadaurCnen, Tavi mitovebul sofelSi, sxva adamianebis

`sxvisi saxli~ / “HOUSE OF OTHERS”

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18 films were presented in this year’s ‘Georgian Panorama’ section of Tbilisi’s 17th International Film Festival. Erika and Ulrich Gregor, members of the Georgian Panorama jury and regular guests at the festival, were joined by film experts Glenn Myrent and Lisa Nesselson in their evaluation assignment, which included the two Georgian films mentioned above – Nino Basilia’s ‘Ana’s Life’ and Rusudan Glurjidze’s ‘House of Others’.

We know many Georgian films about the 1990s. Several Georgian directors have dealt with the theme of Abkhazia. Some explore the circumstances surrounding the war itself, while others are more interested in the “leftovers” of the post-war situation. Rusudan Glurjidze’s ‘House of Others’ depicts the lives of two families that survived the war physically and have found refuge in other people’s houses. But a “new war” continues in their everyday lives. The director tries to find the right balance between visuals, dramaturgy and actors, but unfortunately, does not manage to successfully combine the three: the visual aspect of the film and the authorial storytelling decision do not counterbalance the dramaturgical insufficiencies and linear characters.

Actress Eka Demetradze creates a convincing and expressive character in Nino Basilia’s film, the world premiere of which took place at the Göteborg International Film Festival, where it was nominated

`anas cxovreba~ / “ANNA’S LIFE”

saxls Seafares, magram maTi „axali omi“ yoveldRiurobaSi grZeldeba. reJisori cdilobs Tanabrad gaanawilos aqcentebi rogorc filmis vizualze, ise dramaturgiasa da msaxiobebze, Tumca samive komponentis warmatebiT Sesrulebas Tavs ver arTmevs. filmis vizualuri nawili da ambis avtoriseuli gadawyveta ver abalansebs dramaturgiul Cavardnebsa da sworxazovan personaJebs. damajerebel da eqspresiul personaJs qmnis msaxiobi eka demetraZe nino basilias filmSi, romlis msoflio premiera gioteborgis saerTaSoriso kinofestivalze Sedga, sadac ingmar bergmanis saxelobis premiaze iyo nominirebuli da Tbilisur premieramde msoflios araerTi mniSvnelovani festivalis prizi miiRo. „anas cxovreba“ reJisoris srulmetraJiani kinodebiutia. `martoxela deda, minimaluri SemosavliT da autisti bavSviT~ _ ase axasiaTebs mTavari gmiri, ana sakuTar Tavs. misi erTaderTi mizani autizmiT daavadebuli Svilis amerikaSi wayvanaa, rasac ver axerxebs; socialuri dramis mTavari gmiri, ganzogadebuli, krebsiTi saxea, romelSic araerT martoxela dedas Tu usamarTlobiT daRlil qals amoikiTxavT. filmis reJisori, nino basilia Tavadaa scenaris avtori, misi empaTiuri da zedmetad subieqturi damokidebuleba anasadmi calsaxaa, is ar cdilobs gaemijnos mTavar gmirs da `garedan~ Sexedos mas, piriqiT _ filmSi ver naxavT verc erT epizods, verc erT

for the Ingmar Bergman Award, and which had won awards at several significant festivals around the world before its Tbilisi premiere.

‘Ana’s Life’ is the debut feature of the director. “A single mother, with minimal income and an autistic child” – this is how the main character Ana describes herself. Her only goal is to take her autistic child to America, which she doesn’t manage to do; the main character of this social drama is a generic woman in which you will see many single mothers or women exhausted by injustice. Basilia is also the scriptwriter, and her attitude towards Ana is clearly emphatic and oversubjective – she doesn’t try to distance herself from her main character and look at her from ‘outside’; quite on the contrary, you won’t see any episode, any frame of the film, without Ana. Despite this standpoint, the tense expectations of the spectators, who follow every step of the lead character, are not met at the end of the movie.

Perhaps the director wanted to express what she had to say in this way – that despite everything, a new life is more important than social condition, and more generally, than problems…

This year’s ‘Georgian Panorama’ award was given to Reso Esadze’s new film ‘Month as One Day’. Weary of their heavy social condition, the characters try to cope with their situation with the help of Malher’s Symphony No. 5. An honorary ‘Prometheus’ was also awarded to the director for his contribution to cinematography.

As the author explains himself, this is a film he’d been wanting to shoot for a very long time. The audience may feel that Esadze’s new work is an experiment not only because of its visuals, but also

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`CeCneTis gzajvaredini~ / “SEE YOU IN CHECHNYA”

kadrs mTavari gmiris gareSe. amgvari damokidebulebis miuxedavad, mayurebels, romelic bolomde mihyveba mTavari gmiris yvela nabijs _ filmis finalSi daZabuli molodini ar umarTldeba. iqneb, swored aseTi finaliT gamoxata reJisorma saTqmeli, rom yvelafris miuxedavad axali sicocxle ufro mniSnelovania, vidre socialuri garemo da zogadad, problemebi... wlevandeli festivalis qarTuli panoramis gamarjvebuli rezo esaZis axali namuSevari „Tve, rogorc erTi dRe~ gaxda. mZime socialuri yofiT daRlili personaJebi garemosTan gamklavebas maleris mexuTe simfoniis `daxmarebiT~ cdiloben. kinematografSi Setanili wvlilisTvis reJisors sapatio `promeTe~ gadaeca. rogorc Tavad avtori ambobs, es swored is filmia, romlis gadaRebac Zalian didi xnis ganmavlobaSi surda. kinomoyvarulTaTvis rezo esaZis axali namuSevari SesaZloa, aramxolod vizualuri, aramed araordnaluri dramaturgiuli eqsperimentic aRmoCndes. 90-iani wlebis saqarTvelos yofa _ mTavari gmiri marleni (daviT beSitaiSvili) mZime politikuri da socialuri mdgomareobidan gamosavals eZebs. is CrdiloeTidan megobris werils iRebs, romelic mas „axal aTenSi“ samuSaod epatiJeba. mTavar gmirs, or qalsa da or qveyanas Soris arCevnis gakeTeba uwevs. fiqris Semdeg, marleni, samSoblodan wasvlasa da avadmyofi dedis mitovebaze uars ambobs. filmSi ganviTarebul movlenebs mTavari gmiri akvirdeba, observaciul kameras subieqturi anacvlebs da piriqiT, paralelurad Semodis kontrapunqtuli CanarTebi: jer reJisoris xma, Semdeg ki kadrSi Tavad filmis avtori Cndeba, romelic gadasaReb moedanze myof msaxiobebs miTiTebebs aZlevs. araerTgvarovani Sinaarsis Semcveli dialogebi da frazebi: qveynis bedze, Soreul, utopiur, Crdilour qalaqze, maradiul sicocxleze, eTikurobasa

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because of its extraordinary dramaturgy. In 90s Georgia, the main character Marlen (Davit Beshitaishvili) is looking for a way out of his heavy political and social condition. He receives a letter from a friend in the north, who invites him to work in “New Athens”. The protagonist has to choose between two women and two countries.

After pondering, he refuses to leave his homeland and his ailing mother. While Marlen observes the events that develop during the film, a subjective camera changes the observation point, and contrapuntal insertions are introduced: first, the voice of the director, who then appears in the frame himself, giving directives to the actors on the set. Dialogues and sentences with manifold meanings – on the fate of the country, on a far-away, utopian northern city, on eternal life, ethics and decadence – are repeated in the characters’ verbal and visual reminiscences. Just like the repetition of several episodes, mise en scènes, and even an actress – Ia Sukhitashvili, who plays both the main protagonist’s mother and mistress. And all this, as mentioned above, with Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 in the background…

The reason the director decided to choose the Austrian composer’s music, and Luchino Visconti’s cult film ‘Death in Venice’s’ hallmark music composition, and especially in this dosage, is unclear. ‘Month as One Day’ is a reflection of Esadze’s work, of his emotions, in which characters who have lost their identity disconnect from reality.

THE “HUMBLE CHARM” OF GEORGIAN DOCUMENTARY CINEMA In recent years, Georgian documentary cinema has developed in an interesting way, and Georgian documentary films are being presented at almost every globally important festival. The “new Georgian documentary cinema” was also impressive at this year’s TIFF. Vakhtang Kuntsev-Gabashvili’s ‘Life is Be’ was declared the best documentary film of the ‘Georgian Panorama’ section. It presents the history of five characters living as neighbors in the town of Telavi: a former firefighter German plays piano in a home for the elderly; a second German who has had no electricity in his house for 20 years, which is why he invented his own stove that generates electricity; an 80-year-old man fighting to protect a historic house in poor condition from the State. The fourth character, a former engineer and

`mousmine siCumes~ / “LISTEN TO THE SILENCE”

`daisis miziduloba~ / “THE DAZZLING LIGHT OF SUNSET”

Tu dekadansze, gmirebis verbalur da vizualur reminiscenciebSi meordeba. iseve, rogorc meordeba epizodebi, mizanscenebi, dialogebi da msaxiobic ki _ ia suxitaSvili, erTdroulad, mTavari gmiris dedisa da sayvareli qalis rols asrulebs. da yovelive es, rogorc zeviT iTqva, gustav maleris mexuTe simfoniis fonze viTardeba... gaugebaria, ratom irCevs reJisori maincdamianc avstrieli kompozitorisa da lukino viskontis sakulto filmis `sikvdili veneciaSi“ savizito baraTad qceul am musikalur kompozicias da Tan aseTi doziT. „Tve, rogorc erTi dRe“ rezo esaZis Semoqmedebis, misi gancdebis refleqsiaa, sadac identoba dakarguli gmirebi, realobebs Soris ikargebian. qarTuli dokumentalistikis „mokrZalebuli xibli~ bolo xania qarTuli kinodokumentalistika sainteresod viTardeba da maTi umetesoba msoflios TiTqmis yvela mniSvnelovan festivalzea warmodgenili. wlevandel `promeTezec~ axali qarTuli dokumenturi kino sainteresod gamoiyureboda. qarTuli panoramis saukeTeso dokumenturi filmi vaxtang kuncev-gabaSvilis LIFE IS BE gaxda, romelSic TelavSi erTmaneTis mezoblad mcxovrebi 5 gmiris istoriaa asaxuli: erTi Telaveli germaneli, yofili

professor at the Telavi University, sits at home listening to rock music and lamenting life; the fifth is a successful farmer and businessman who needs a larger workforce, but cannot find anyone willing as nobody wants to work. The farmer has arranged a “mini-chapel” in his farm, where he prays for a better future. The director goes beyond the classic observational framework of filming, and clearly states his empathic attitude towards each character.

