Intangible Heritage Section/UNESCO

July 2008

Safeguarding and Promotion of Georgian Traditional Polyphony

I. Background

Polyphonic singing has a long history and prominent role in Georgian society. With its multiple regional varieties, the songs used to infuse community life from harvesting (the Naduri songs) to curing, mountain singing, and Christmas carols (Alilo) and other sacred melodies. The UNESCO proclamation of Georgian polyphony as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001 came at a time when the tradition was suffering from multiple social adversities. The prolonged disruption in cultural policies in Georgia and the international isolation of scholars and cultural workers after the economic breakdown in the early 1990s led to the deficit of trained practitioners, field research, adequate training, equipment for data collection, and facilities in both formal and non-formal education for teaching polyphonic songs.In the social realm, large-scale migrations and economic difficulties caused young people to lose interest in the inter-generational transmission of traditional polyphony. The Japan FIT project thus aimed at the re-insertion of the practice and values of polyphony with the hope to nourish social enrichment and cohesion.

II. Objectives and activities

The long-term objective of this project, implemented between July 2003 to November 2006, was to facilitate the safeguarding of Georgian polyphony through fostering its inter-generational transmission and its collection and inventorying. To achieve these goals, the project:

  • Built seven Youth Folk Song Centers
  • Established the ResearchCenter on Traditional Polyphony (RCTP) at the TbilisiState Conservatoire
  • Purchased audio-visual and computer equipment
  • Created a large electronic database/inventory
  • Published a periodic paper edition, the Bulletin
  • Developed a cultural network of international organizations and universities invested in cultural heritage

The InternationalCenter for Georgian Folk Song (ICGFS) partnered with UNESCO in fostering transmission of polyphony through non-formal education. A key sustainable output in this sphere was the opening of seven Youth Folk Song Centers, calledlotbarta skolebi, in various regions of Georgia (Kartli, Kakheti, Guria, Samegrelo, Racha, Svaneti and Imereti).

The buildings for the Centers were provided by local municipalities, free of charge. ICGFS produced teaching materials, audio-cassettes, CDs and music sheets and organized two seminars on teaching methods and use of equipment for the performers/teachers of the seven Centers. In each center, a group of ten to fifteen young students received training from elderly masters for a period of almost 3 years, i.e.over the course of the projectmore thana hundred young people were trained in the particular polyphonic singing of their region, and the informal training continues today beyond the project’s framework. The new folk song centers and the interactive, informal training accompanied by modern technologies for projection and recording refreshed the context and thus meaning of traditional chant in the eyes of young people. Georgian polyphonybecame a means for inter-generational dialogue on past and present social values, modes of entertainment, and culturally-specific sociability. The international fame of polyphony spread in other spheres of Georgian society, as in some areas one can observe the revitalizationof the role that polyphonic singing plays in the large feasts of families and friends, called supra, which were a traditional vehicle for building and sustainingsocial networks of support.

In addition to the community-based outreach, the projecthelped establish the Research Center on Traditional Polyphony (RCTP)( at the Tbilisi State Conservatoire, and the Center has been very active in multiple events and programs, such as a systematic training on technology in ethnomusicology for the cultural workers and students of RCTP as well as the performers, participating in the network of Youth Folk Song Centers. Using the audio-visual and computer equipment purchased in the preparatory phase, the Center produced new recordingson traditional polyphony and discovery of innovation and change through nine fieldwork trips. RCTP thus elaborated a classification system for a large electronic database/inventory (The database’s online version, available at is not comprehensive, but for a detailed analysis of the Database see the Evaluation Report by Dr. Suzanna Ziegler of Ethnologisches Museum Berlin, enclosed on the UNESCO site).

The RCTP began publishing aperiodic paper edition,the Bulletin, whichprovides a unique platform for Georgian ethnomusicologists and performers, whose most recent (fourth) issue was financed outside the project frameworkthrough public funds aimingat its sustainability. Other publications include a Manual on Traditional Georgian polyphony with two CD-Roms (2004), a book on Georgian Ethnomusicology, the proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony (2005), and a 13-minute documentary film devoted to the project. The first public screening of this film was organized at the opening of the 3rd International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony in September 2006. It is planned to broadcast the film on public TV in 2007.

An important long-term result of the project is the culturalnetwork of international organizations, institutes, associations and universities related tocultural heritage. The network evolved and continues to operate through the Internet andscholarly forums, such as the three International Symposia on Traditional Georgian Polyphony held between 2002 and 2006.

III. Lessons learned and on-going work

The project has produced several sustainable and long-term impacts. It had a multiplicator effect as the activities motivated the private sectorsupport in the establishment of cultural/training centers. Four out of the seven Youth Folk Song Centers (in Svaneti, Kakheti, Guria and Samegrelo) started receiving private funding from local sponsors, and a new Youth Folk Song Center, the School of Krimanchuli (which focuses on the Georgian “yodel” singing, left with only a handful of performers) was opened in Guria, co-funded by ICGFS and the Georgian Patriarchate. The notions of social responsibility and engagement in the private sector and the religious authorities were values and practices discouraged during the 70 years of communist regime in the country, and are now being revived and motivated by the international and national recognition of local cultural value. A vast majority of the students have found employment due to the skills acquired at the Youth Folk Song Centers. These jobs include teaching polyphonic songs, singing in local church choirs (Georgian sacred music is polyphonic and closely linked to traditional music) and creating and managing small “ensembles” performing regional songs at various social occasions and on stage.

In addition to the development of private cultural sponsorship, public funding for intangible cultural heritage increased considerably, from no earmarked budget in 2004 to the amount of 1,5 million lari (USD 867000) in 2006, reflecting the new leadership’s improved awareness of the importance of ICH. Another major long-term impact of this project is the imminent integration of traditional Georgian polyphony into the national formal education curriculum, from elementary through high school. The Georgian President asked Mr. Anzor Ermkomaishvili, head of ICGFS and national coordinator for this project, to prepare a draft programme for the 2007-2008 academic year, and the Ministry of Education has just published a Music Manual based on traditional music for the 1st grade of elementary school. There is a preliminary agreement for the future employment of the Youth Folk Song Centers’ graduates to teach the new programme in Georgian schools. It is important, however, to take the necessary precaution to preserve the diversity and regional differences of Georgian polyphonic songs, avoiding that the same songs be taught throughout the country.

Cooperation projects further multiplied beyond the Japan FIT project, such as the project with the Vienna Phonogrammarchiv on digitization of wax cylinders and exchanges with American universities in 2006-2007. The cooperation of private, public, academic, and non-governmental sectors around the livelihood of Georgian chant is an example of how cultural heritage and identity formation interact in the construction of Georgiansociety.

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