Store: Songbooks
Georgian Music
Forged in Fire: Georgian Folk Songs Collected by Ensemble Zedashe
Windows/Mac - compatible CDROM with 22 printable scores and wordsheets, PLUS music CD
2007, Ensemble Zedashe
CD plus complete 75-page printable book (pdf) with music and word-sheets to all of the songs on the accompanying CD, “Forged in Fire.”
Led by Ketevan Mindorashvili, Ensemble Zedashe is a mixed choir based in the beautiful historic town of Sighnaghi in eastern Georgia. Ensemble Zedashe learned their repertoire from relatives and regional musicians, collected songs and dances in the highlands, and studied hymn singing in some of Georgia’s holiest monasteries. The repertoire in this book and the accompanying CD were chosen to favor songs from K’akheti and Svaneti.
The Raising of Lazare: A Collection of Folk and Sacred Music from the Republic of Georgia
2002, Ensemble Zedashe
This book of Georgian folk and sacred music, painstakingly assembled by Ensemble Zedashe, includes a pronounciation guide, translations and notes for each song, tabletures for songs, and detailed chapters about Georgian instruments, each describing (with accompanying graphics) techniques for playing Changi, Ch'uniri, Panduri and Chonguri.
Georgian Folk Songs
2001. Paperback, spiral-bound. Comes CD with performance and pronunciation tracks.
Price: $19.99
(Includes book and CD)
The history of Georgian music is primarily that of folk song. Polyphonic singing has always had its place in Georgian social life. Genres include hunting songs, labor songs, ritual songs, laments, love songs, wedding songs, marching songs, and historical ballads. This unique collection of ten traditional three-part folk songs from the Caucasus Republic of Georgia provides a broad sampling of these genres, from several of Georgia's distinct regions
Georgian Sacred Chorales
2001. Paperback, spiral-bound. Comes CD with performance and pronunciation tracks.
Price: $19.99
(Includes book and CD)
Ten medieval liturgical chants for three voices.
The singing tradition in the Caucasus is unique in its harmonic and -- especially in western Georgia -- its extreme polyphonic approach. Many songs have distinct archaic traits dating from pre-Christian times, and in most traditional music the intervals are flexible and do not coincide with tempered scale intervals (with the exception of the fifth). The harmonies are unlike anything in European music, with untempered intervals and striking harmonic convergences.