The jury gave a special mention to Salome Jashi’s ‘The Dazzling Light of Sunset’, which was recognized as one of the most distinguished works not only among documentary films, but more generally, in new Georgian cinema. Through a regional TV channel, the director creates a pseudo-ethnographic portrait of a small town in Western Georgia, where rituals and traditions, norms and dogmas determine the way of life, and in which we can also notice a reflection of our contemporary world as a whole. Thanks to the wide range of characters, places and events, the documentary generalizes the mosaic of a specific town.

The distinguished style of Salome Jashi, which could already be felt in her previous work ‘Bakhmaro’, remained in her new film even more successfully. ‘The Dazzling Light of Sunset’ won in two competition sections at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival (Best Central and Eastern European Film, and Best Debut Film).

Mariam Chachia’s film ‘Listen to the Silence’ also had a very successful kick off, as it won the ‘Next Masters’ award at the Leipzig Documentary Film International Festival and premiered in Georgia at the 17th Prometheus International Film Festival. The protagonist

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mexanZre, saTnoebis saxlSi pianinoze ukravs; meorec germanelia, romelsac 20 weliwadia eleqtroenergia ar miewodeba da amitom denis gamommuSavebeli Rumeli gamoigona. mesame personaJi 80 wlis mamakacia, romlis avariul istoriul saxls, saxelmwifo icavs. meoTxe personaJi ki `Zveli~ inJineri, warsulSi Telavis universitetis leqtori, Sin zis, rok-musikas usmens da cxovrebas uCivis. mexuTe _ warmatebuli fermeri, biznesmenia, romelsac damxmare Zala sWirdeba, magram veravis poulobs. muSaoba aravis unda. fermers sakuTar fermaSi `mini salocavi~ aqvs mowyobili, sadac ukeTesi momavlisTvis loculobs. reJisori scdildeba klasikuri observaciis CarCos da calsaxad afiqsirebs empaTiur damokidebulebas TiToeuli gmiris mimarT. Jiurim gansakuTrebul namuSevrad salome jaSis „daisis miziduloba“ miiCnia, romelic aramxolod dokumentur, aramed, zogadad, axal qarTul kinoSi erT-erTi gamorCeuli namuSevria. reJisori, regionuli satelevizio arxis saSualebiT dasavleT saqarTvelos erTi patara qalaqis fsevdo-eTnografiul portrets qmnis, sadac ritualebi da tradiciebi, normebi da dogmebi cxovrebis wess gansazRvravs da sadac Tanamedrove msoflios anareklic iWreba. personaJebis, adgilebis, movlenebis mravalferovani speqtri konkretuli qalaqis mozaikas asuraTxatebs. salome jaSis gamorCeuli stili, romelic mayurebelma avtoris wina namuSevar „baxmaroSi“ ixila, mis axal filmSi ufro didi warmatebiT grZeldeba. „daisis miziduloba“ dokumenturi filmebis ihlavas saerTaSoriso kinofestivalis ori sakonkurso seqciis gamarjvebuli (centraluri da aRmosavleT evropis saukeTeso filmi da saukeTeso sadebiuto namuSevari) gaxda. salome jaSis filmis msgavsad, warmatebuli safestivalo starti hqonda mariam WaWias films „mousmine siCumes“,

`anas molodinSi~ / “WAITING FOR ANNA”

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of the film is nine-year-old Luka, who studies at a public school for the hearing impaired in Tbilisi at which he learns how to dance.

With extraordinary warmth, the director observes the everyday lives of these impaired children, their attitude towards their educators, parents… The film ‘Listen to the Silence’ presents the audience with the mysterious world of hearing impaired children and Chachia’s emotional debut film will not leave spectators indifferent. The same goes for Tsira Gvasalia’s film ‘On the Move’, which is based on stories of inhabitants of Tbilisi’s Boarding House of the Elderly. Due to renovation works, Viola, Shota, Rima, Ushangi and Pavle have to relocate to a large concert hall. Despite this chaos, they need to endure a painful old age and fight with their remaining strength to make their dreams come true.

Kote Kalandadze’s visually and thematically distinct ‘Better than Dog’ tells the story of Gia Iashvili, a lesser-known musician in Georgia who doesn’t create music for commercial reasons, but only to serve art. The director presents one day in the life of the main character and tries to make us see the action from a wider lens.

Georgia’s recent history has become a source of inspiration for many Georgian documentary filmmakers. The Georgian premiere of young Georgian director Anuna Bukia’s autobiographic-documentary film ‘I Swam the Enguri’ took place at this year’s festival. The main

romelmac laifcigis dokumenturi filmebis saerTaSoriso kinofestivalis seqciaSi Next Masters gaimarjva da filmis premiera `promeTes~ me-17 saerTaSoriso kinofestivalze Sedga. filmis mTavari gmiri, 9 wlis luka, Tbilisis smenadaqveiTebul bavSvTa sajaro skolaSi swavlobs, sadac skolis moswavleebi saswavlo wels cekvis swavlaSi atareben. reJisori saocari siTboTi akvirdeba yru-munj bavSvTa yoveldRiur cxovrebas, maT damokidebulebas aRmzrdelebTan, mSoblebTan... filmi „mousmine siCumes“ mayurebels am fizikuri naklis matarebel bavSvTa idumal samyaros uCvenebs. mariam WaWias emociuri sadebiuto namuSevari, mayurebels gulgrils ver datovebs. iseve, rogorc cira gvasalias filmi „oTaxebi“, romelSic Tbilisis xandazmulTa pansionatis binadrebis istoriebia asaxuli. remontis gamo _ viola, SoTa, rima, uSangi da pavle erT did sakoncerto darbazSi unda gadavidnen sacxovreblad. miuxedavad qaosisa, romlis gadatana xandazmul asakSi uwevT da romelsac mtkivneulad aRiqvamen, moxucebi mainc inarCuneben Zalas, raTa ocnebebi aixdinon. kote kalandaZis vizualurad Tu Tematurad gansxvavebuli „ZaRlze ukeTesi“ saqarTveloSi naklebad cnobili musikosis gia iaSvilis istorias asaxavs, romelic musikas komerciuli miznebis gamo ar qmnis da mxolod xelovnebas emsaxureba. reJisori filmSi mTavari gmiris cxovrebidan erT dRes gvTavazobs da cdilobs msxvili planiT dagvanaxos is. saqarTvelos uaxlesi istoria araerTi qarTveli dokumentalisti-reJisoris wyaro gaxda. axalgazrda qarTveli reJisoris anuna bukias avtobiografiuldokumenturi filmis „me gadavcure enguris“ qarTuli premiera wlevandel festivalze Sedga. filmis gmirisTvis, romelic gadawyvets ipovos saxli, romelic omma 4 wlis asakSi daakargvina, okupirebul teritoriaze moxvedris erTaderTi Sansi, mxolod sazRvris malulad gadakveTaa. winaRoba, bunebrivi gamyofi zolia mdinare enguri da rusi samxedroebis mier xelovnurad Seqmnili mavTulxlarTebi. saxlis Ziebisas, reJisori ikvlevs massaviT devnili pirebis yofas omis dasrulebidan 24 wlis Semdeg _ yofas, romelic oms ufro hgavs, vidre mSvidobas.

2008 wlis ruseT-saqarTvelos omis Semdgom adamianebis beds asaxavs Toma CageliSvili filmSi „me ar gadavkveTe sazRvari, sazRvarma gadamkveTa me“. mavTulxlarTebis gavlebis Sedegad sofel xurvaleTis mcxovrebni igeben, rom `axlad gaCenil~ (uRiarebel) `samxreT oseTis~ sazRvarze cxovroben. warmoqmnili mdgomareoba adamianTa yofas gausaZliss xdis: mezoblebi da naTesavebi mavTulxlarTebis sapirispiro mxares aRmoCndnen. filmi erTgvari observaciaa, Tu rogor cdiloben adgilobrivebi axal mdgomareobasTan Seguebas... maT surT Zveleburad icxovron, magram es ukve SeuZlebelia.

`leTa~ / “LETHE”

character decides to find the house that war took away from her when she was four years old, and the only way for her to achieve that is to cross the border by stealth. The obstacles are the river Enguri and the barbed wire fences put up by the Russian military. While looking for her house, the director examines the situation of the other IDPs 24 years after the war – a situation that more resembles war than peace.

