georgia

Hello Todd!
I happen to do an all Georgian music show and first thought i would throw
out this play list as interesting recordings i have found.

6/26/002
SOINARI:FOLK MUSIC FROM GEORGIA TODAY. WERGO SM 1510-2/281510-2
*ENSEMBLE MZETAMZE: VOICES FROM THE BLACK SEA . CROSSCURRENTS MUSIC CM 50016-2
JANGHI-MORNING FOG. LELA TATARAIDZE. PAN RECORDS 186 CD
GEORGIA: POLYPHONIES VOCALES DE SVANETIE. ENSEMBLE RIHO. INEDIT W 260090

I have noticed the neutral thirds but the expanded octave i am not suere
about four the octive i do hear used in harmonic chords. The oldest recording i
have is an old UNESCO vinyl GEORGIA I
with liner notes by our old friend Habib Toumi
I got this around probably 1973 so it is older than that
.
this description seems to be in the ball park and is an important find.

Paul thanks for translation. It does appear that their 5th are pretty pure to
my ear.

Now here is one of those cases if someone came up with this tuning I can't
imagine anyone taking it seriously. The fifth being such a strong interval
makes sense when you consider these are like voices. One doesn't expect men to
sing in octaves a whole lot, although i hear some of this two.
In New Guinea, I have often heard recordings with men and women in parallel
octaves on some very highly ornamented lines

I too would be quite interested in what exactly they are doing. If you find
more PLEASE keep me informed!

>
> Message: 4
> Date: Thu, 11 Jul 2002 20:40:13 -0000
> From: "booeyschewy" <booeyschewy@...>
> Subject: Some Georgian Tuning info found
>
> Here's a quote:
>
> In general, in music with true three-part polyphonic independence and
> a small melodic range, fifths will be more important than octaves.
> The fifth will replace the octave as the unit of structural stability
> and pitch equivalence, and the scale will repeat at the fifth instead
> of the octave. We can usefully speak of such music as being built
> around the "quintave" rather than the octave. In a scale based on the
> quintave, furthermore, the tendency will be to subdivide the fifth
> not into whole and half steps but into four intervals more nearly
> equal in size, blurring or erasing the sense of major and minor.
> Those intervals produce a lowered second, a near-neutral third, and a
> raised fourth--which, when projected by a fifth, results in a raised
> eighth degree, a wide octave. The effects of this tendency vary by
> region in proportion to the tradition of true three-part polyphony,
> but some form of quintave tuning is common to almost all Georgian
> music.
>
> from here http://argosoft.com/kavkasia/album2/intro.htm
>
> That sounds very interesting. I have some recordings of other
> Georgian music, is there a program I could use to analyze the
> frequencies of the scales?
>
> todd
>

-- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria island
http://www.anaphoria.com

The Wandering Medicine Show
Wed. 8-9 KXLU 88.9 fm

On 13 Jul 2002, at 3:14, Kraig Grady wrote:

> I have noticed the neutral thirds but the expanded octave i am not
> sure about

I was walking my dog yesterday evening, not in Georgia but in New
England, and was passing a house with a birthday party in full
swing in the back yard. And I arrived at just the right moment,
because I was treated to their very own, unaccompanied, rendition
of 'Happy Birthday'. Led, presumably by the person with the
strongest voice in the group, the goup lacking anyone with musical
training (just guessing here -- they did manage to hit recognisable
pitches a lot better than many comtemporary americans do). The
melody came out, roughly speaking,

f f g f b flat a f f g f c b flat

f f c# a# g f# e

b b a# f# g f

! Thus ending, neatly, in the same key as started.

I was impressed.

Judy