KONZERTE: Junge Musiker aus Armenien in Bad Hersfeld

KAMMERTON - Junge Musiker aus Armenien

Elen Harutyunyan (Klavier), Eduard Elbakyan (Saxophon), Margarita Mikaelyan (Klavier), Arevik Melkonyan (Violine)

Werke u.A. von Liszt, Ravel, Chopin, Babadschanjan, Rachmaninow, Tschaikowski, Komitas

Samstag, 28. September 2019 – 15.30
Sonntag, 29. September 2019 – 16.30

J.S. Bach-Haus (Nachtigallenstrasse 7), Bad Hersfeld
Eintritt: ja 10,-€, Schüler und Studenten: 50% Ermäßigung
Mit freundlicher Unterstützung vom Goethe-Institut und dem Auswärtigen Amt

HISTORY OF GEORGIA: Summary in English of the Book - Georgien zwischen Eigenstaatlichkeit und russischer Okkupation Die Wurzeln des Konflikts vom 18. Jh. bis 1924. Von Philipp Ammon

here is a content of the book: "Where lie the roots for the alienation between Russia and Georgia, two countries of the same Chalcedonian Creed, whose links go back to the early Middle Ages? Georgian influences can already be seen in the Glagolitic alphabet (9th century) and the Nestor Chronicle (12th century). The Russian longing for the Georgian paradise garden, the Vyrïj-sad, where birds migrate every year to spend the winter, is just as old. "Indeed, we began to believe that most Russians hope that if they live good and virtuos lives, they will not go to heaven, but to Georgia, when they die," writes John Steinbeck in the Russian Journal in 1948. After the fall of Constantinople, for the Georgians "the sun began to rise in the north", as the poet Mamuk´a Barat´ašvili puts it, but the Georgians missed the secularization of the "holy Rus´", which is no longer guided by the belief in an eschatalogical mission but by the reason of state. This misunderstanding causes an alienation and a tragedy that lasts until today.

To provide an answer to his questions the author investigates the history of Georgia from ancient times beginning with the genesis of Georgian statehood. He limns the Christianisation of the country, its early ties to Byzantium, its blood witness of faith amongst foreign empires, the rise of the Bagratid kingdom and its prime during the Golden Age from the reign of David the Builder (1073– 1125) and Tamar the Great (1160 –1213) until its decline due to the Mongol conquests of the 13th century. He then qualifies the cultural transfer from Georgia to Russia during the Middle Ages. He delineates the Georgian kings´ requests for military aid to the Tsardom of Muscovy from 1483 after the downturn of Byzantine protecting power. He then characterises the Treaty of Georgievsk of 1783 between Catherine II the Great of Russia and Irakli II of Georgia as crucial to the conflict as in 1795 promised Russian troops stayed away from the Battle of Krtsanisi when the Qajar khan Agha Mohammad Shah attempted to reinforce Iranian overlordship upon Eastern Georgia. Thus the Georgians felt betrayed by their Russian ally. The period following the annexation of Georgia in 1801 is described as ambivalent as the ensuing modernisation of the land, its demographic and economic growth went with the abolition of the Bagratid dynasty and the autocephaly of the Georgian Apostolic Church and Russification in contradiction to the Treaty of 1783. Those measures of the new administration give rise to frequent peasant revolts and to the aristocratic conspiracy of 1832. On the other hand Georgian nobles – plus russe que les Russes – rise to the top in Russian ranks whereas despite their commitment to the mission civilisatrice russe Russian poets imagine the Caucasus and its Georgian heartland as a paradise lost. Unlike their Romantic fathers national movement Georgia´s generation of the sons, the tergdaleulni, returning from Russian universities is striving for feasable improvements for their countrymen. Their national movement is broader in its aims. They found a society to spread literacy among commoners and a bank to save the estates of the landed gentry. In the Revolution of 1905 Gurian peasants form a self-governed social-democratic local republic and in 1907 the “uncrowned king of Georgia” and leader of the country´s national movement Ilya Chavchavadze is killed by Georgian bolsheviks. On the eve of World War I the very existence of Georgia is in danger when Transcaucasia at risk to be settled by Russian peasants and Cossacks and the Georgian Exarchate is threatened to be dissolved into a Caucasian metropolis. During the Great War Georgian emigrants get in close contact with the German comand that is to promote Georgian indepence after the October Revolution. This independent Republic of Georgia persists after the military collapse of the Central Powers until in 1921 the Red Army led by Georgian bolsheviks invades the country. In 1924 a last insurgency for independence is crushed by overwhelming forces of the new Soviet government. Despite occupation and terror Soviet Georgia witnesses the establishment of national institutions as schools, colleges, universities and an academy as well as the development of governmental structures. Georgia´s secession from the Soviet Union in 1991 was payed with the loss of two provinces and those frozen conflicts stepped into war with Russia in 2008. At present no substantial enhancement of the relationship between Russia and Georgia let alone an agreement with her lost provinces is apparent." (Philipp Ammon)

You can order the book here: lehmanns.de

VIDEO: Georgia: Rugby's Next Superpower | Episode One & Two | World Rugby Films. via @worldrugby

From obscurity to prominence in just over a decade, the rise of Georgian rugby has been meteoric and unexpected.This World Rugby Film explores this remarkable story. This is Georgia: Rugby's Next Superpower.

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"World Rugby, the international governing body of the game, has released the first episode of Georgia: Rugby's Next Superpower, a documentary series tracing the nation's "meteoric" rise to prominence on the international rugby stage.

Released on Monday, the film follows the explosion of popularity of the sport in the country and the emergence of its national team and organisation "from obscurity to prominence in just over a decade".

Taking Georgia's Rugby World Cup debut in 2003 as the starting point, the first episode of the documentary series then goes back to the origins of the sport in the country, introducing viewers to leloburti, a similar game that served as historical background to rugby on the local scene.

