PM highlights Georgian chant as “invaluable achievement of our ancient culture”
He also extended gratitude to the founder of the Georgian Chanting Foundation Ivane Chkhartishvili, as well as to everyone who had contributed to the creation of the 29 volumes of the anthology, which includes 6000 chants. Kobakhidze affirmed the Government’s support for the Folklore State Centre. Photo via Government Administration
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Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Thursday highlighted Georgian chant as an “invaluable achievement of our ancient culture” and stressed “this unique heritage” was recognised by “the whole world” with the “great efforts” of the Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II and the acclaimed Georgian composer and folk music researcher Anzor Erkomaishvili, who dedicated their work to the cause during “the most difficult conditions of the Soviet regime”.
In his address at the presentation of a multi-volume collection of Georgian chants at the country’s Folklore State Centre, Kobakhidze said that Georgian polyphony was a combination of “the uniqueness of each person and the idea of harmony and love between people”.
It [Georgian polyphony] best reveals the independent nature of a Georgian man, his attitude to his neighbours, to his homeland and to the world in general”, the PM noted, adding that Georgian chant expressed “the highest Christian ideals that created Georgian identity for hundreds of years”.
He emphasised the tradition of chanting in Georgia, like the culture as a whole, had gone through “difficult historical periods”, including following the loss of independence, when the tradition “was even in danger of disappearing”.
Kobakhidze highlighted the “great contributions” of Georgian public figure and writer Ilia Chavchavadze, publicist and writer Dimitri Kipiani, folklorist and opera singer Filimon Koridze, composer Zakaria Paliashvili and “other great Georgian figures”, to the preservation of traditional polyphony.
The Head of the Government also thanked Bidzina Ivanishvili, the former PM, the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party and its Honorary Chair, for his support of the Folklore State Centre “over the years”.
The PM also emphasised that Ivaniashvili’s charity enabled the Centre to research chants, digitise the existing sheet music, and encourage youth participation “in this important cause”.
He also extended gratitude to the founder of the Georgian Chanting Foundation Ivane Chkhartishvili, as well as to everyone who had contributed to the creation of the 29 volumes of the anthology, which includes 6000 chants. Kobakhidze affirmed the Government’s support for the Folklore State Centre.