Tbilisi's popular rave destination Bassiani was on Wednesday revealed as Club of the Week in the latest selection by Resident Advisor, an influential online publication dedicated to electronic music and club culture.
Resident Advisor revealed the selection to its social media followers while listing the club's calendar of events for the month, and also highlighted the role of the capital city's venue beyond its status as a leading rave location in the country.
It noted Bassiani's hosting of regular series of queer events within its walls - a development significant for the community within a widely conservative social environment - as a notable element for the club's status in addition to is position for the domestic electronic music scene.
Home to significant local and international resident DJs, as well as the country’s first and most extensive queer party series - Horoom Nights - the club represents an underground base of music enthusiasts, artists and performers, deviant and marginalised groups, queer and feminist collectives and social movements who fight for equality, liberty and solidarity
- Resident Advisor
The platform also presented the upcoming shows at the venue over the month of January, with invited performers joining club residents in customary formats for line-up selections of the club.
Resident Advisor highlighted three "key dates" over the next two weeks at Bassiani, including ones hosted within the Horoom queer events series, with the first coming in this Friday's line-up of Nihad Tule, Sev Dah, Deniro, S-candalo, skyra and Kvanchi.
On January 13 - celebrated as the second New Year's Eve in Georgia - it will welcome Anetha, Ryan James Ford, ABSL, UFO95, Hamatsuki, Telephones and Christian AB, while a week later the club will bring Fadi Mohem, Newa, Somewhen, Aksed, HVL, DJ Surge, Kancheli and nebbieri to its sound systems.
The musical and social significance of Bassiani for local audience and artists, marginalised communities and the wider, international rave scene has been pointed out by media over the years since the club's opening in 2014.
Featured by The Guardian as a major element in Tbilisi's rise as an international rave destination and its place in the resurgence of the domestic artistic and creative scene, it has also been noted by a digital outlet of i-D magazine as the "main techno destination" worth visiting the country for.
Thrown into crisis alongside other club venues during the lockdowns and restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic, Bassiani has now fully resumed hosting events with selections involving international performers and domestic talent.