Toma Chagelishvili’s film ‘I Didn’t Cross the Border: The Border Crossed Me’ shows the lives of people near the conflict zone after the 2008 Russo-Georgian war. As a result of a new barbed wire fence put up by the Russian military, the inhabitants of Khurvaleti village realize that they are living on the border of the “newly founded” (and unrecognized) “South Ossetia”. This situation makes the lives of these people a constant challenge: with neighbors and family members divided by the wire. This film is an observation about how the locals try to cope with the new situation… They want to live as they used to, but find it an impossibility.

Nino Gogua’s film ‘The Things’ follows heroes of the August war.

Through the stories of the objects that they took with them from their homes during the war, the author shows the everyday lives of the refugee population from Khurvaleti village. The film is an attempt to create some sympathy towards those who were affected by war – to transform “refugees” into humans, individuals who, despite their common problems, have different, individual pasts and experiences, an individual existence, individual goals; just like the objects they took from their villages.

“LIFE IS BE”

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agvistos omgamovlili gmirebiT intersdeba reJisori nino gogua filmSi `nivTebi“; avtori xurvaleTis devnili mosaxleobis yoveldRiur cxovrebaze mogviTxrobs im nivTebis meSveobiT, sakuTari saxlebidan omis dros rom wamoiRes. aleqsandre kvataSiZis „CeCneTis gzajvaredini“, nawilobriv avtobiografiuli filmia. reJisori filmze 15 wlis ganmavlobaSi muSaobda da sakuTari gamocdilebidan gamomdinare, CeCneTis omidan dabrunebuli eqvsi Jurnalistis istorias mogviTxrobs.

Jiuris gansakuTrebuli aRniSvna daimsaxura xaTuna xundaZis filmma „Cveni welTaRricxviT 2015“. moklemetraJiani dokumenturi namuSevari, romelSic kinostudia „qarTuli filmis“ ori TanamSromlis erTi samuSao dRea aRwerili.

SHORTS qarTuli moklemetraJiani kino is sivrcea, sadac yvela damwyebi reJisori erTiandeba. wels konkursSi vizualurad da Tematurad radikalurad gansxvavebuli 5 filmi monawileobda. moklemetraJiani kinos mravalferovneba misasalmebelia, Tumca samwuxarod, yvela maTganma saTqmelis gadmocema da damajerebeli vizualis Seqmna Tanabari warmatebiT ver SeZlo. saukeTeso moklemetraJian filmad _ giorgi Todrias „dakarguli sofeli“ aRiares. xulio kortasaris „mitacebuli saxlis“ motivebze Seqmnili filmi, sadac personaJebi rutinul yofaSi, simSvides da idilias pouloben. films 20-ze meti saerTaSoriso jildo aqvs mopovebuli. gansakuTrebul aRniSvnas dea kulumbegaSvilis „leTa“ imsaxurebs. filmis msoflio premiera kanis kinofestivalze Sedga seqciaSi „reJisorTa orkvireuli~. filmis avtori winandlis premiis laureatic gaxda. monoqronul ferebSi gadawyvetili filmis mistiurleTargiuli garemoTi, reJisori personaJebis STambeWdav saxe-xatebs qmnis, romlebic „kameras uyvars“. giorgi muxaZis filmSi „anas molodinSi“ operatori da mxatvari saintereso atmosferos qmnian, Tumca aqac qarTuli kinos „aqilevsis quslad“ qceulma dramaturgiis problemam iCina Tavi. erTia Tu ramdenad saintereso vizuals qmnis reJisori, xolo meore sakiTxia ramdenad mwyobrad, damajereblad hyveba ambavs. samwuxarod, am ori komponentis pozitiuri Tanxvedra verc danarCen or moklemetraJian filmSi _ ana saruxanovas „dRis bolomde“ da Tengo asitaSvilis „tragedia ugmirod“ vixileT. „wamiyvane saxlSi“ _ ase hqvia iraneli klasikosis films, romliTac is kinematografs samudamod daemSvidoba.

Tbilisis me-17 saerTaSoriso kino festivali abas qiarostamis ukanaskneli filmiT daixura... neno qavTaraZe

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`dakarguli sofeli~ / “LOST VILLAGE”

Aleksandre Kvatashidze’s ‘See you in Chechnya’ is a semi-biographic film which the director worked on for 15 years. It tells us the story of six journalists who returned from the Chechen War, from the point of view of his own experience.

The jury gave a special mention to Khatuna Khundadze’s short documentary film ‘A.D. 2015’ which presents the working day of two colleagues at the film studio ‘Georgian Film’.

SHORTS The Georgian short film scene is the field in which all new directors gather. This year, five completely different films, both in terms of visuals and content, took part in the competition. The diversity of these short films is a positive thing, but, unfortunately, they were unable to convey what they meant or create convincing visuals with success.

George Todria’s ‘Lost Village’ won the Short Film Award. It is a film inspired by the motifs of Julio Cortázar’s ‘House Taken Over’, and its characters find peace in a routine existence. The film won more than 20 international awards.

Dea Kulumbegashvili’s ‘Lethe’ deserves a special mention. The premiere of this film took place at the Cannes Film Festival, in the section ‘Directors’ Fortnight’. The creator of the film also won a Tsinandali award.

In a mystical-lethargic environment filmed in monochrome, the director creates impressive portraits of the photogenous characters.

In Giorgi Mukhadze’s film ‘Waiting for Anna’, the DOP and set designer create an interesting atmosphere, but here too, the dramaturgy, or the new “Achilles’ heel” of Georgian cinema, is problematic. The visual quality of the images created by film directors is one thing, but how coherently, convincingly and interestingly they tell a story is another. Unfortunately, the proper harmony of these two vital components was also lacking in the remaining two short films– Ana Sarukhanova’s ‘Till the End of the Day’ and Tengo Asitashvili’s ‘Tragedy without a Hero’.

The 17th Tbilisi International Film Festival was closed by Abbas Kiarostami’s ‘Take me Home,’ with which the classic Iranian filmmaker waved his last goodbye to cinematography.

Neno Kavtaradze

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Tbilisis saerTaSoriso kinofestivali

28.11 - 04.12. 2016 www.tbilisifilmfestival.ge

Macbeth over Europe Tanamedrove evropis makbeturi suraTi A Macbethian picture of contemporary Europe

reJisori frank hoieli Director Frank Heuel

rogoria Tanamedrove evropa da ra xdeba iq realurad? qarTuli sazogadoebis am erT-erT aqtualur kiTxvas germaniaSic xSirad moismenT. bonis Teatraluri dasis Fringe ensemble-s xelmZRvanelma frank hoielma bonis Theater im Ballsaal-Si gazafxulze uCveulo speqtakli warmoadgina. proeqti Macbeth over Europe eqvsi dramaturgis da xuTi msaxiobis monawileobiT Seiqmna. frenk hoielma (reJisorma) Seqspiris „makbetis~ Temaze piesis dawera evropis eqvsi qveynidan eqvs dramaturgs daukveTa. ivo bridiss (latvia), seran erqans (TurqeTi), goran ferCeks (xorvatia), lotar kitStains (germania), aleqsandr molCanovs (ruseTi), mari nimiers (safrangeTi) unda SeeqmnaT erTmoqmedebiani piesebi, romlis moqmedebis dro iqneboda awmyo, adgili _ sakuTari qveyana, Tema ki, Seqspiris „makbetidan~ unda aeRoT da Tanamedrove evropuli urTierTobebis fonze gaeSalaT. Zalaufleba, kariera, mkvleloba, martooba, winaswarmetyveleba, sigiJe _ ai, ZiriTadi sakiTxebi, romelic avtorTa yuradRebis areSi moeqca.

What is contemporary Europe like, and what really happens there? This is a hot question in Georgia right now, but it is no different in Germany. Frank Heuel, the head of the ‘fringe ensemble’, a theater troupe from Bonn, presented a peculiar show to the audience of the ‘Theater im Ballsaal’ in Bonn. The project ‘Macbeth over Europe’ was created with the participation of six playwrights and five actors and saw Heuel (the director) instructing six playwrights from six countries to write a play on the theme of Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’.

Ivo Briedis (Latvia), Ceren Ercan (Turkey), Goran Ferčec (Croatia), Lothar Kittstein (Germany), Alexander Molchanov (Russia) and Marie Nimier (France) had to create one-act plays, with the time set in the present and the place in their respective countries; as for the theme, they had to take it from Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ and unfold it against a background of relations in contemporary Europe.

Violence, career, murder, solitude, prophecies, and madness are the main issues on which the playwrights focused.

