Music of Georgia (country) - Professional Music

Professional Music

Professional music in Georgia existed at least from the 7-8th centuries, when Georgian composers started translating Greek orthodox Christian chants, adding harmonies to the monophonic melodies, and also were creating original chants. It is widely accepted, that polyphony in Georgian church-singing came from the folk tradition. Georgian church-music has many parallels with Georgian traditional music, although some elements of folk musical style were never used in church-singing (for example, the very long drones of eastern Georgian table songs, or the yodel of Western Georgian counterpoint. In some regions Christian chants have clear elements of pre-Christian traditions as well. Scholars usually distinguish two styles of Georgian church-singing: eastern Georgian and western Georgian. Both styles are based on similar principles, particularly the "simple mood" of singing, but in some western Georgian church-singing styles (particularly in so-called "Shemokmedi school") the polyphonic mastery and the use of sharp dissonances reaches its climax. The study of church-singing was strictly forbidden in the Soviet Union, but after the fall of the Soviet Union this became one of the most actively researched spheres of Georgian musicology.

The so called "new Georgian professional musical school" started in the second half of the 19th century. It was based on European classical musical language and classical musical forms (opera, symphony, etc.). The greatest representatives of this school of Georgian composers (Zakaria Paliashvili, Dimitri Arakishvili, Niko Sulkhanishvili) merged European musical language with the elements of Georgian traditional harmony and polyphony. Among the composers of the later period were Andria Balanchivadze (brother of George Balanchine, Alexi Machavariani, Shalva Mshvelidze, Otar Taktakishvili. The most prominent contemporary Georgian composer is Antwerp-based Giya Kancheli.