Claude Saurel, the team's former head coach who led the Lelos' rise on the international stage in the late 1990s and the early 2000s, is seen speaking in the episode about the team's debut in the World Cup against England, as well as their praiseworthy performance against South Africa in the same tournament.

Milton Haig, Georgia's current head coach, also offers his impressions on why rugby has suited the Georgian sports mentality, citing combative spirit as a background on which the success has been based.

The film also travels to Georgia to speak to local team founders, governing body professionals and sports historians to hear about foundations of professional rugby in Soviet Georgia.

Producers of the episode also talk to people like Mamuka Gorgodze, a former player and an exceptionally popular figure for fans in the country, about the introduction of Georgian players into the French national league under Saurel, which laid foundations for the fast-paced development of Georgian rugby." (Source: agenda.ge)

VIDEO: Ancient Rugby Tradition in Georgia named LELO Ball - Lelos Shemobruneba (1984)

"Lelos Shemobruneba" is the Documentary film about the tradition of playing Lelo in Georgia. Georgians are preparing whole year to play Lelo for the Easter day in the Shukhuti village. Ball making process is very sacred. The number of players isn't limited. All the people are divided into two groups and all of them are willing to score a Lelo, which is the Georgian synonym of try. After the match, the winner should place the ball on the grave of a glorious person from his village. 

VIDEOS: Stalin’s Underground Secret Printing House Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia. #ReiseKnowHowGeorgien

The secret room where early Bolsheviks cranked out propaganda fliers on a smuggled printing press.

A nondescript, crumbling house in Georgia’s capital hides a series of tunnels where in 1904, a young communist printed magazines, pamphlets, and newspapers calling for the removal of the Tsar. At the time, Georgia was still part of the Russian Empire, and that young communist went by his given name, Iosif Djugashvili. The world would later come to know him as Joseph Stalin.

Hidden beneath the house, a printing press—old even by the standards of 1906—was smuggled into Tbilisi in pieces by a network of Bolshevik supporters. For three years, the press clandestinely cranked out thousands of pamphlets written in Georgian, Russian, and Armenian.

On the porch, lookouts—mostly women—would ring a bell if police were passing the house, a signal to those below silence the noisy press. A series of tunnels led from the from subterranean room to a nearby well, an escape route in anticipation of raids by Russian officials.

By the time Stalin began working at the printing press, he was already robbing banks and running protection rackets to raise money to support the Bolsheviks. Some of that money went toward printing and distributing the materials from the press around the region.

In 1906, three years after it printed its first pamphlet, the press was destroyed when the underground room was discovered.

Thirty-one years later, Stalin had consolidated power in what had become the USSR. Under his government, the press was restored and the building turned into a museum that included a movie theatre that screened Soviet films. But in 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the museum was abandoned.

Today, the museum is operated by the Communist Party of Georgia, but it receives no money from the state. The printing press is caked in rust and the museum itself is largely in disrepair. But in recent years, the story of Stalin’s printing press has found a new audience: Chinese tourists.

Know Before You Go

The printing press is located within the Georgian Communist Party headquarters. You will need to speak at least a basic level of Russian or Georgian (or bring your own translator), as it is only possible to visit the "museum" by guided tour. While there is no official entrance fee, whomever shows you around will also expect a tip at the end of your visit.

Source: Stalin’s Underground Printing House [atlasobscura.com]

More links:
Indulge your Soviet curiosity in Stalin’s secret printing house in Tbilisi, Georgia. By Angelo Zinna [matadornetwork.com]
Joseph Stalins Underground Printing House [edfedoradiary.com]
Georgia’s Communists, With Chinese Help, Fight to Preserve Stalin’s Press. By Bradley Jardine [eurasianet.org]
Stalin’s Cave Beneath the capital of Georgia, a tyrant’s legacy slumbers. By Paul Salopek [nationalgeographic.org]
Stalin's Underground Printiung Press [latitudewattitude.com]
Inside Stalin's Secret Print House in Tbilisi, Georgia. By Angelo Zinna [medium.com]
Tbilisi’s Bolshevikian Word Fabrique. By Irma Kakhurashvili [georgiatosee.com]
Uncle Joe’s Underground Printshop. [derwombat.net]


Stalin's Underground Printing House – Feel the spirit of Soviet Georgia. By Anano Chikhradze

The period of the Soviet Union has already passed a long time ago. However, people are still interested in stories of this time. Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Kamo… they are all the famous people who left their marks on history. You can find several places in Georgia, where you can recall the Soviet Union times. For example, the Stalin Museum, that is located in Gori. There you can see his private things and listen to the stories about the way he lived there. In addition to that, there are many other interesting places connected to him. In this article, I am going to tell you about Stalin's Underground Printing House Museum, where you can still feel the spirit of Soviet Georgia.

A story of the Printing House

The Printing House is located in the Avlabari district in Tbilisi. You can travel thanks to the "time machine" while visiting this museum and go back to the time when young revolutionary Stalin lived and worked.

The construction process of this Printing House was arranged by Mr Mikheil Bochoridze. He chose a suitable area in the Avlabari district. Mr Rostomashvili owned the land in this place. He was a worker in the workshops of the railway. After Mr Bochoridze and Mr Rostomashvili got a consent on the construction, they started building an illegal underground Printing House below the building. In a short period of time, they built a house that had only two rooms. In the years 1904-05, the Printing House started working.

There were 15-meter deep underground tunnels as well. From 1904-06, Stalin was secretly printing different newspapers and brochures in Georgian, Russian, and Azerbaijan language, and the revolutionaries were spreading them in these countries. 24-year-old Stalin escaped from the resettlement and started living in this Printing House from 1904. Many articles published here are actually written by Stalin, and that is why nowadays the Printing House is connected to his name.

How they discovered the Printing House?