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olitikuri Teatri inglisurenovan samyaroSi uiliam Seqspiridan iwyeba. Zalauflebas mowyurebuli adamiani mTeli Tavisi naklovanebebiT mis araerT piesaSia warmodgenili. politikuri Teatris ZiriTadi mizani viwro, intervenciul formaSi sazogadoebrivi struqturebis kritikuli analizis Cveneba da maT Sesacvlelad brZolaa. ras emsaxureba frank hoielis internacionaluri proeqtebi? rogor axerxebs reJisori sruliad gansxvavebuli piesebis erT sivrceSi inscenirebas? ori wlis win man aTi dramaturgis piesas mouyara Tavi laipcigis scenaze da publikas Tavzardamcemi warmodgena SesTavaza, saxelwodebiT `xalxTa kvla, anu ZaRlebis winaSe~... winamdebare interviuSi reJisori gvesaubreba speqtaklis esTetikaze, mis scenografiaze, rogor Seiqmna proeqti Macbeth over Europe da im ZiriTad Temebze, romelic dramaturgebma warmoadgines da rac Tanamedrove evropis suraTs qmnis. _ batono hoiel, speqtaklebisTvis Tqven politikur Temebs arCevT da Taviseburi xerxebiT isini scenaze gadagaqvT. es, umetesad, ramdenime avtoris piesebis kolaJuri inscenirebebia. aseTi iyo, magaliTad, speqtakli „ZaRlebis pirispir~ _ omis Temaze, aseTivea „makbeti evropis garSemo~ _ Zalauflebis TematikiT. Teatrs, romelsac frank hoieli akeTebs, SeiZleba politikuri Teatri ewodos? _ diax, CvenTvis Cveulebrivi ambavia aqtualuri Tematikis saavtoro proeqtebi. vcdilobT, internacionaluri proeqtebis realizebas da kiTxvebi, romelsac vsvamT, sruliad evropas exeba. amiT Cveni saqmianoba, bunebrivia, politikur Teatrad SeiZleba Sefasdes. _ ramdenad mniSvnelovania dRes germanuli TeatrebisTvis politikuri aspeqtebi? _ germaniaSi bevri Teatri exeba sazogadoebriv sakiTxebs. Tundac es tradiciuli drama iyos, cdiloben, politikurad aqtualur Temebs daukavSiron. Cven axali dramaturgiis Seqmnas vcdilobT da amisaTvis saerTaSoriso proeqtebis gziT wavediT. bolo oTxi welia ase vmuSaobT. rasakvirvelia, rusi avtori sxvanairad (Tu sxvagvarad)

This political game starts in the English-speaking world, from Shakespeare. A character thirsty for power, with all his weaknesses, is represented in many of his plays. The main goal of a political theater is to show a critical analysis of the public structure in an interventional form, as well as to fight in order to transform it. What purpose do Heuel’s international projects serve? How does the director manage to stage such different plays in one space? Two years ago, he staged ten dramaturgy pieces in Leipzig, offering a shocking representation to the public – it was called ‘Murdering people / In front of dogs’...

In the following interview, the director told us about the aesthetics of the show, its scenography, how the project ‘Macbeth over Europe’ was created, and the main themes that the playwrights presented to create a picture of today’s Europe.

Mr Heuel, you choose political themes for your shows, and you have your own methods for putting them on stage; a collage staging of various playwrights’ plays. As you did in ‘In front of dogs,’ which had the theme of war, ‘Macbeth over Europe’ takes on the theme of power. Can the theater shows staged by Frank Heuel be called political theater?

Yes, art-house projects on current themes are a norm for us. We try to carry out international projects, and the questions we raise concern Europe as a whole. Therefore, we can definitely be called a political theater.

How important is the political aspect in German theaters today?

Many German theaters handle societal issues. Even in traditional dramas, they try to connect the plot with current issues. We are trying to create a new dramaturgy, and we have followed the path of international projects for this. We’ve been working like this for the

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xedavs evropas, vidre frangi. garda amisa, amgvar proeqtebSi sainteresoa isic, rom avtorebi erTmaneTs ecnobian da ideebs uziareben. saboloo jamSi, Cven vaSenebT erTgvar xidebs, romelic mSvidobis saqmes emsaxureba.

past four years. Naturally, a Russian author sees Europe differently than a French one. Apart from that, such projects are interesting in the respect that authors meet each other and exchange ideas. In the end, we are building bridges that ultimately serve peace.

_ kvlavac aqtualuria kiTxva, ramdenad aqvs Teatrs potencia, rom Secvalos, anda gaaumjobesos sazogadoebis mdgomareoba. Tu miagno Teatralurma xelovnebam amis pasuxad raime esTetikur xerxs? _ is, rom sazogadoebisTvis sasargebloni varT, es yvela Teatralur moRvawes sjera, winaaRmdeg SemTxvevaSi, aRarc imuSavebdnen. me vfiqrob, sazogadoebis masiur SecvlaSi xelovnebis rolze saubari gadaWarbebulia, saqme calkeuli pirovnebis refleqsias exeba. Teatri konkretul mayurebelze zemoqmedebs da TviTonac im konkretuli mayureblis moTxovnisa da interesis Sesabamisad icvleba. aqedan momdinareobs im Teatraluri formebis damuSaveba, rac aqamde ar arsebobda. aseTia Tundac is kolaJuri speqtaklebi, rasac Cveni Teatri mimarTavs.

To what extent does theater have the power to change, or improve, the condition of society? Has the art of theater found any aesthetic trick to achieve this?

Everyone involved in theater believes that they are useful for society, otherwise they just wouldn’t do it. I think it would be an exaggeration to talk about the role of art in a potential massive transformation of society, as I believe it happens on an individual level. Theater has an impact on a specific member of the audience, and theater itself changes according to the demands and interests of this particular spectator. This is how new forms of theater appear, as for instance the ‘collage’ shows presented by our troupe.

_ ram mogcaT impulsi, rom evropis makbeturi suraTis Seqmnaze gefiqraT? _ makbeti, rogorc Zalauflebas mowyurebuli mmarTvelis magaliTi dResac Zalian aqtualurad gamoiyureba.

Cven xom Zalauflebis siyvarulis Tu am Zalauflebis gadaWarbebulad gamoyenebis realobaSi vcxovrobT. yovel avtors Taviseburi asociacia gauCnda sakuTar qveyanasTan kavSirSi. Sesabamisad movZebneT dramaturgebi rogorc aRmosavleT ise dasavleT evropidan, ruseTidan da TurqeTidan, romlebmac makbetis figuras sruliad gansxvavebuli kuTxiT Sexedes. safrangeTSi dRes sul sxva problemebia, iq terorizmis da kolonializmis sakiTxebis winaSe dganan. latvia ki patara qveyanaa, romelic erTi mxriv natos wevri gaxda, meore mxriv, ruseTi isev karTan udgas. TviTon ruseTSi xom Zalauflebismoyvare mmarTvelis magaliTi gvaqvs, romelsac araerTi msgavseba aqvs makbetis figurasTan. aseve aqtualuria TurqeTi am TvalsazrisiT, sadac kidev ufro gamwvavda mdgomareoba, vidre Cven am piesaze muSaobisas warmogvedgina. _ ra iyo is ZiriTadi Temebi, razec avtorebma makbetis variaciebi aages? _ yovelma dramaturgma sakuTari qveynis realoba warmoaCina. maTi davalebac es iyo. ori avtori, magaliTad, sxvadasxva kuTxiT, bavSvebis Temas Seexo. es Turqul da germanul piesaSia. Turqma seran erqanma ltolvilTa Tema daamuSava. rogorc viciT, Seqspiris piesaSi cocxali gadarCeba benqos Svili, romelic mkvlelebs gaeqceva. rogor SeiZleba gadaWran SurisZiebis sakiTxi Svilebma, visac terorizmma mSoblebi dauxoca? sad moxdeba Serigeba, ra viTarebaSi? an, moxdeba kia?

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How did ‘Macbeth over Europe’ come about?

As a leader thirsty for power, ‘Macbeth’ still looks very contemporary today, as we are living in a reality in which we love power, or the abuse of power. Each author has his/her own association with his/her respective country. Therefore, we wanted to work with playwrights from both Eastern and Western Europe, from as far away as Russia and Turkey, where they saw the figure of Macbeth from a totally different point of view. France is now facing completely different issues like terrorism and colonialism, while Latvia is a small country that has on the one hand joined NATO, but on the other hand, is still watched over by Russia. In Russia itself, we have a clear example of an authoritative leader who has many similarities with the figure of Macbeth. Turkey is also interesting in this regard, as the situation in this country grew much tenser while we were working on the project...

What were the main themes on which the authors constructed their variations of ‘Macbeth’?

Each playwright displayed the reality of his/her country, as we asked them to do. For example, two authors focused on the theme of children – these were the Turkish and German plays. Turk Ceren

germaneli avtorisTvis aqtualuri bavSvebze Zaladobisa da mkvlelobis Tema gaxda.xorvatma dramaturgma Zalauflebis mqone turbokapitalisti daxata, romelic absoluturad marto zis Tavis cixe-simagreSi da aravisi azris mosmena ar surs. rusma dramaturgma ki jaSuSis cxovrebidan aiRo suraTebi, es brma morCilebasa da sindisis qenjnazea, roca kolega klavs kolegas zemodan wamosuli brZanebis gamo. _ ra iyo Tqveni molodini, rodesac dramaturgebs davalebas aZlevdiT da ra miiReT? rogoria am eqvsi piesis mixedviT evropis suraTi? _ zogierTi teqsti iseTi iyo, vifiqre, RmerTo, amisgan ra unda gavakeTo-meTqi. magaliTad, frangi avtoris teqsts muSaobis procesSiRa Cavwvdi. eqvsi qveynis magaliTze Znelia, sruliad evropis suraTze msjeloba. magram is, rac Cvens winaSea, aris dabneuli, kiTxvebiT aRsavse evropa, sadac pasuxebi ar Cans. es iluziebdakarguli evropaa, sadac am konkretul momentSi arc erTi namdvili idea ar arsebobs. saiT mivdivarT realurad? ra gaerTianeba varT, ra gvakavSirebs erTmaneTTan? pasuxismgebloba mxolod sxvebze gadagvaqvs, amis magaliTad Tundac ltolvilTa Tema gamodgeba. ase mgonia, evropa daiRala da mas ukve raRacaSi sicxadis Setana, struqturireba sWirdeba. amboben, rom nacionaluri identoba umTavresia, magram me mgoni, Cven yvelas raRac iseTi gvWirdeba, rac realuri simSvidis gancdas mogvcems. es saTqmeli aqvs latviel dramaturgsac da germanelsac, aRarafers vambob frangze, romelic mxolod kiTxvebzea agebuli.

