G E O R G I A N H A R M O N Y A S S O C I A T I O N - UK
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FORTHCOMING
EVENTS
KVIRIA TRIO
sing unaccompanied sacred
songs & healing harmonies from the Caucasus.
St Andrew’s Church, Hazelton, Glos.(just off the A40 near Northleach)
7.30 pm Saturday 3 July 2010
Tickets £8. Available on the door. Food & Wine included
Bookings/Enquiries: 07974 793251
KVIRIA - all women's trio have been invited back after thrilling audiences last year with their unaccompanied three part harmony singing. Join them in this quintessential Cotswold Church setting. Great refreshments and harmonies to feed your soul.
Tickets available on 01367 240
858 or 0797 479 3251 or email kviria<at>googlemail.com
Kviria women's acappella trio are committed to making this ancient and spine
tingling singing tradition accessible to as wide an audience as possible and
past audiences have commented on the "tingle factor".
MTIEBI
A concert of traditional
folk and religious Georgian songs from the
Caucasus. Experience
spine-tingling harmonies of Mtiebi led by
Gigi Garaqanidze
Tuesday 6th July,
7.30pm. (Doors open 7
pm)
St Saviour's Church, Eton Road, London NW3 4SU
(nearest underground
Chalk Farm, Buses 31 & C11)
Tickets free on the
door. Generous donations appreciated.
Georgian wine served. All
proceeds to support Mtiebi
Enquiries:
01223 353586 , website:
www.maspindzeli.org.uk
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Also: “DISCOVER GEORGIA” singing tour organised from the USA.
Dates: July 1st -July 11th
Where: Caucasus Georgia (Vardzia, Kutaisi, Sighnaghi, Mtskheta, Tbilisi, Qazbegi)
Who: World travelers, spiritual pilgrims, foodies, musicians, adventurers!
Cost: $2100 (eleven day all expenses paid, airfare not included), $4000 for
couples
In our fifth season, the Discover Georgia Tour routinely draws an eclectic, motivated, and diverse group of culture tourists. This year a new itinerary takes us to the southern borderlands between Georgia, Armenia, and Turkey, as well as the ancient capital of Colchis in western Georgia.
For a detailed Itinerary, as well as Reviews, Photos, and
the Application, visit our website here:
www.georgianchant.org/tours
Admission is on a first-come, first-serve basis, with twelve of the fifteen
places still available. Sign up now! Secure your place with a $200 deposit,
details on the application form (available for download).
Our advertising is by word of mouth only. Please take a second to pass this message along to those you think may be interested. We appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Tour Coordinators: John A Graham, Luarsab Togonidze
Impressions from past Tours:
In various churches, we were able to listen to the unique polyphonic chants
which vary in style from region to region and even had the opportunity, thanks
to our guides, to learn several of these unique and beautiful songs ourselves.
-Vrinda Chidambaram, Maryland, USA, MTour09
The Monastery Tour provides glimpses of an ancient culture and language that
are profoundly distinct from all its neighboring cultures and languages, and
uniquely appeals to the academically minded. If your interest is in history,
music, art, architecture, religion, or linguistics, the Monastery Tour in Georgia
can provide an insightful introduction to these subjects that will surely inform
your continuing studies. -Vrinda Chidambaram, Maryland, USA, MTour09
The role of wine in all stages of Georgian life was brought home to me while
we were at this first supra. A group of young men were gathered at an adjoining
table, joined by 3 musicians. From my American perspective, it first looked
like a boisterous drinking party. The bowls of wine were kept filled, toasts
were being made, and one of the men broke into a traditional Georgian dance.
Another was looking out across the valley, and I could tell he was close to
tears. Only later did I realize the pathos of this scene. For this was a wake
for a young friend who had recently died. -Terry Cowan, Texas, USA MTour07
We traveled down the mountain to Tbilisi, and continued our Odyssey. One day,
as we approached a monastery, a 92-year old monk came down from a tower where
he lived alone with 3 dogs and told us wonderful stories. He recalled seeing,
as a boy, the Bolshevik troops march into his village, and recalled surviving
cancer as an exile in a Siberian labor camp in the 1950s, where he had been
sentenced to life imprisonment. Another time... this same monk managed to visit
San Francisco during the height of the Cold War as a ‘girl’s field
hockey coach’ to visit long lost relatives living there. It was incredible
to hear his stories, so removed, so unknown to those of us from the West. Susan
Miller-Coulter, Vermont, USA MTour06
The adventures are way too numerous to recount in this space, but on one occasion
we met a group of Iranians who were descendants of Georgians deported to Iran
by Shah Abbas in 1615, who were visiting their ancient homeland for the first
time. As Luarsab excitedly talked with them, we learned that they spoke in an
archaic but understandable Georgian, and were full of poetry and myths passed
down through oral culture since 1615! Susan Miller-Coulter, Vermont, USA MTour06
Closed by the Soviets and only recently returned to the Church, the Gergeti
monastery is a respite from the world... and like the rest of their fellow-countrymen,
the three monks who reside in the monastery make sure that every guest who visits
is treated with the utmost respect and hospitality. That hospitality is what
characterizes every day of a tour to Georgia. It’s what makes the trip
so memorable and worthwhile, and the welcoming spirit and generosity makes it
all the more likely that your first trip to Georgia will not be your last. David
Lucs, New York, USA MTour06