The location of the Printing House was secret. However, in 1906, the police accidentally found it while they were checking the building. One of the police officers threw a burning paper in the dry water well to check its depth. A tunnel that was leading to the Printing House was at the bottom of this well, so this paper flew in the tunnel. A police officer realized that there was something under the building. They burned the house and the owner Mr Rostomashvili was sent into exile forever.

Underground Printing House today

Nowadays, you can see the same building in the Avlabari district. The Georgians reconstructed this place. They tried to keep its first appearance. The Printing House has many visitors today. People are interested in how this place worked, what were its secrets, etc. So, if you are a history lover, don’t miss the Stalin’s Underground Printing House Museum, where you can really feel the spirit of Soviet Georgia.

Source: Stalin's Underground Printing House – Feel the spirit of Soviet Georgia. By Anano Chikhradze [itinari.com]


These are a few images from inside the odd Joseph Stalin Underground Printing House Museum. It's like a real time warp into the Soviet past. And Zhuli the guide still believes. This video was made to accompany a more extensive essay which can be found at The Anadromous Life.

Source: Georgian Lessons #7: The Red Stain [theanadromist.wordpress.com]

VIDEO: Das Armenische Volk ist uralt. Der zähe Überlebenskampf eines Landes. Interview mit Dr. Jasmine Dum-Tragut. via @dctp_tv

Über mehrere tausend Jahre kämpft und lebt eine frühe christliche Zivilisation zwischen wechselnden Großmächten im Osten und Westen und verteidigt seine Existenz: Armenien. Das Land, dessen genaue Grenzen wechselten, war bereits der Zankapfel zwischen den Parthern und dem Römischen Reich. Später bedrohen mongolische und islamische Reiche im Osten das Land. Und im 20. Jahrhundert steht die Türkei im Westen des armenischen Kernlandes. Die Massaker der von der damaligen türkischen Führung im Ersten Weltkrieg angestrebten ethnischen Säuberung sind bekannt. 

Video: dctp.tv/Das Armenische Volk ist uralt

Die kulturellen und zivilisatorischen Wurzeln Armeniens liegen lange vor der christlichen Zeitenwende. Wenig bekannt ist, dass zeitgleich mit der Gründung der ersten europäischen Universitäten um 1180 Wissenschaftszentren und Universitäten in Armenien begründet wurden. Mit den Kreuzzügen sind die Armenier eng verknüpft. In Armenien besteht eine autokephale Kirche und ein armenischer Mönch entwickelt ein eigenes Alphabet für das Land. In den Zeiten des osmanischen Siegs über Ost-Rom und verstärkt seit dem 18. Jahrhundert entstand weltweit eine armenische Diaspora. Aus ihrem Geiste wurde 1918 aus dem Nachlass des osmanischen Reiches eine selbständige Republik begründet und diese nach 1991, dem Zeitpunkt der Auflösung der Sowjetunion, erneuert. Armenien ist heute eine der ethnisch konsolidiertesten Republiken der GUS.

Es berichtet die Privatdozentin Dr. Jasmine Dum-Tragut, die an den geisteswissenschaftlichen und theologischen Fakultäten der Universitäten Graz, Wien, Salzburg und Innsbruck, an der Staatlichen Universität Jerevan und an der LMU München lehrt.

REISESPLITTER: Vitamin Q in Georgien. Bei den tuschetischen Hirten. Von Philipp Ammon #ReiseKnowHowGeorgien

Ich reite einen elfjährigen Wallach, der auf den Namen Gledscho hört. Es ist einKabardiner mit Sprenkelungen. Ins braune Fell sind schon einige graue Haare eingestreut. Kennen Pferde eigentlich Asrael, den Engel des Todes? In einer nordkaukasischen Erzählung will Asrael einen Menschen für das Jenseits abholen. Der zum Tode ausgewählte bittet um Nachsicht und Aufschub und den Engel darum, sich beim nächsten Mal doch vorher anzukündigen. Als der Engel wieder unangekündigt erscheint, wirft der Mensch dem Engel vor, nicht gewarnt worden zu sein. Der Engel jedoch antwortet: "Der Tod, mein Freund, wird durch das graue Haar angekündigt". Gledscho wird noch ein langes Leben haben, denn Pferde sind vom Totengericht ausgenommen.

Der ganze Text mit mehr Bildern vom Autor: reise-know-how.de

ATLAS: Kulturweg der deutschen Minderheit in Georgien / Cultural Route of the German minority in Georgia / გერმანული უმცირესობის კულტურული მარშრუტი საქართველოშ

Die in diesem Atlas enthaltene Beschreibung und Kartografierung des Kulturerbes der von Deutschen gegründeten Orte Georgiens beruht auf der langjährigen Grundlagenforschung von Nestan Tataraschwili, Architektin, Restauratorin und wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin des Vereins zur Bewahrung deutschen Kulturguts im Südkaukasus (Tiflis). Diese Forschung wurde 2015 und 2016 von der Staatsagentur für Kulturerbeschutz Georgiens finanziert. Tatia Gwineria (Tiflis) hat den Abschnitt zu Tiflis westlich der Kura und die ausführlichen Beschreibungen in dem Abschnitt zu Neu-Tiflis verfasst. Zu einzelnen Texten und Ortsplänen haben Tamas Gersamia (Tiflis) und Leonhard-Eduard Breisch (Alexandershilf) beigetragen. Mit diesem Atlas werden erstmals Ortspläne aller Siedlungen mit deren herkömmlichen deutschen Orts-, Straßenund Örtlichkeitsnamen sowie den georgischen Bezeichnungen oder – falls es solche nicht gibt – mit der georgischen Umschrift der deutschen Namen veröffentlicht.