Ercan worked on the issue of refugees. As we know, in Shakespeare’s play, Lord Banquo’s son survives, escaping assassins. How can the children who lost their parents due to terrorism overcome their wish for vengeance? Where will reconciliation take place, and in what circumstances? Will it ever happen?

The German author chose issues of violence against children, and murder. The Croatian playwright depicted a powerful “turbocapitalist” who sits completely alone in his fortress, and doesn’t want to listen to anyone. As for the Russian author, he took scenes from the lives of spies – a story about blind obedience, remorse and guilty conscience; when a man kills his colleague on the order of his superiors.

What did your expect when you assigned this project, and what result did you get? What is the picture of contemporary Europe according to these six plays?

Some manuscripts were really special, and I remember thinking to myself – God, what will I do with this? For instance, I could only understand the text of the French author while actually in the process of working on the play. It is difficult to talk about a unified picture when I have six different examples, but what we have in front of us is a confused Europe full of questions and without answers. It is a desillusioned Europe, where nobody right now has a good idea what is happening. Where are we really going?

What kind of union are we? What connects us to each other? We always put the blame on others, as we’ve just done, for example, with refugees. I think that Europe is tired, and that more clarity and structure needs to be introduced. They say that national identity is the most important thing, but I think that we all need something that will give us a feeling of real peace.

This is what comes out from the Latvian and German plays, and I won’t even talk about the French one, which is fully constructed on questions.

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_ ra principiT daalageT teqstebi? zogi mxolod monologia, zogi mxolod kiTxvebi, zogs siuJeti ar gaaCnia. am sruliad gansxvavebuli teqstebis inscenirebisTvis ra xerxs mimarTeT? ra iyo Semkvreli xazi am piesebisTvis? _ dalageba muSaobis procesSi moxda, arsebobs dinamiuri, ritmuli sakiTxebi da Sinaarsoblivi sakiTxebi. rogor movaxerxo, rom mayurebelma ar moiwyinos, rogor mivaqcevino yuradReba Semdeg pasaJze, romeli nawilis Semdeg ris Casma sjobs _ amaze fiqri didxans dagvWirda.

Tumca ki, rusi avtoris teqstiT rom unda dagvewyo da frangiT dagvemTavrebina, es Zalian male gaxda naTeli. roca eqvs piesas erT speqtaklad krav, SegiZlia es ubralod eqvs moqmedebad dayo da sadamdec gastans, gastans. Tuki mayurebeli ar gageqceva. CvenTvis mTavari iyo, saerTo sivrce SegvenarCunebina, erTiani, gaxsnili, romelic eqvsive piesas aitanda. scena met-naklebad stabiluri unda darCeniliyo. erTxel Semoagoreben vagons da gaagoreben isev, sul esaa. msaxiobebisTvis SevarCieT martivi kostiumebi, romelTa varireba iolad moxdeboda, bunebrivia, saWiro iyo scenografiuli ideebi calkeuli piesebisTvis da bolos _ msaxiobebsa da darbazs Soris erTiani energiis warmoqmna. yvela am piesas, rasakvirvelia, `makbeti~ aerTianebs, Semdeg ki _ evropa. Turq avtorTanac ki centraluri Tema dasavleT-aRmosavleTis kavSiria gadakveTis wertiliT _ istanbuli, sadac realurad evropa azias xvdeba, saidanac SekiTxvaTa uamravi nakadi moedineba da sruli qaosia. _ qveynebis cvalebadoba Tu igrZnoba speqtaklis msvlelobisas?

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According to what principle did you arrange the order of the plays? One is a monologue, another is solely composed of questions, yet another doesn’t even have a subject. What method did you use to stage these very different plays one after the other in one show? What linked them?

I arranged their order while working on them – according to the dynamic, rhythmic and content aspects. How can I be sure not to bore the audience? How to make them focus on this or that passage? What part is better to put after this? – We did a lot of thinking about all these questions. But we very quickly saw that we had to start with the text of the Russian playwright and end with the French. When you unite six plays into one, you can simply divide it into six acts, and it will last as long as it has to…if the audience doesn’t run away from it. To us, the most important thing was to keep a common space, a unified, open one that would host all the plays. The stage had to remain more or less stable. We simply introduce a wagon at some point, and took it away, that’s it. We chose simple costumes for the actors, so that they could vary easily.

Naturally, it was necessary to find good scenographic ideas for some plays, and finally, to create a unified energy between the actors and the audience.

All these plays are connected by ‘Macbeth’, naturally, and then also to Europe. Even the Turk author chose the links between East and West as his central theme, with Istanbul as the main crossing point, where Europe meets Asia, from where a stream of questions are born, creating total chaos.

Does one feel that you are depicting different countries when seeing the show?

_ Cven or xerxs mivageniT, raTa mayureblisTvis es gveniSnebina. scenis ganapiras davdgiT ganaTebuli yuTi, sadac qveynebia miTiTebuli, xolo meore ki is dabeWdili gzamkvlevia, romelic speqtaklis win mayurebels eZleva, sadac aseve aRniSnulia qveynebi da moqmedebis mimdinareoba. publikas SeuZlia zustad miadevnos Tvali, sad xdeba moqmedeba da yuradReba gaamaxvilos, ratom Semodis esa Tu is Tema. _ ese igi, avangardistuli elementis Semotanac dagWirdaT? _ Teatri xelovnebaa da xelovnebas ki mxolod maSin SeuZlia zemoqmedeba, Tuki speqtaklsa da mayurebels Soris dialogi dgeba. dialogisTvis ki mayureblis mzaobaa saWiro. Cven ar vdgamT iseT speqtakls, sadac publikas gasarTobad viwvevT. Cven maTi TanamonawileobiT vqmniT speqtakls. mayureblisgan moviTxovT, ifiqros, ratom icvleba ase ambebi da figurebi, ra icis am qveynebis Sesaxeb an ra ar icis da risi gagebis survili uCndeba, romel stereotipebze Tu winaswar Sexedulebebzea damyarebuli misi asociaciebi. _ Tqven e.w. meoTxe kedelic daarRvieT scenasa da darbazs Soris. integrirebul mayurebels erTgvari speqtaklSi CarTulobis SegrZneba gauCnda. ra reaqcias elodiT publikisgan? _ mgoni mayurebelma sworad aRiqva speqtakli. maT vinc waikiTxes saTauri Macbeth over Europe, romelic eqvsi dramaturgis piesaze iqneboda agebuli, darwmunebuli var ar ufiqriaT, rom aq Seqspiris „makbeti“ daxvdebodaT.

We found two “tricks” to express this to our audience. We placed an illuminated box in the edge of the stage that shows which country the play is about. The second “trick” is a printed leaflet that we hand to the spectators before the show, in which they can see the countries and the order of the plays. So the audience knows exactly where the plot is taking place, and better understands why this or that theme are treated.

So you needed to introduce avant-garde elements too?

Theater is an art, and art can only have an impact when a dialogue takes place between the show and its audience. And for the dialogue, the audience needs to be ready. We are not staging a show to entertain the public. We are creating the show with their participation. We ask our spectators to think about the reasons why these plots and characters change, what they know about these countries, or what they don’t know and would like to understand, and on what stereotypes or preconceived ideas their associations are based.

You managed to break the so-called “fourth wall” between the actors and the audience, leaving the audience with the feeling it was somehow involved in the show. What kind of reactions were you expecting from them?

I think that the audience understood the show. I’m sure that those who had read the title ‘Macbeth over Europe’, and knew that it would be a combination of six plays, didn’t think they were coming to see Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. There is always an association with ‘Macbeth’, at least an unconscious one, which allows us to establish contact with them – it is very difficult and exciting at the same time, and comes with great responsibility.

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garkveuli asociacia am Temaze yvelas uCndeba, rac ukve maTTan kontaqtis damyarebis saSualebas zrdis, es Zalian rTuli, amaRelvebeli da sapasuxismgebloa. _ am mravalplanian speqtaklSi mxolod xuTi msaxiobi daasaqmeT. rogor funqcionirebs es jgufi? _ Zalian mniSvnelovnad mimaCnia, rom scenaze erTiani energia iyos. me ar mindoda Semosuliyo msaxiobTa jgufi, eTamaSa, gasuliyo da amiT dasmoda wertili speqtaklis erT nawils. aq msaxiobebi erTi rolidan meoreSi gadadian da mayureblisTvisac piesebs Soris kavSiri ar wydeba. maT SeuZliaT amoicnon msaxiobi, Seadaron mis sxva rols, anda arc amoicnon, magram mTavari is wnulia, rac msaxiobTa rolidan rolSi gardasaxvisas warmoiqmneba. es aris Zlieri jgufuri muSaobis Sedegi. _ pirvelive piesaSi scenaze Tojina SemoiyvaneT, ra iyo amgvari ekleqtikis funqcia? _ gvindoda, rom dasawyisidanve scenaze makbeti gamoCeniliyo. amitom is Tojinis saxiT davsviT. Sesvenebis Sedeg ki, scenaze is xelze wamosacmeli Tojinis saxiT gamoCnda, rogorc ukve Seqspiris figura, romelic iolad eqceva sxvebis zemoqmdebis qveS da saSualebas aZlevs sxvadasxva Zalebs marTon misi pirovnebac da bed-iRbalic.

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You only used five actors. How did the group function?

