Tbilisi hosts Georgia’s main folk music festival Art-Gene
The open air Ethnographic Museum, overlooking Tbilisi from a hillside, hosts the festival annually. Photo: Art-Gene
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Folk arts enthusiasts will be invited to watch artist performances, taste local cuisine and find artisanal items exhibited at the Art-Gene Festival in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
The country’s main folk music festival, which officially kicked off on June 16 in Akhmeta, in the eastern Georgian region of Kakheti, is moving to the Open Air Museum of Ethnography in Tbilisi, the customary home for the folklore fest.
Photo: Art-Gene
Georgian composer Dato Evgenidze will open the Tbilisi events today and will be followed by performance of other Georgian musical bands and singers
Popular artists ranging from Nino Katamadze & Insight will go on stage on July 12.
Photo: Art-Gene
Folk-rock and blues singer and composer Niaz Diasamidze will perform in Tbilisi Ethnographic Musem accompanied by his musical band 33a on July 13.
The large-scale musical event will be closed by Sukhishvili Georgian National Ballet on July 14.
The festival, aimed at presentation of Georgian folklore dates back 16 years. More than 100 concerts have been conducted during the period attended by approximately 30-40 thousand people every year.
Popular Georgian singer and songwriter Nino Katamadze on Sunday became the latest artist from the country to announce they would drop show dates in Russia, in protest of Russian occupation and following over 10 days of rallies against the Kremlin's politics in Georgia's capital Tbilisi.
The Russian President’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov calls on Russian artists who planned to perform in Georgia “to think of their safety”. Peskov told Interfax news agency today that Russian artists should take into consideration that their trip to Georgia “may be dangerous” amid the ongoing protest rallies.
Peaceful demonstrators have gathered on Rustaveli Avenue in central Tbilisi for the fifteenth consecutive day, again demanding the resignation of Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia. Today’s rally was different from previous gatherings as it was fully devoted to Georgian musicians performing various music in front of the parliament of Georgia.