The description and mapping of the cultural heritage in the places founded by Germans in Georgia is based on the long-term fundamental research of Nestan Tatarashvili, architect, restorer and researcher of the Verein zur Bewahrung deutschen Kulturguts im Südkaukasus (Tbilisi). The research was funded by the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia in 2015 and in 2016. Tatia Gvineria (Tbilisi) is the author of the chapter about Tbilisi west of the River Kura and the detailed descriptions in the chapter about Neu-Tiflis. Tamaz Gersamia (Tbilisi) and Leonhard-Eduard Breisch have contributed to some texts and maps. For the first time, this atlas publishes contemporary maps of the aforementioned settlements with their traditional German place, street and other topographic names as well as the Georgian names or, where the latter do not exist, with the Georgian transliteration of the German names.

გერმანელების მიერ დაარსებული კოლონიების ტერიტორიაზე არსებული კულტურული მემკვიდრეობის ძეგლების აღწერა და მათი რუკებზე დატანა ეფუძნება სამხრეთ კავკასიაში გერმანული კულტურული მემკვიდრეობის დაცვის კავშირის (თბილისი) არქიტექტორ-რესტავრატორისა და მკვლევრის, ნესტან თათარაშვილის ფუნდამენტურ და გრძელვადიან კვლევას, რომელიც დააფინანსა საქართველოს კულტურული მემკვიდრეობის დაცვის ეროვნული სააგენტომ 2015 და 2016 წელს. თათია ღვინერიას (თბილისი) ეკუთვნის თავი, რომელიც ეხება მდინარე მტკვრის დასავლეთით მდებარე თბილისის ნაწილს. მასვე ეკუთვნის დეტალური აღწერა, რაც ნოი-ტიფლისის შესახებ თავშია წარმოდგენილი. თამაზ გერსამიამ (თბილისი) და ლეონარდ-ედუარდ ბრეიშმა წვლილი შეიტანეს ზოგიერთი ტექსტისა და რუკის შედგენაში. ამ ატლასში პირველად ქვეყნდება ზემოხსენებული კოლონიების თანამედროვე რუკები, სადაც ქართულ სახელწოდებებთან ერთად მითითებულია მათი გერმანული, ტრადიციული სახელები, მათ შორის, ადგილის, ქუჩის და სხვა ტოპოგრაფიული სახელწოდებები. ისეთი შემთხვევებისთვის, სადაც შესაბამისი ქართული სახელწოდებები არ არსებობს, გამოყენებულია გერმანული ვერსიების ქართული ტრანსლიტერაცია.

Kostenloser Reiseführer zu den deutschen Siedlungen

Rechtzeitig zu den 200-Jahr-Feierlichkeiten der deutschen Ansiedlung hat der Europarat einen Reiseführer zu den von Deutschen gegründeten Orten Georgiens veröffentlicht. Der „Kulturweg der deutschen Minderheit in Georgien“ ist im Netz (https://rm.coe.int) und als Broschüre kostenlos erhältlich. Er enthält eine Einführung in die Geschichte der Deutschen im Lande und stellt dann das bauliche Erbe aller historischen deutschen Siedlungen vor. Dargestellt werden auch die Werke deutscher Architekten in Tiflis. Mit dem "Kulturweg" werden erstmals heutige Ortspläne aller Siedlungen mit deren herkömmlichen deutschen Orts- und Straßennamen veröffentlicht. Die Beschreibung und Kartografierung des deutschen Kulturerbes beruht überwiegend auf der langjährigen Grundlagenforschung von Nestan Tataraschwili, Architektin, Restauratorin und wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin des Vereins zur Bewahrung deutschen Kulturguts im Südkaukasus. Diese Forschung wurde 2015 und 2016 von der Staatsagentur für Kulturerbeschutz Georgiens finanziert. Da der „Kulturweg“ auch im Deutschunterricht an georgischen Schulen eingesetzt werden soll, bietet das Goethe-Institut eine Schulung für Lehrer an (www.goethe.de). Der Europarat hat ähnliche "Kulturwege" zu zwölf anderen nationalen Minderheiten in Georgien veröffentlicht.

Mehr dazu hier: 
facebook.com/KulturerhaltGeorgien
Sichtbare Rehabilitierung: Mit den Ortsnamen kehrt die deutsche Minderheit zurück ins öffentliche Bewusstsein
Deutsches kulturelles Erbe und seine Rezeption: Deutsches Kulturerbe in der Hauptstadt Georgiens – Neu-Tiflis. Von Tamar Giorgobiani

VIDEO: Natia Todua - Debut Album Production

"Auch wenn sie nun nicht mehr wöchentlich im Fernsehen auftaucht, ist sie ihrem Motto treu geblieben: No music, no life – Kein Leben ohne Musik. Ausruhen kommt für die 22-Jährige nicht infrage. Nicht mal Zeit für den Führerschein bleibt, das Auto als Voice-Siegprämie hat sie ungefahren verkauft. Stattdessen nahm sie ein Stipendium von der Stiftung Starke in Berlin an. In einer Villa in Grunewald voller Künstler konnte sie dadurch günstig ein Zimmer beziehen, ein Netzwerk aufbauen und sich musikalisch inspirieren und weiterentwickeln.

Bejubelt wurden auch ihre Auftritte auf der Frankfurter Buchmesse, wo sie das Gastland Georgien vertrat, oder auch bei der Kommission der Europäischen Union in Georgien, wo sich vor Begeisterung plötzlich der EU-Botschafter selbst ans Schlagzeug setzte. Der Auftritt sowie ein Versöhnungslied mit Video über Georgien und Abchasien brachte das Gerücht auf, dass sie wieder in ihre Heimat gezogen ist. Keine Panik: „Ich bleibe in Deutschland“, lacht Natia.

Das Stipendium in Berlin dauert noch bis zum Sommer an, dazwischen stehen Konzert-Projekte mit Sponsoren an. Inzwischen hat sie auch das Management gewechselt, um dem großen Ziel näher zu kommen: ein Album mit eigenen Stücken. Bis dahin müssen allerdings noch die bestehenden Verträge von Fachleuten durchsortiert werden, um die Rechte an künftigen Songs zu sichern.

