სიმღერის შესახებ

Georgian singer Tina Makharadze performed this song. Gia learned it from his uncle, Lukhumi Gigauri. 

სიმღერის შესახებ

This song is about a shepherd in love, and what he does when he is refused.

სიმღერის შესახებ

This is a gvrini¹ from Pshavi.

To hear other gvrinis, visit the page of Gogale Arabuli.

¹The gvrini is a lament from Pshavi and Khevsureti, traditionally sung by men while haying to commemorate the souls of the dead.  George Charachidze talks about the gvrini in his 1968 book, Le système religieux de la Géorgie païenne: analyse structurale d’une civilization, and the following explanation is based on his writing:

Traditionally during a funerary ceremony in Khevsureti or Pshavi a woman is possessed by the dead soul and becomes an oracle through which the soul communicates with the living.  The ensuing lament that the soul communicates through the oracle is silently memorized by the men in attendance, who are not allowed to vocally mourn in any way during the ceremony.  Before the men go out to the fields on the first haying day of the year, a feast is held in the name of the most recently deceased. Only after this ritual feast occurs and only under the supervision of the mountain priest are the men allowed to bring their scythe into contact with the grass.  The Khevsurs and Pshavs believed that the afterlife was under the ground, and therefore that the motion of swinging the scythe close to the ground to cut grass was symbolically entwined with the Land of the Dead.  As the men began to mow on the first haying day of the year, they sang the gvrini that the dead soul communicated to them at his funeral. Through this lament they paid homage to the souls of the dead.

სიმღერის შესახებ

This is a gvrini¹ from Khevsureti.

To hear other gvrinis, visit the pages of Imeda Likokeli and Tekle Badrishvili.

¹The gvrini is a lament from Pshavi and Khevsureti, traditionally sung by men while haying to commemorate the souls of the dead.  George Charachidze talks about the gvrini in his 1968 book, Le système religieux de la Géorgie païenne: analyse structurale d’une civilization, and the following explanation is based on his writing:

Traditionally during a funerary ceremony in Khevsureti or Pshavi a woman is possessed by the dead soul and becomes an oracle through which the soul communicates with the living.  The ensuing lament that the soul communicates through the oracle is silently memorized by the men in attendance, who are not allowed to vocally mourn in any way during the ceremony.  Before the men go out to the fields on the first haying day of the year, a feast is held in the name of the most recently deceased. Only after this ritual feast occurs and only under the supervision of the mountain priest are the men allowed to bring their scythe into contact with the grass.  The Khevsurs and Pshavs believed that the afterlife was under the ground, and therefore that the motion of swinging the scythe close to the ground to cut grass was symbolically entwined with the Land of the Dead.  As the men began to mow on the first haying day of the year, they sang the gvrini that the dead soul communicated to them at his funeral. Through this lament they paid homage to the souls of the dead.

სიმღერის შესახებ

There is no English translation available for this song. If you are able to provide one, please include it in an email to TsutisopeliProject@gmail.com and we will update the page.

სიმღერის შესახებ

სიმღერის შესახებ

სიმღერის შესახებ

მწყემსური სიმღერა.

სიმღერის შესახებ

სიმღერის შესახებ

სიმღერის შესახებ

სატრფიალო.

სიმღერის შესახებ

This explanation of the Svan song Mirangula comes from the liner notes of Riho Ensemble's Vocal Polyphonies From Svaneti, by Frank Kane and Joseph Jordania:

The story of Mirangula is very well known in Svaneti. Mirangula was a young man (in some versions a woman) whose father was killed by North Caucasians. Mirangula went to seek revenge and was badly wounded but still managed to return home. Mirangula’s mother prepared a feast to celebrate his avenging of his father’s murder. But by the time the feast was ready, Mirangula had died of his wounds. His mother did not announce the bad news until the feast was underway.

To hear a sung version, visit the page of Kasletila Ensemble.

სიმღერის შესახებ

The explanation of the Svan song Mirangula below comes from the liner notes of Riho Ensemble's album, Vocal Polyphonies From Svaneti, by Frank Kane and Joseph Jordania:

The story of Mirangula is very well known in Svaneti. Mirangula was a young man (in some versions a woman) whose father was killed by North Caucasians. Mirangula went to seek revenge and was badly wounded but still managed to return home. Mirangula’s mother prepared a feast to celebrate his avenging of his father’s murder. But by the time the feast was ready, Mirangula had died of his wounds. His mother did not announce the bad news until the feast was underway. The song is told from the mother’s standpoint and accompanied by the chuniri and changi.

To hear an instrumental version of this song, visit the page of the Pirtskhelani Family Ensemble.

სიმღერის შესახებ

სიმღერა მიშა ხერგიანზე.

When Dato was fourteen years old, his father organized an event honoring the legendary Svan alpinist Mikheil Khergiani.¹ Preparations for the evening inspired Dato to write a song in Misha’s name, which premiered at the event.

The song is particularly unique as it is in both the Georgian and Svan language. Dato says the rhythm of the song came out best this way, and he felt that as Khergiani was from Mestia himself, the Svan language suited it well.

¹Mikheil Khergiani (1932-1969) was a legendary Svan mountaineer. He was the most popular sportsman in the former Soviet Union when it came to wall climbing and mastering alpinism.  He created new routes to the peaks in the Caucasus and saved many climber's lives during rescue missions.  He died in a climbing accident in the Italian Alps.

To hear other songs about Misha Khergiani, listen to Kojre Makhvshi by Pirtskhelani Family Ensemble and Shaira Misha Khergianze by Kasletila Ensemble.

სიმღერის შესახებ

სიმღერა მიხა ხელაშვილზე.

სიმღერის შესახებ

This song is played on the panduri¹ and sung by Girshel Pirtskhelani, accompanied by his family members.  

It tells the story of Misha Gabliani, brother of the famous Svan mountaineer Iliko Gabliani.

Misha Gabliani died in 1961 while climbing Jengish Chokusu (7,500m), the highest peak of the Tian Shan mountain range in Central Asia. He perished at such a high altitude that the expedition had to leave him there in the ice rather than carry on the strong Svan tradition of bringing the body down.

In 1997 an expedition found his intact body buried in the ice close to the peak.

¹A three-stringed, fretted lute common in all regions of northeastern Georgia. The instrument is most frequently used to accompany ballad singing.  Read more about the panduri here.  

სიმღერის შესახებ

This song is loosely taken from part of Vazha-Pshavela’s¹ Bakhtrioni – a piece he wrote in 1892. 

¹Luka Razikashvili (1861-1916) was one of Georgia’s most famous poets and writers. He wrote under the pen name Vazha-Pshavela, which literally means the Son from Pshavi. He was born and raised in the village of Chargali where a museum for him, opened in 1961, exists today.

სიმღერის შესახებ

ბაცბური / წოვა-თუშური სიმღერა: ''რა ლამაზია თუშეთი" 

სიმღერის შესახებ

თუშური მოტივი "გაგნისა გორისა" ბალალაიკაზე.

To hear another version of this melody played on the garmoni, visit the page of Eliko Torghvaidze.

სიმღერის შესახებ

შალვა სუარიშვილი, გოგალეს ნათესავი, უკრავს ფანდურზე.