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Ensemble Mzetamze
Vol. I: Traditional Songs of Georgian Women (Face Music)
$17.99
Georgian vocalists: Nino Makharadze, Ketevan Baiashvili, Nana Valishvili, Ketevan Nik'oladze, Nino Shvelidze, Nat'o Zumbadze
Almost all of the 39 tracks are just voices in solo and ensemble; a few are acompanied by panduri (lute) or accordion.
Listen:
Gonja, weather song, K'akheti
Milking song, Pshavi
Chem zalo..., dirge song, Tusheti
Dance Tune for Panduri, K'akheti
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The record label says:
In 1986, 6 women musicologists from the Tbilissi Conservatory joined together to form an ensemble dedicated exclusively to the musical traditions of Georgian women, known until then to only a small circle of specialists. The initiative came from Edisher Garaqanidze, who earlier had started work based exclusively on field recordings with his ensemble, Mtiebi. Since 1988 Mzetamze receives support from the Center for Folk Art and Culture (Director: Ts. Kochechashvili). Research, performance and pedagogical work with children and adolescents are tightly-woven components in the Ensemble's activities.
Artistically, Mzetamze tries to be as true as possible to original source material, and strives to preserve local peculiarities of intonation and vocal style. To this end, the group consults recordings, either collected in the field themselves, or from the abundant archives of the Tbilissi Conservatory. The ethnological context from which the songs originate, with their rituals and actions, are integrated by the Ensemble into their presentations this includes, for example, performance of the dances which belong to some of the songs.
Mzetamze means "sun of suns". A mythological name, indicating female origins: "The sun laid down and bore the moon", it says in No. 32 (see also the Sun-Wheel in the middle of the pillar in the adjacent drawing by Nino Brailashvili. This so-called deda bodzi, Mother-Pillar, supports the domed, wooden roof-construction of traditional peasants' houses in Kartli). Here, the sun symbolizes both the inherent self-confidence of Georgian women and a new approach to their traditional music.
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