Im nächsten Jahr wird sie vor allem in Süddeutschland unterwegs sein. Gerade hat sie im Karlsdorfer Kangaroo-Studio für ein Wohnzimmer-Konzert in Minden geprobt und sich eine erfahrene Band zusammengestellt. Mit Gitarrist Joerg Dudys (Edo Zanki, Jule Neigel, Nena), Keyboarder Zlatko „Jimmy“ Kresic (Midge Ure, Alice Cooper, Ian Gillan), Bassist Jekko Stjepanovic (Relax, Bobby Kimball) und Schlagzeugerin Steffi Sachsenmeier (Joja Wendt, Superstrings) will sie weitere Projekte verwirklichen – und solange Natias Gastfamilie Schmitt wieder die komplette Band mit Maishühnchen bekocht wie vergangene Woche nach der Probe, könnte Bruchsal durchaus zum Musikstandort avancieren."

Der ganze Text von Armin Herberger hier >> bnn.de

VIDEO: Wanderung von Mestia nach Ushguli, Georgien ⎜ Vlog #73

Die Wanderung in Georgien (Swanetien) war unser absolutes Highlight. Trotz des mittelgrossen Zwischenfalls, haben wir es total genossen und würden uns sofort wieder aufmachen, um diese wunderbaren Tage noch einmal erleben zu dürfen.

Wir würden die Wanderung auf jeden Fall, jedem weiterempfehlen.


Mehr: 5 Videos aus Georgien

DOCUMENTARY: The City Where Women Run The Nightlife - Nightlife & Clubs in Tbilisi. By Noemi Hatala and Rebecca Gin

Partying in Tbilisi is a political statement. Like Berlin in the early 90s, raves in Tbilisi have a social and political element that make them more than entertainment.

Clubbing has become a way for young people to rebel against the conservative regime in power. People with “radical” ideas about liberal politics or sexual identity are accepted in clubs and can act freely.

Tbilisi has five major clubs. Four of them are owned or co-owned by women.

This short documentary introduces these strong female characters who are running Tbilisi’s nightlife and are shaping the thinking of a new generation.

Producer, director, cameraperson, editor: Noemi Hatala
noemihatala.com
Cameraperson, consultant: Rebecca Gin
rebeccagin.com


The City Where Women Run The Nightlife from Noemi Hatala on Vimeo.

With Keta Gabunia (Owner of Mtkvaarze Club www.mtkvarze.com), Tamuna Axander (Owner of KHIDI www.khidi.ge), Naja Orashvili (Co-Founder of BASSIANI www.bassiani.com), Sophy Ebralidze (Manager of KHIDI www.khidi.ge), Nia Gvatua (Owner of SUCCESS BAR)

This Video Will Introduce You To The Women Behind Tbilisi’s Thriving Techno Scene (Source: electronicbeats.net)

'The City Where Women Run The Nightlife' is a new video that explores how women have built the city's current day techno scene.

Club culture is political everywhere, but it’s especially political in Tbilisi. There, clubs like Bassiani and Khidi provide free spaces for people to gather and explore ideas about liberal politics and sexual identity at odds with the country’s ultra-conservative government. (For more information about the government’s policies, read our exposé Behind Bars: Meet The Georgian Producer Making Music From Prison)

“There are five major clubs in Tbilisi. Four of them are owned or co-owned by women,” says Keta Gabundia, owner of the popular Mtkvarze club, in a new short video documentary called, The City Where Women Run The Nightlife.

The video, which is available in full above, examines the role that women have played in developing the city’s current club scene, and also explains the challenges they face moving forward in the wake of last year’s Government-instigated club raids and ensuing protests.

The City Where Women Run The Nightlife was made by Noemi Hatala and Rebecca Gin. More info can be found here.

Read more: Behind Bars: Meet The Georgian Techno Producer Making Music From Prison


Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/bassiani
https://soundcloud.com/khidi
https://soundcloud.com/search?q=mtkvarze

VIDEO: "Zinka Man" - Ana Kordzaia-Samadashvili tells us about his new novel

THE MOVEMENT TV is a digital storytelling media platform founded in 2017 in Tbilisi, Georgia on the basis of The Movement Theatre - the first independent theatre in Georgia, whose main direction is storytelling.

Our TV tells stories about people using cinematographic storytelling means and unconventional movement of a camera. We strive to uncover social-cultural topics beyond certain boundaries using contemporary media-technologies.

The goal of THE MOVEMENT TV team is to assist people to find their own way of storytelling. We talk to dozens of people on a daily basis and tell our audience the best stories we come across.

We believe that each person has the story that might be interesting for others to be shared with.

THE MOVEMENT TV works for its audience, while The Movement Production Studio serves both small and large companies by means of an innovative way of communication called storytelling.

No doubt the future of the media is digital and THE MOVEMENT TV is the first media company in Georgia to have made the first steps in this direction.

POLITIK: Offener Brief von Autor*innen und Verleger*innen zur Zusammenlegung des Buchzentrums und des Literaturhauses in Georgien

Am 3. Mai 2019 erklärte das Ministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft, Kultur und Sport, dass es einige Institutionen aus seinem Zuständigkeitsbereich fusionieren wolle. Zu diesen Juristischen Personen des Öffentlichen Rechts gehören das Georgische Nationale Buchzentrum und das Schriftstellerhaus, die in einer "Nationalen Literaturstiftung" aufgehen sollen.

Das Georgische Nationale Buchzentrum und das Literaturhaus blicken auf eine relativ junge Geschichte zurück, sind jedoch erfolgreichste Kulturinstitutionen in Georgien. Beide Institutionen setzen die Steuerzahlergelder nicht nur äußerst effizient sondern mit einem großen Gewinn für den georgischen Staat ein.