I think it is very important to feel that there is one unified energy on the stage. I didn’t want it to be like: the group of actors come in, play their roles, go out and a part of the play is finished. During the show, actors jump from one role to the other, which also creates more links between the different plays for the audience. They can try to guess which role the actor is playing and compare it to another one of his/her roles, or maybe they won’t be able to guess, but the most important is the fabric that is sewed by the actor’s jumping from one role to the other. This is the result of a lot of teamwork.

You brought a doll on stage from the very first play – why?

We wanted to display Macbeth on stage from the very start.

Therefore, we decided to represent him with a doll. After the break, he appeared in the form of a sock puppet, and was presented as Shakespeare’s character, who easily falls under the influence of others and allows various forces to command his fate and himself, as an individual.

In the plays, the authors raise the question of the responsibility of contemporary individuals – which side are they on? Who do they serve? What responsibilities do theaters, your show, and yourself have?

Now, when I think about ‘Macbeth’ and the group of playwrights I worked with, my first responsibility was to understand their texts

_ dramaturgebi warmodgenil piesebSi Tanamedrove adamianis pasuxismgeblobis sakiTxs svamen _ vis mxareze dgas igi, ras emsaxureba. ra pasuxismgebloba akisria Teatrs?

Tqvens speqtakls? Tavad Tqven? _ axla, roca makbetze da avtorTa jgufze vfiqrob, visTanac vimuSave, Cemi pirveli pasuxismgebloba is iyo, rom maTi teqstebi sworad gamego da inscenirebis xerxebi aRmomeCina. speqtakli teqstidan iwyeba da rogorc reJisori, me mis winaSe var pasuxismgebeli. mimaCnia, rom reJisori msaxuria. iq sadac komunikaciasTan gvaqvs saqme, pasuxismgeblobac Cndeba, profesiulic da pirovnulic.

Teatrs, rogorc institucias aqvs pasuxismgebloba mayureblis winaSe, is moraluri unda iyos, Sinaganad janmrTeli, winaaRdeg SemTxvevaSi saSiSi xdeba. properly, and to find the most appropriate staging methods. The show starts with the text, and I am responsible for it. I believe that directors are servants. Wherever we are dealing with communication, it comes with responsibility, both professional and individual. As institutions, theaters are responsible before their audiences; they have to defend moral values, carry healthy ideas – otherwise, they can become dangerous.

P. S. Macbeth over Europe rusi dramaturgis piesiT iwyeba, sadac msaxiobebs piri aqvT plastiriT akruli, maT ekrZalebaT saubari rogorc erTmaneTTan, aseve gare samyarosTan. ufleba ar aqvT, an eSiniaT. xolo speqtaklis dasasruls niaRvrad modis frangi avtoris 343 kiTxvisgan Semdgari teqsti. es Sinaarsoblivi datvirTvis garda, imis zusti niSanic aris, rac Tavisufal safrangeTs totalitaruli samyarosgan ganasxvavebs. da rodesac qarTveli sazogadoeba kiTxulobs, ras niSnavs evropuli azrovneba, an Cven raze gvsurs sworeba gavakeToT, amgvari proeqtebi Cvens dausrulebel kiTxvebsac scems pasuxs: miuxedavad uamravi gadauWreli sakiTxisa da gaucemeli pasuxisa, evropaSi adamianebs SeuZliaT xmamaRla imsjelon da Sesabamisad, gamosavali eZebon. da Tuki fringe ensemble-s speqtaklis naxvis Semdeg vikiTxavT, ras warmoadgens erTiani evropa rogorc idea, gaviazrebT, rom es pirvel rigSi kiTxvebis dasmisa da masze pasuxebis moTxovnis uflebaa.

Seqspiriseuli kudianebi dRes SegviZlia ganvixiloT rogorc reklamisa da propagandis metafora, amaze miniSnebas germanel dramaturgTanac naxavT. propagandis roli SeiZleba iTamaSos Teatrmac. es meTodi totalitarul sistemebs kargad aqvT aTvisebuli. swored amitom gaaCnia Macbeth over Europe-s msgavs proeqtebs ara mxolod esTetiuri, politikuri mniSvnelobac.

Seqspiris „makbeti~ qarTuli Teatris scenaze dRemde idgmeba, rac niSnavs, rom qarTvel mayurebels makbetiseuli problemebi kvlavac aRelvebs. sainteresoa, frank hoiels msgavsi davaleba qarTveli dramaturgebisTvisac rom mieca, qarTuli realobidan romeli sakiTxebi aisaxeboda maT piesebSi?..

P. S. ‘Macbeth over Europe’ starts with the play by the Russian playwright, in which the actors’ mouths are covered with tape: they cannot talk to each other or to the outside world. They don’t have the right, or they are afraid. The last play of the show, the French one, consists of a torrent of 343 questions. This subjectless play is precisely a symbol of what differentiates France from totalitarianism.

And when the Georgian public asks what European culture means, or what exactly it is that we want to get to, this kind of project can answer even our unfinished questions: despite the numerous unresolved issues and unanswered questions, people can debate about it freely in Europe, and therefore maybe find a solution. And if after seeing this show by the ‘fringe ensemble’, we ask ourselves what the European Union stands for as an idea, we will acknowledge that in first place it stands for the right to freely raise questions and demand answers.

Today, we may see Shakespeare’s demons as a metaphor of advertisement and propaganda – you will see a hint about this in the German play of the show. Theaters, too, can play the role of propagandists. This method is well established in totalitarian states, and this is precisely why projects like ‘Macbeth over Europe’ are not only aesthetic, but also political.

Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ is staged in Georgian theaters to this day, which means that Macbethian issues are still a reality for the Georgian audience. And if we had to guess which themes Georgian playwrights would have put forward in their plays if Frank Heuel had assigned them the same exercise…well, what do you think?

esaubra bela CekuriSvili foto: Tomas morSi, lilian scokodi

Interviewer: Bella Chekurishvili Photography: Thomas Morsch, Lilian Szokody

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voisa a.w. 16 oqtombridan 4 noembramde saqarTvelos xalxuri simReris saxelmwifo ansambli `basiani~ amerikis SeerTebul StatebSi sakoncerto turneSi imyofeboda. am gastrolisas, 28-29 oqtombers, niu iorkis prestiJul sakoncerto sivrce ShapeShifter Lab-Si fond `qarTuli galobis~ mxardaWeriT aSS-Si mcxovrebi jaz-artistis giorgi miqaZisa da ansambl `basianis~ erToblivi proeqtic _ Voisa ganxorcielda, romelic erTgvar kulturul kolaboracias warmoadgens. proeqtSi qarTuli xalxuri musika Serwymulia jazis, fankis, fiuJenis, hif-hofis, R&B-is, eleqtro-aksutikur da mikrotonaluri musikis mimdinareobebTan. Voisa eqvs kompozicias aerTianebs _ „Siola“, „zezva da mzia“, „odoia“, „marebeli“, „biba“ da „voisa“. specialurad am proeqtisaTvis giorgim moiwvia OKayplayer-is artisti, Berklee College of Music-is profesori, hif-hoferi DJ Raydar Ellis, romelic TanamSromlobaze siamovnebiT daTanxmda. giorgi miqaZis am saintereso proeqtisTvis mzadeba didi xnis win daiwyo, Tumca man Tavidanve zustad icoda, rom am ideis mxolod ansambl „basianTan“ erTad ganaxorcielebda, romlis wevrebTanac mas SemoqmedebiTi TanamSromloba da megobroba akavSirebs.

VOISA ‘Voisa’ combines Georgian folk singing with jazz, funk, fusion, hip-hop, R&B, electro-acoustic and microtonal music. The project unifies six compositions – ‘Shiola’, ‘Zezva and Mzia’, ‘Odoia’, ‘Marebeli’, ‘Biba,’ and ‘Voisa’. Giorgi Mikadze invited hip-hopper DJ Raydar Ellis, an artist of OKayplayer and professor at the Berklee College of Music, especially for the project, and he agreed to collaborate with pleasure. Giorgi started preparing for it a long time ago, but he knew from the start that he could only make this idea a reality together with ensemble ‘Basiani’, to the members of which he was connected both through former collaboration and friendship.

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iorgi miqaZe: miamboben, rom Cemi musikasTan da kerZod qarTul folklorTan urTierToba ase daiwyebula _ Zalian patara, xazis radioSi, mosmenil melodiebs vimeorebdi, usityvod, radgan laparaki jer ar vicodi; Tumca sufTa intonaciiT vmRerodi `Savlegos~. amitom maleve, xuTi wlisa niWierTa aTwledSi fortepianoze Semiyvanes. amis Semdeg folklorTan Sexeba praqtikulad aRar mqonia. aTwledSi swavlisas vmonawileobdi konkursebSi, sadac xan vimarjvebdi da xan ver, Tumca umetesad mainc vimarjvebdi... paralelurad, nunu duRaSvilTan kompoziciis xelovnebasac veuflebodi. is araCveulebrivad ukravs jazs da masTan gakveTilze misvla namdvili bedniereba iyo. manve maCuqa pirveli jazalbomi, oskar pitersonis kaseta, romlis mosmenac ucxo aRmoCnda klasikur pianistebs miCveuli Cemi yurisTvis. kompoziciebSi qarTuli motivebis gamoyenebis survili Tavidanve mqonda, rac ufro mets vwerdi, miT ufro Rrmad iWreboda CemSi xalxuri musika. amas daemTxva is, rom im periodSi jansuR kaxiZem Seqmna biWunaTa gundi, sadac maestros gacnobis surviliT mivedi da Semdeg solistic ki gavxdi. samwuxarod, mas Semdeg, rac jansuR kaxiZem gaigo rom pianisti viyavi da garkveuli gegmebic davsaxeT, is male gardaicvala.

ase gavida TerTmeti weli da dadga konservatoriaSi swavlis periodic. albaT, Zalian gamimarTla, rom revaz TavaZis klasSi movxvdi. masTan sruli Tavisufleba mqonda. klasSi beThovenis sonatebTan erTad xSirad petruCianis an jaretis Temebsac ki vukravdi da Tu adre bosa novas mosasmenad iZulebuli viyavi braziliuri serialisTvis meyurebina, axla, internetiT ukve CemTvis manmade ucnobi artistebis mosmenac SemeZlo. ase gavige Telonius monkis da sxvebis Sesaxeb. TandaTan daviwye ori epoqis sxvadasxva stils Soris kavSiris Zebna _ maSin beThovenis 32-e sonatas vukravdi, sadac Zalian bevri elementia, romelic saukunis mere axalma mimdinareobebma

Giorgi Mikadze: “I was told that my relationship with music, and more specifically with Georgian folk singing, started with me as a child imitating the melodies I heard on a radio, even before I learned to speak – and I could sing ‘Shavlego’ with the proper intonation.

