A little from past experience
Since 2012, the ensemble was one of the first to organize folklore tours for foreign guests. The first “Folk Tour”, which was held in the fall of 2012, took place in the village of Bukissikhe, Guria. We had a London ensemble “Host” as a guest, who contacted the team and asked us to organize their trip to Georgia and rehearsals to learn folk songs….
This became our source of inspiration, and from this year until the pandemic, we hosted a number of teams and individuals, whom we contacted through social networks, created groups and brought to Georgia. Our guests (now friends) were from such countries as: Poland; Malaysia; Germany; Netherlands; Austria; France; Belgium; Luxembourg; Ireland; United Kingdom; USA; Canada; Australia…..
In the mentioned cases (2012-2019), our main locations were Guria, Svaneti, Racha….
Short information about ensemble Sakhioba
The folk and sacred music ensemble “Sakhioba” was founded in 2006, and was directed by Malkhaz Erkvanidze for 17 years. Malkhaz is one of the great contributors of authentic singing culture in Georgia, and has dedicated his life to the research, popularization, and restoration of forgotten folk songs.
As folk singing shares close ties with church chant, the ensemble has also dedicated itself to folklore studies, including the study of traditional folk dances and instrumental music.
The name “Sakhioba” is an old Georgian word which means “sweet sounding” music.
The ensemble has established a reputation of uncovering and preserving the essential rules and grammatical concepts of the musical language of Georgian folk and ecclesiastical music, as inherited through the earliest recordings and notated manuscripts. Singing in the regional mannerisms or musical dialects of each region has become a defining principle for the ensemble’s performances.
The mission of the ensemble is to study Georgian medieval songs and church chant and to share these with the greater society. Members of the ensemble take their ethnomusicological work seriously. An emphasis has been the reintroduction of singing in the old tuning system, as heard on the oldest recordings, and to recreate other aspects of lost performance practice. The ensemble has made these performance practices available to the public through performance tours in Georgia and internationally.
Our current program includes:
- Restoring and popularizing medieval Georgian chant.
- Popularizing the authentic performance style and manner of Georgian folk singing and singing in a traditional modal scale.
- Revising and publishing sheet music manuscripts of Georgian chants together with recordings.
- Popularizing Georgian folk music through concerts, audio recordings, and offering traditional music to audiences in an authentic manner.
- Sharing the artistic experience of old Georgian song masters and introducing them to a broader audience.
- Organizing field work in different parts of Georgia with the purpose of restoring folk traditions.
- Mastering all Georgian traditional instruments in order to reintroduce them into contemporary performance.
There are 14 members in the Sakhioba ensemble, all of them are professionals in Georgian traditional music and veterans of many musical research projects including archival work discovering old recordings, and field expeditions for research and performance in remote areas of mountainous Georgia. The ensemble has traveled and performed internationally in Croatia, Ukraine, Italy, Poland, the United States, England, and other countries.
A BBC radio about the Sakhioba Ensemble quotes: ‘’The Sakhioba Ensemble is part of a new wave of groups exploring the choral heritage of Georgia. The country’s rich and complex polyphony is thought to date from pre-Christian times, and the Sakhioba Ensemble are reviving ancient folk songs as well as the centuries-old repertory of church music.’’
The full BBC program can be viewed here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018sqq0
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFFPD_5bwzRffCKQCNpDpHg
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/sakhioba
https://sakhioba.bandcamp.com/
Purpose and content …
As mentioned, the stated goals of the ensemble since its inception are to preserve folklore in its authentic form and style… to study and convey it in such forms as it has been in everyday life for centuries….
Therefore, your participation in the tour, if you are involved in any way, will make the greatest contribution to the material (financial) support of this form of folklore… In fact, in addition to the fact that you, with the funds you pay, will receive high-quality services: you will learn Georgian folk songs; You will get to know the Georgian culture during your stay and enjoy our guest-hospitality, as well as help our team “Sakhioba” in the implementation of the goals that we have been implementing for years.
These goals are as follows:
- Decipher and restore more forgotten (less known and popular) and damaged song archives (more than a century old);
- To create (with our own efforts) audio and video visualization of the restored record;
- To conduct more ethnographic research expeditions (recording the still surviving ethnographic singing and reel forms);
- Hold more social concerts and popularize the authentic side of folklore (meetings with the occupied, administrative border villages. Also remote villages where such activities are difficult).
This is the main task and philosophy of the team. Become a part of this philosophy and help authentic Georgian folklore…
Join “Sakhioba” for a journey through the tunes of Georgian folk music….