Die große Kompetenz und das uneingeschränkte Engagement der Mitarbeiterinnen des Georgischen Nationalen Buchzentrums hat den historisch größten Auslandserfolg der georgischen Literatur und Kultur ermöglicht. Das Schriftstellerhaus ist mittlerweile zu einem unverzichtbaren Kulturzentrum Georgiens geworden, dass tausende Literaturfreunde heranzieht. Dieser Erfolg war, in vielen Fällen, nicht der Unterstützung der Mitarbeiter*innen des Kultusministeriums zu verdanken, sondern geht auf einen harten Kampf für die Transparenz und die öffentliche Kontrolle zurück.

Vor dem Hintergrund dieses großen, für georgische staatliche Behörden völlig ungewohnten Erfolges ruft die Initiative des Ministeriums, zwei unabhängige und erfolgreiche Institutionen zu fusionieren, unsere Zweifel, Sorge und Ärger hervor.

Die Begründung des Ministeriums, die Organisationen „zur Modernisierung und Verbesserung der Verwaltung, sowie gemäß den internationalen Standards und nationalen Prioritäten“ zu fusionieren erscheint uns unglaubwürdig und falsch.

Zur Unglaubwürdigkeit einer solchen Begründung trägt auch die Tatsache bei, dass diese Entscheidung des Ministerium ohne jeglicher Rücksprache mit den Leiterinnen und Mitarbeiterinnen des Buchzentrums und des Literaturhauses, ohne Konsultationen mit Schriftsteller*innen, Autor*innen, Übersetzer*innen und Verleger*innen, unter Ausschluss der Öffentlichkeit getroffen wurde.

Modernisierung und Verbesserung der Verwaltung impliziert, dass diese Institutionen nicht modern und schlecht verwaltet werden. Dies entspricht keineswegs den Tatsachen. Weder internationale Standards noch die nationalen Prioritäten setzen eine mechanische Zusammenlegung voraus. Wenn man den für Kultur zuständigen Staatssekretär Giorgadze glaubt, liegen der geplanten Fusionierung auch keinerlei Sparnotwendigkeit zugrunde.

Die beiden Institutionen haben ihre Spezifika und Arbeitsfelder. Organisationelle Optimierung kann ihr mechanisches Zusammenschließen keineswegs rechtfertigen. Die sogenannte Fusionierung, die in Wirklichkeit nur ein mechanischer Zusammenschluss ist, bedeutet werde eine Verbesserung noch eine Stärkung der georgischen Literatur.

Als die einzig mögliche Erklärung bietet sich folgendes an: Indem das Ministerium lukrative leitende Funktion für unbeschäftigt gebliebene Funktionäre schafft, möchte es die Kontrolle über zwei politisch und administrativ unabhängige und erfolgreiche Institutionen mit administrative Kommandomethoden gewinnen.

Schriftsteller*innen, Autor*innen, Übersetzer*innen und Verleger*innen setzen sich für die Unabhängigkeit des Georgischen Nationalen Buchzentrums und des Schriftstellerhauses ein und fordern das Ministerium auf, die beiden Institutionen an der Ausübung ihrer erfolgreichen Tätigkeit nicht zu hindern. Unsere ausländischen Freunde und Partner, die eine hervorragende Erfahrung der Zusammenarbeit mit dem Buchzentrum und dem Schriftstellerhaus haben, sind mit den beiden Institutionen ebenfalls solidarisch.

VIDEO: Georgia: A Post-Soviet Fashion Boom | Compass. By Elfi Bereketli​ via @trtworld

Compass goes to Tbilisi to discover Georgia's fashion scene. Dubbed in the media as 'post-soviet' fashion style it's the latest hype in the fashion industry globally. How has the small country of Georgia given birth to some of the coolest designers in the 21st century? What is 'post-soviet' style? And is the 'post-soviet' label accurate in describing the latest fashion designs coming out of this unique country?


+++ Demna Gvasalia +++ Nino Mgaloblishvili +++ Djurdja Bartlett +++ Sofia Tchkonia +++ Tamuna Karumidze +++ Natalia Vat sadze +++ Lado Bokuchava +++ Lako Bukia +++ George Keburia +++

LIVE-RECORDING: "Be Yourself" by Nestan Bagration-Davitashvili

Nestan Bagration-Davitashvili: Voc, Piano, Synth, Beatbox
Live recording in Vox Ton analog recording studio Berlin by Francesco Donadello
Video: George Charkviani

Nestan Bagration-Davitashvili

Pianist, singer, composer
Growing up in a famous Georgian artist Ancestry royal family, was faced early on with the pianist in the world of culture, has many inspirations take in, process, and continued to develop artistically quickly.

First performances at age 5 years. She studied piano in Tbilisi, Georgia at the music school.

At the age of 16 you got the special prize "Discovery of Festival" at the Festival 'Margarita 96'

As a scholarship student of the Berklee College of Music in the U.S., she composed the first works.

Since 2007, she received a scholarship from the Yehudi Menuhin launched "live music now" and in 2009 Fellow of a DAAD scholarship. Critics wrote about her: "If the pianist Nestan Bagration-Davitashvili occurs, we see how" music borders "s passed by our ears, how to approach seemingly different genres of music at the end, come together, or also be attributed to their common ground. Nestan Bagration-Davitashvilis music is an open-hearted commitment to the origins of mankind. It needs no words, phrases or a specific language. Alone satisfy her syllables to express all human emotions of joy and pain. But one thing will lead like a red thread through the concert tonight: the highest intensity of her presentation.

"Their music does not quote, it is new. It takes in everything around us and includes it in a new way: noise, sound, music. Their energy comes from the stomach and catapulted himself through the heart and intellect. She sings, reads, plays … " And it is the comprehensive training and mental penetration because, Nestan Bagration-Davitashvili knows exactly what paths are going in the interpretation and music scene.