This is why I entered the school for talented children in the piano section when I was only five years old. After that, I had practically no connection with folklore. While at school, I took part in competitions which I would frequently win... In parallel to that, I took composition lessons with Nunu Dughashvili. She plays jazz in a wonderful way, and taking lessons with her was pure bliss. She’s the one who gave me my first jazz album: Oscar Peterson, and listening to it was something strange for my ears, which were used to hearing classical pianists. I wanted to use Georgian elements in my compositions from the getgo, and the more I composed, the more folk music took hold of me.

Coincidentally, Jansugh Kakhidze created a boys’ choir, and I joined it because I wanted to meet the maestro and to eventually become group soloist. Kakhidze heard that I was also a pianist and we started to make some plans for the future, but he sadly passed before we could realize them.

Eleven years went by, and the time came to start studying at the Conservatory. I think I was very lucky to be in Revaz Tavadze’s class. I had total freedom with him. Together with Beethoven’s Sonatas, I often played Petrucciani or Keith Jarrett, and if before that I had to look at a Brazilian soap opera in order to listen to bossa nova, I could now even listen to artists whom I didn’t even know on the internet. This is how I got to know about Thelonious Monk and others. Simultaneously, I started looking for connections between two different styles from two

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SeiTvises. vcdilobdi akademiuri repertuari jazuri aqcentebiT damekra. Tumca, rogorc batoni revazi mafrTxilebda, Cemeul versiebs konkursze, romlisTvisac maSin vemzadebodi, warmateba naklebad eqneboda. am konkursisTvis naswavli nodar gabunias `improvizacia da tokata~ aRmoCnda CemTvis erT-erTi sakvanZo nawarmoebi. bevri ram SemiZlia am kompozitoris musikaze vTqva... swored misi `improvizacia da tokata~ warvadgine berklis gamocdaze ramdenime jazur kompoziciasTan erTad, ramac sagamocdo komisia aRafrTovana.

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different epochs – at that time, I would play Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32, in which there are many elements that were used by new trends a century after the creation of the piece. I tried to play the academic repertoire with a jazzy touch. But Mr. Revaz warned me my versions would be less successful at my next competition so I learned Nodar Gabunia’s ‘Improvization and Toccata’ and it became one of the most significant compositions for me. I can say a lot of things about this composer’s music… Together with some jazz compositions, it is precisely this ‘Improvization and Toccata’ that I presented at the exam of the Berklee College of Music, which made a huge impression on the jury commission.

amerikaSi pirvelad 2009 wels eTer anjafariZis daxmarebiT movxvdi. maSin Cven Round Top Festival-ze erTad davukariT. es iyo wminda klasikuri festivali, Tumca mainc movaxerxe momeZebna basisti, drameri da ase Sevqmeni Cemi `pirveli~ jaz-trio. festivalze wasvlamde rusTavelis TeatrSi robert sturuas `bidermani da cecxliswamkideblebze~ vmuSaobdi. gia yanCels erT-erT klubSi movusmenivar da SemomTavaza am speqtaklSi cocxal bendSi damekra. daviwyeT kidec repeticiebi, magram male moaxlovda festivali da amerikaSi wavedi. maxsovs, manve manugeSa imiT guldawyvetils, rom Tbilisis pianistTa

I arrived in the USA for the first time in 2009, thanks to the help of Eter Anjaparidze, with whom I played at the Round Top Festival. It was a purely classic festival, but I could still find a bassist and a drummer – and this is how I founded my first jazz trio. Before leaving for the festival, I worked at the Rustaveli Theater on Robert Sturua’s play ‘The Arsonists’. Giya Kancheli happened to hear me play in a club, and suggested I perform live for the play. We even started rehearsing, but the date of the festival was approaching, and I had to leave for the US. I remember Giya comforting me when I realized I hadn’t made it into the third round of Tbilisi’s International Pianists’ Competition, and I enrolled on Berklee’s website that very evening on his advice.

saerTaSoriso konkursis mesame turSi ver gavedi da misive rCeviT imave saRamos davregistrirdi berklis saitze. berkliSi Cemi cxovreba Seicvala. Tu iq Casvlamde miznad jazis Seswavla mqonda, iq moxvedrils ukve sxva perspeqtivebi gadameSala, radgan berkliSi yvela stilis musika iswavleba, hip-hopic ki. megobrebTan erTad maleve SevqmeniT jaz-trio da nodar gabunais `miZRvnis~ aranJireba gavakeTeT. amas mohyva misive `igavis~ mosmenis Semdeg Seqmnili After the Tale, romelic mTlianad qarTul kilozea agebuli. Semdeg iyo Georgian Shepherd, qarTveli mecxvarisa da qarTuli nagazis Temebze agebuli kompozicia, Cveni mTis musikisa da afrikuli ritmebis erTgvari nazavi. berkliSi swavlis etapi sruldeboda da bolo koncertisTvis vemzadebodi. me jeri alenis musikis

My life changed when I arrived at Berklee. Where before going to the US, my goal was to learn jazz, when I arrived there, a whole new range of possibilities unfolded in front of me, as they teach every kind of music at Berklee, even hip-hop. Together with some friends, we quickly founded a jazz trio, and created a ‘dedication arrangement’ in honor of Nodar Gabunia. It was followed by ‘After the Tale’, created right after listening to our first composition, which is fully Georgian in character. Then there was ‘Georgian Shepherd’, a composition based on the themes of a Georgian shepherd and a Georgian shepherd dog that took its musical inspirations from a sort of blend of our mountain music and African rhythms.

My studies at Berklee were about to end, and I was preparing for my last concert as a student. I had to make an arrangement on the music of Geri Allen. Jimmy Paige, the soloist of Led Zeppelin,

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was also invited to the concert, during which we played a new version of ‘Kashmir’ together with David Fiuczynski and Planet MicroJam Institute. As we would be told later, Jimmy Paige himself wasn’t expecting such a result. I attributed this to the interest in microtonality of Fiuczynski and the Berklee Institute, in which representatives of many different countries and therefore musical cultures are gathered. This was the first time that I thought that us Georgians, too, must have some Georgian ‘dialects’, about which I didn’t know much at that time. Afterwards, I got to know Levan Veshapidze’s versions of Georgian chanting, and I gradually started to imagine the concept of microtonality in Georgian music. That same year, David Fiuczynski and I were invited to the Tbilisi Jazz Festival, and I contacted the boys of ‘Basiani’ for that concert – I used to listen to them at the Sameba Cathedral when I was coming back to Georgia during the summer vacation. We agreed on three songs.

This unrehearsed experienced worked really well at the concert, and we thought about working on other compositions right away.

I’d finished studying in Berklee, and was continuing my studies at New York’s Manhattan School of Music. The classes for the Master’s

aranJireba unda gamekeTebina. koncertze `led zepelinis~ solisti jimi feijic iyo mowveuli, sadac Cven devid fiuzinskisTan da Planet microJam InstituteTan erTad `qaSmiris~ axali versia davukariT. rogorc mogvianebiT gavigeT, aseT Sedegs Turme Tavad jimi feijic ar eloda. mikrotonalobiT dainteresebulma fizuinskis instituts mivaSure, sadac sxvadasxva qveynis musikaluri kulturis warmomadgenlebi swavlobdnen; maSin pirvelad davfiqrdi, albaT, Cvenc gvaqvs qarTuli kiloebi, romlis Sesaxeb maSin cota Tu vicodi. amis Semdeg gavecani qarTuli galobis levan veSapiZiseul versiebs da TandaTan mikrotonalobis koncefcia qarTul musikaSic warmovidgine. imave wels devid fiuzinskisTan erTad Tbilisis jaz-festivalze migviwvies da am koncertisTvis davukavSirdi `basianis~ biWebs, romelTac zafxulobiT TbilisSi dabrunebuli samebis taZarSi vakiTxavdi xolme.

