Chapter 02
Polyphony Changes by Region
5 min
Polyphony simply means that more than one independent pitch or line sounds at once. In Georgia, that definition offers a way in but does not describe what the singers actually do. The crucial questions are practical. Who begins? Which voice holds the ground? Are the upper lines fixed or improvised? Does the group breathe together? Is the song supporting work, ritual, dance, mourning or a feast?
Kakheti: two leaders above the ground
In a Kakhetian long table song, a lower group can sustain the tonal floor while two upper voices develop extended lines. The texture feels spacious because motion and stability are distributed among different singers. “Chakrulo” makes the structure especially clear. One leader proposes; another answers or overlaps; the bass group creates continuity.
The celebrated high sound called krimanchuli appears in discussion of “Chakrulo,” but not every eastern performance uses it in the same way. Listen instead of waiting for a single spectacular moment. Ornament grows across long phrases, and tension depends on the upper voices refusing easy unison.
Hamlet Gonashvili's “Orovela” offers another eastern route. His solo line carries the expressive centre, but the work-song history keeps the melody tied to labour and landscape. The vocal tone is focused, dark and controlled. It demonstrates why a famous singer should be heard as an interpreter rather than as the voice of an entire region.
Guria: three lines in motion
Gurian song can feel like an argument conducted at speed. In “Khasanbegura,” the parts cross through quick syllables, sustained tones and the high krimanchuli register. Each singer must know not only a line but how to change it without blocking the others.
“Adila-Alipasha” provides another concentrated example. A good performance makes the high part sound structurally necessary, not comic or ornamental. Beneath it, other voices maintain rhythmic and harmonic direction. If the recording is reduced to “Georgian yodeling,” most of the musicianship disappears.
The work song “Naduri” expands the scale. Larger groups organize alternating sections and repeated rhythmic material around collective labour. The arrangement may accelerate or intensify, yet the purpose is not concert climax alone. Bodies working together give the rhythm its original logic.
Samegrelo and Imereti: language, chonguri and urban connection
Mingrelian song belongs to western Georgia and often appears with the chonguri, a four-string fretless lute. Its short drone string and smooth left-hand movement give accompaniment a different contour from the fretted panduri. The instrument can sustain a repeating pattern beneath solo or group song without forcing the harmony into equal-tempered chords.
Kutaisi, the major city of Imereti, has been a centre for education, theatre, choir and recording. The 1907 Gigo Erkomaishvili Choir and 1909 Samuel Chavleishvili Trio recordings were made there. Their presence reminds us that “regional” does not mean rural or isolated. Singers moved among churches, cities, families and later state institutions.
Women's ensemble Gordela offers a useful current doorway into western and national repertories. Ialoni, formed in Tbilisi by women connected with conservatoire study, performs folk, sacred and urban songs. Their work challenges the record history in which male choirs often received the most durable documentation.
Svaneti: density without the museum glass
Svan singing is regularly described as archaic. The word can attract attention, but it may turn living people into evidence from somebody else's past. Better to describe what the ear encounters. In “Lile,” voices move in dense blocks with a force that feels both repetitive and unstable. The Svan text, ritual association and local performance history matter together.
“Kviria” exists in multiple variants. That fact is musically healthy: oral transmission produces memory, choice and local difference. A printed transcription or ensemble recording captures a version, not the final form of the hymn.
Riho Ensemble's performances are a strong starting point because they centre Svan singers. A Tbilisi state ensemble may produce a more balanced concert sound, but polish should not automatically outrank local pronunciation and embodied knowledge.
State ensembles changed scale
The Rustavi Ensemble helped bring Georgian polyphony to international concert halls. Its recordings established a powerful reference sound: disciplined tuning, carefully controlled dynamics and a large male ensemble able to project across a formal venue. That achievement also changed expectations. Listeners began to hear concert balance as traditional correctness.
Basiani, Anchiskhati, Didgori and other revival ensembles make different choices. Anchiskhati's work is closely connected to both folk and church repertory and to the recovery of older performance aesthetics. Basiani combines touring with expeditions and workshops. Didgori represents a younger revival generation. Comparing them is more revealing than choosing the most authentic choir.
Ask what a recording optimizes. Is it preserving an elderly singer's variant, training a church choir, filling a concert hall or creating a studio album? Each aim affects tuning, number of singers, tempo and the treatment of solo lines.
Women are not an appendix
Historical catalogues frequently credit male song masters and male choirs while women's singing appears as an unnamed category. Current ensembles allow the listening map to be corrected with names. Ialoni's “Mgosani” has a clear release date and a group biography. Gordela's repertory gives another ensemble perspective. Trio Mandili's “Apareka” reached a global public through a simple outdoor video and panduri accompaniment.
The virality of Trio Mandili should be described honestly. The video is a real performance by named women, and its directness helped many listeners enter Georgian music. It is not evidence that three-part panduri song is the country's central or timeless format. Platform success describes circulation, not cultural rank.
“Chakrulo,” “Khasanbegura” and “Lile” reveal three different vocal structures. The first sets two leading lines against the bass; the second uses speed, crossing parts and high-register articulation; the third gives denser chordal movement and repetition greater weight.
Then replay each with the region and language visible. The goal is not to pass a recognition test. It is to replace the idea of a Georgian choral effect with three working musical systems.