Your analysis skills are overwhelmed their intuition in every way. It has to develop in recent years, their own personal style that can be difficult to define. Thus, their interpretations are genre independent today, marked by high, stirring Intensitet. Currently lives and works Nestan Bagration-Davitashvili in Berlin, Germany

soundcloud.com/nestanbagrationdavitashvili
nestanbagrationdavitashvili.com
vimeo.com/nestan
More here: kulturgeorgien.com

VIDEO: Live@wilight - Nika Machaidze (Nikakoi) & Gogi Dzodzuashvili 2015

Nika Machaidze and Gogi Dzodzuashvili's live on the birthday of Artarea artarea.tv

CONCERTS IN TBILISI: 3615 Mort Subite - Georgian tour. Brass Band, Funk, Jazz from Paris & Grenoble, France.

3615 Mort Subite, a group of French brassband musicians playing brass music inspired by New Orleans Brass Bands, funk, jazz and french chanson.

For the occasion of the wedding of one of our members in Tblissi, we are preparing a tour in Georgia from May 4th to 10th, 2019. Our group is bringing together musicians and the repertoire from two different brass bands: La Mort Subite (The Sudden Death) from Grenoble and The 3615 Brassband from Paris.

Fanfare La Mort Subite

facebook.com/LaMortSubite.Grenoble

fanfarelamortsubite.wixsite.com



The sudden death, fanfare of Grenoble:
soundcloud.com/The sudden death, fanfare of Grenoble
facebook.com/LaMortSubite.Grenoble

The 3615 brass band, Parisian brass band:
soundcloud.com/3615brassband
facebook.com/3615BrassBand

Upcoming concerts in Georgia, Tbilisi: 3615 Mort Subite - Georgian Tour
4 May Concert at Amodi
5 May Concert at Backstage76
10 May Concert at Tbilisi Gate Gallery

POLYPHONY: The Song Hunters - Suppression and Survival. By Sam Lee via @BBCRadio4

Podcast >> bbc.co.uk
 
Singer and song collector Sam Lee travels to Tbilisi to explore the ancient polyphonic folk songs and sacred chants of Georgia. He discovers a nation where singing is in the blood.

With some of Georgia's finest singers and musicologists as his guides, Sam is introduced to the ritualistic folk songs that are said to the control the weather and even cure the sick. He is invited to a feast, high on a mountainside above Tbilisi, where he meets the Chamgelianis - a singing family from the remote region of Svaneti who are keeping the tradition of age-old pre-Christian folk songs alive.

At the beautiful Kashveti Church in the heart of Tbilisi, Sam meets singer and ethno-musicologist John Graham who introduces him to the liturgical chanting tradition. These orthodox Christian chants feature sacrosanct melodies that are said to have been passed down by God and transmitted orally over the centuries.

Bordered by powerful neighbours including Russia and Turkey, Georgia has been attacked and invaded persistently over the centuries, its traditional songs suppressed. Sam learns that, under Soviet rule, sacred chanting was banned in Georgia and chanters threatened with exile and even death. Practitioners were forced to go underground from the early 1920s.

The tradition might have died out entirely were it not for the efforts of a single monk who buried manuscripts containing the forbidden sacred songs in order to keep them safe. Many years later, following the end of the Soviet stranglehold, the buried manuscripts were rediscovered and became the backbone of a chant revival that has seen Georgian singing spread around the world.

Presenter: Sam Lee
Producer: Max O'Brien
A TBI production for BBC Radio 4

CITY TRIP: Tbilisi's Soviet Concrete Walking Tour with Brutal Tours @BrutalTours in Georgia

A Walking tour through the capital of Georgia, spiced up with more concrete and soviet architecture than you could probably handle!

Tour Runs Daily 35 EUR

Brutal Tours loves urbex, brutalism and soviet architecture. Join the people on a journey to places you won't find in other travel programs

FB facebook.com/brutaltours

FB-Group facebook.com/groups/brutaltours

Instagram instagram.com/brutaltours

Website brutaltours.com

Email: brutaltours@gmail.com

VIDEO: Robert Atwater & Rusudan Khizanishvili. Opening of the exhibition

Robert is a North American fine art photographer, printmaker, and book artist from New York. Rusudan is a painter from Georgia, Tbilisi.

Ussiaugu tee 20, Vaskjala, 75313 Harju maakond, Estland
9X43+V9 Vaskjala, Kreis Harju, Estland www.kultuur.rae.ee +372 5551 2898

BERLIN: Die Filmemacherin Lana Gogoberidse am 1. Mai zu Gast im Arsenal mit ihrer Autobiografie "Ich trank Gift wie kachetischen Wein"

Am 1. Mai ist die georgische Regisseurin Lana Gogoberidse im Arsenal zu Gast. Unter dem Titel "Ich trank Gift wie kachetischen Wein" ist soeben ihre Autobiografie auf Deutsch im Mitteldeutschen Verlag erschienen. Gleichzeitig veröffentlicht das Arsenal gemeinsam mit der Filmgalerie 451 Lana Gogoberidses Film RAMDENIME INTERWIU PIRAD SAKITCHEBSE (Einige Interviews zu persönlichen Fragen, UdSSR/Georgien 1978) auf DVD.

Programm am Mittwoch, 1. Mai, 20h im Kino Arsenal

Buchpräsentation

„Ich trank Gift wie kachetischen Wein“ mit einer Lesung von Katharina Rivilis, zu Gast: Lana Gogoberidse In Lana Gogoberidses Autobiografie korrespondieren Erinnerungen auf ganz besondere, persönliche Art und Weise mit der georgischen Geschichte sowie der Weltgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Gogoberidse wächst in einer Welt voller Brutalität und Unsicherheit auf. Die stalinistischen Säuberungen zerreißen ihre Familie. In der Zeit des Großen Terrors wird ihr Vater 1937 als 'Feind des Volkes' hingerichtet und ihre Mutter zu zehn Jahren Lagerhaft verurteilt. Besonders der Verlust der Mutter bildet eine tiefe Zäsur in Gogoberidses Leben, den sie auch immer wieder in ihrem künstlerischen Schaffen thematisiert. In der Tauwetterzeit nach Stalins Tod studiert sie Film am Gerassimow-Institut für Kinematographie in Moskau. Ihren internationalen Durchbruch feiert Gogoberidse mit RAMDENIME INTERWIU PIRAD SAKITCHEBSE, für den sie mehrere Preise erhielt.