SevTanxmdiT sam simReraze. koncertze eqspromtad gamotanilma eqsperimentma gaamarTla da maSinve axal kompoziciebze muSaobis ideac Caisaxa. am dros berkliSi Tavi garkveulwilad amovwure da swavla niu iorkSi manhetenis musikis skolaSi ganvagrZe. samagistro kursebi kidev ufro datvirTuli aRmoCnda, aranJirebisa da gaorkestrebis umaRles safexurs jim maknilTan gavdiodi. Cemi yevlaze masStaburi kompozicia `muSvan~, rac svanurad `me svans~ niSnavs, svanuri folkloruli masalisa da sxvadasxva mimdinareobebis stiluri TamaSiT davwere. is iwyeba da mTavrdeba svanuri `nanaTi~, TiTqos svanuri sizmaria... giorgi donaZe: `basianis~ Seqmnas win bevri movlena

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uswrebda. aq yvelani sxvadasxva gundidan movediT. Cemi Zma da me `fazisSi~ vmRerodiT da im gaWirvebis wlebSi fexiT davdiodiT jumber yolbaiasTan repeticiebze. masTan veziare pirvelad qarTul xalxur simReras.

degree turned out to be even busier, and my teacher in the arcanes of arrangement and orchestration was Jim McNeil. I created my biggest composition, ‘Mushvan’, which means ‘I, Svan’ in the Svan language (Svaneti is a mountainous region of Western Georgia), out of Svan

93

Semdeg gadavediT axladSeqmnil `mZlevarSi~, xolo mere `biWebSi~. maSin Zalian mogvwonda `rusTavis~ simRera da gagviCnda survili `biWebis~ paralelurad sakuTari ansamblic Camogveyalibebina, ase daarsda `berika~. amasobaSi vizrdebodiT da vxvdebodiT, imisTvis, rom sxvadasxva kuTxis simRera dagveZlia, an Segveswavla sagaloblebi, romelTa raodenobac oci aTasze metia (samwuxarod, Cven mis mxolod mcire nawils viyenebT), aucilebeli iyo profesiuli musikaluri ganaTlebis miReba... rodesac samebis taZris mSenebloba gadawyda, saqarTvelos kaTolikos-patriarqma gamoacxada, rom taZrisTvis unda Seqmniliyo vaJTa askaciani gundi. 1998 wels gundi Seiqmna da me da Cemi ramdenime megobaric ori wlis Semdeg am gundSi aRmovCndiT. dRes is ormocdaaT wevrs iTvlis, rac, vfiqrob rom srulaid sakmarisia qarTuli galobisTvis. `basiani~ 2000 wlis bolos dafuZnda, repeticiebi faqtobrivad 2001 wlidan daviwyeT. imave wels jansuR kaxiZis centrSi mixeil kilosaniZesTan CavwereT pirveli albomi da dRemde mxolod masTan vTanamSromlobT, radgan bevri ram Caweris procesSi swored misgan viswavleT. im dros jansuR kaxiZemac mogvismina da maxsovs, aRfrTovanebuli iyo. dResac basianis wevrebis didi umetesoba kvlav sapatriarqos gundis wevria, rac CvenTvis Zalian didi pasuxismgebloba da pativia. samwuxarod, pirveli koncertis Semdeg `basianidan~ saukeTeso momRerlebis gadineba daiwyo. es gardauvalic iyo, radgan maSin ar gvqonda oficialuri statusi, arc

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folk material and by playing with various musical styles and genres.

It begins and ends with a Svan ‘Nana’ (lullaby), and could almost represent a Svan dream…”

Giorgi Donadze: “Many things happened before the creation of ‘Basiani’. We all came to this ensemble from very different backgrounds. My brother and myself were singing in the ensemble ‘Phasis’, and in the harsh 90s, we would go by foot to rehearsals with Jumber Kolbaia, who made me participate in a Georgian folk song for the very first time. Then we moved to the newly founded ensemble ‘Mdzlevari’, then to ‘Bichebi’. We liked the way the ensemble ‘Rustavi’ sang a lot, so we decided to found our own ensemble in parallel to ‘Bichebi’, and this is how ‘Berika’ was born. We evolved and came to realize that in order to master songs from various regions, or to learn chants, of which there are more than 20,000 (unfortunately, we only use a small number of them), it was necessary to receive a professional musical education… When the construction of the Sameba Cathedral started, the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia announced that a choir of 100 young men had to be founded for the Church. A choir was created in 1998, and two years later, me and some of my friends joined it. Today, it counts 50 members, which I think is large enough for Georgian chanting.

‘Basiani’ was founded at the end of 2000 and we started rehearsing in 2001. The same year, we recorded our first album with Mikheil Kilosanidze at the Jansugh Kakhidze Center, and we still collaborate with him during the recording process. Kakhidze himself listened to us, and I remember that he was very impressed.

dafinanseba da arc ucxoeTSi gastrolebis perspeqtiva.

2001 wels `iunesko~ qarTuli tradiciuli mravalxmianoba aRiara, konservatoriaSi Seiqmna folkloris centri. unda Catarebuliyo tradiciuli mravalxmianobis pirveli saerTaSoriso simpoziumi, romelzec Zalian gvindoda gamosvla. radgan Cven saukeTeso momRerlebi aRar gvyavda, daxmareba samebis gundis wevrebs vTxoveT da dRes swored isini warmoadgenen `basianis~ mTavar Zalas. ase moxda Cveni ganaxleba. male gamoCnda adamiani, visac Tavidan xuTi kaci davyavdiT gastrolebze, xolo samomavlod sruli SemadgenlobiT wayvanas gvpirdeboda. es ase ar moxda da Cvenc iZulebuli gavxdiT misTvis uari gveTqva, radgan aseTi SemadgenlobiT im xarisxs ver viRebdiT, risi survilic gvqonda. Semdeg gamoCnda biznesmeni levan vasaZe, romelmac faqtobrivad `basiani~ gadaarCina.

Cveni pirveli didi warmateba 2007 wels madridis `auditorio nacionalSi” gamosvlas mohyva, sadac saqarTvelos kulturis dReebSi vmonawileobdiT. musikaTmcodne manana andriaZem eTnomusikologebs simha aroms da polo valehos dagvakavSira da Cvens koncerts swored maTi leqcia uZRoda win. ori wlis Semdeg, imave programiT, olbrous 62-e festivalze warvdeqiT.

Today, too, the majority of the members of ‘Basiani’ are still members of the Patriarchate ensemble, which is a great honor and a great responsibility.

Unfortunately, after the first concert, an outflow of the best singers from ‘Basiani’ began. This was inevitable, because we didn’t have official status back then, nor did we have any finances or perspective of touring abroad. In 2001, UNESCO included Georgian traditional polyphony on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and the Folklore Center was created in the Conservatory. The first International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony was about to take place and we really wanted to perform in it. Because we didn’t have our best singers with us anymore, we asked help from the Sameba Cathedral ensemble, and those who helped us are precisely the ones who now represent the core of ‘Basiani’. This is how we got our new members. Soon enough, a manager came to us offering to take five of us on tour with the promise of future tours with all members. This didn’t happen, and we cancelled our collaboration, as we weren’t getting the quality we wanted. Then businessman Levan Vasadze appeared, and saved ‘Basiani’.

We achieved our first success in 2007, in Madrid’s ‘Auditorio Nacional’, where we performed in the context of Georgian

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koncertis Semdeg cnobili frangma pianistma, olivie mesianis musikis erT-erT saukeTeso Semsruleblad aRiarebulma pier-loren emarma, `linkoln centrs~ Mostly Mozart Festival-is farglebSi Cveni monawileoba SesTavaza da simRerebic Tavad SearCia, baxis, qsenakisis da ligetis Sedevrebs Soris kaxuri da guruli simRerebi unda aJRerebuliyo, rasac ar davTanxmdiT da programaSi kaxur da gurul simRerebTan erTad svanuri da megruli simRerebic CavrTeT. koncerts didi mowoneba da saukeTeso presa mohyva. amis Semdeg ki daigegma didi amerikuli turne, 2012 wels moviareT amerikis Svidi Stati. am warmatebebis fonze CvenTvis oficialuri statusis moniWebis sakiTxic dadga. ase gavxdiT saxelmwifo ansambli.

2016 wels amerikis SeerTebul StatebSi Cveni mesame turne moewyo. saqarTvelos kulturisa da ZeglTa dacvis saministros mxardaWeriT san franciskodan niu iorkamde koncertebisa da `vorkSopebis~ seria warmatebiT CavatareT. amis Semdeg niu iorkSi SevxvdiT Cvens megobars, giorgi miqaZes, romlisadmi ndoba, gamomdinare Cveni mWidro SemoqmedebiTi urTierTobidan, Zalian didia, sxva SemTxvevaSi, albaT, arc movekidebodiT folklorisTvis aseT safrTxilo da saTuT Temas.

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Culture Days. Music critic Manana Andriadze put us in touch with ethnomusicologists Simha Arom and Polo Vallejo, and our concert was preceded by their lectures. Two years later, we presented the same program at the Aldeburgh Music Festival.

After the concert, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, who is considered to be one of the best performers of famous French pianist Olivier Messiaen’s music, suggested to the Lincoln Center that we perform with him in the context of the Mostly Mozart Festival, and chose the songs himself: we had to sing Kakhetian and Gurian songs in-between masterpieces by Bach, Xenakis and Ligeti, but we pushed for more and added Svanetian and Megrelian songs to the program, too. The press covered the event with much praise. A big American tour was planned after this concert, and in 2012, we toured in seven American states.

With all this success, the question of official status came up, and we became a State Ensemble.

Our third US tour took place in 2016. With the support of the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection, we successfully carried out a series of concerts and workshops from San Francisco to New York. After that, we met our friend Giorgi Mikadze in New York, who has all our trust– if it weren’t for him, we probably wouldn’t dare to do such a risky and delicate thing as play with folklore.”

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