anschließend Vorführung RAMDENIME INTERWIU PIRAD SAKITCHEBSE Einige Interviews zu persönlichen Fragen Lana Gogoberidse UdSSR/Georgien 1978 georg. OmU 94'

Sofiko geht ganz in ihrem Beruf auf. Als Journalistin interviewt sie unterschiedlichste Frauen zu ihren Lebensbedingungen und Wünschen. Dass ihr eigenes Glück und ihre Familie dabei zu kurz kommen, bemerkt sie zu spät. Feinfühlig erzählt Lana Gogoberidse in dokumentarisch anmutendem Stil und mit dynamischer Kameraführung von der Verzahnung des Privaten und des Politischen, die sich auch in den Erinnerungen Sofikos an die Mutter fortsetzt. Mit seinem Fokus auf die alltäglichen Kämpfe einer emanzipierten Frau und der Reflexion über weibliche Lebensentwürfe gilt der Film als einer der ersten feministischen Filme der Sowjetunion.

 

Facebooklink facebook.com/Lana Gogoberidse in Berlin

Website: arsenal-berlin.de

EXHIBITION: Guram Tsibakhashvili’s photographic retrospective of 90s #Georgia to launch new #Tbilisi exhibition space. via @agenda_ge

Artists Lado Burduli and Irakli Charkviani photographed in Tbilisi in 1992, with the city bearing traces of damage from the civil war. Photo: Guram Tsibakhashvili

Guram Tsibakhashvili - "Winter is left behind"
Address: Barnovi Art House, Rustaveli Avenue N18, III floor
Exhibition April 24 - May 31
Opening: April 24, 19:00
working hours:
From Tuesday to Saturday - 12: 00-20:00
Sunday - 12:00-18:00

The fake country was collapsing.
Under Gorbachev, we already knew that it was inevitable.
Just like every other change, it was a painful and necessary change. Except that we were unaware of the pain that still laid ahead, so at first we just rejoiced.
Once, Mamuka Tsetskhladze came to me. He had a way of sugar-coating pills. He offered me to hold an exhibition, to see how many of us were around in fall, and then how many would still be here in March, when winter would be over. And the exhibition was titled conveniently: Wintering Over.

Guram Tsibakhashvili
Twenty-five years after this exhibition, Guram Tsibakhashvili is traveling through time to describe this momentous period in Georgian history, in which the newly established state is struggling to cope with war, starvation, and the cold, on one hand, while contemporary art is springing up to blossom in the country fresh out of the Soviet Union, on the other.

Wintering Over Is Over is a conventionality filling the author with hope that that trails and tribulations are dead and buried, and the art inspired by the then controversies is now part of history. Still, this exposition gives rise to occasional questions like what have we inherited from the 1990s? What has changed in these 25 years? Has anything changed at all, or is it just wintering over that is over?
 
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[agenda.ge] A display of photographs illustrating a vital and tumultuous moment in Georgia’s history will become the opening event of the Barnovi House of Arts, a new exhibition space in downtown Tbilisi on Wednesday.

Photographer Guram Tsibakhashvili, referred to as “one of the most outstanding figures in Georgian contemporary artists” by propaganda.network, will bring a selection of his works reflecting the social and political events following the Georgian independence in the 1990s.


"[The photographs illustrate] a newly born state struggling against war, starvation and cold [...] while contemporary art begins to unexpectedly flourish in the wake of the country’s freeing itself from the Soviet Union,” a preview for the show says."

Tsibakhashvili has titled the exhibition Winter is Left Behind, as a reflection of an idea of leaving behind the troubles of the era but still having to face questions including “what has changed 25 years later?” and “what is the legacy of the 1990s?”




Film critic and journalist Giorgi Gvakharia and screenwriter Tamuna Melikishvili putting up posters

outside the Cinema House in Tbilisi in 1990. Photo: Guram Tsibakhashvili.

While the photographs take up the space of the newly launched exposition venue, the photographer will also unveil an illustrated book bringing together around 250 of his works.

The photos selected for the publication are found on its pages along with essays by author Ana Kordzaia-Samadashvili, recipient of Saba and Iliauni literary prizes in Georgia and winner of the Goethe Institute Prize for her work in literature and translation.

Known for her works including novels Who Killed Chaika? and Berikaoba, Kordzaia-Samadashvili was also selected for the New York Public Library’s list of 365 Books by Women Authors in 2017.

On his part, Tsibakhashvili is known for his documentary photographs — exhibited in dozens of solo and group displays in Georgia and abroad, from the Writers' House of Georgia in Tbilisi to the Newman Popiashvili Gallery in New York.



Tsibakhashvili worked with author Ana Kordzaia-Samadashvili on a book combining photographs with essays,

set to be presented at the exhibition’s opening. Photos: Guram Tsibakhashvili Georgian National Book Centre.

He also was co-founder of a number of pioneering photography institutions in the South Caucasus, including the Tbilisi Photographers’ Housing (2007) and the ‘Visual Bank’ (1985), and has led workshops at events including the Frankfurt Forum of Photography.

The Barnovi House of Arts is described as a space focused on developing contemporary art for “cultural convergence” in the region while “reinforcing historical narratives” and sparking “new creative impulses”.

Organisers of the venue aim to discover and present both local contemporary artists and creatives with contribution in historical legacies.

The display Winter is Left Behind will receive visitors between April 24-May 31 at 18, Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi.

The Barnovi House of Arts is a modern oriented oriented space that will promote cultural approximation in the region, strengthening historical narratives and creating new creative impulses.

The Barnovi Arts Foundation will be oriented on the development of local contemporary art as well as the discovery and coverage of historians with historic value.