Georgian Music from Independence to Independence

Abstract

Georgia gained and restored its independence twice in the past century (1918/1921 and from 1991 to this day). Over the century the two-way path from independence to independence was difficult and heterogeneous with intertwined causal connections in socio-political and cultural spheres. Freedom is like a litmus test, which reveals and catalyzes certain processes. The golden age of new Georgian music – the first republic of independent Georgia in 1918-1921 – was preceded by a long period that prepared this rise in musical culture. At a glance, similar processes preceded musical culture of the second independence. First of all, this was the path of reforms in different directions, including the sphere of education, music professionalization. Main reason for the not-so-insignificant success of the reforms was the consolidation of the political and public spectrum, active public participation in the process and a wellthought transformation of the inherited ugly system.

In this context the paper discusses: what challenges did the musical culture of the Democratic Republic face? What was the path like it took before gaining independence? What were the features of the idea of Georgian nationalism?

How did these two stages of Europeanization/globalization take place in the country, whose musical culture was based on a different type of professionalism before the 19th century? Who and what played a crucial role in this process? What does independence mean in music? What role did the “founders” play in these processes?

The crisis that began after 1991, even under freedom and independence, was at the same time a means for opening up great opportunities and horizons. It was from this period that Georgia started to position itself on the international arena, when it appeared here after gaining independence in education, creativity or any other field, because the independence we gained under the First Republic did not allow Georgian culture to enter the world arena in a short time, even though, the leaders of the time were well-aware of the need for this, especially in the field of education. The period of the second independence really provided this opportunity, the theninitiated process of renewal and exchange of experience is very
important, especially in the field of education. For art, it was a historically determined act that revealed both the expansion of the creative horizon and mastering of contemporary processes taking place in 20th century art. All this is reflected in the unique style of the new generation Georgian composers. However, under complete freedom, it clearly lacked the intensity, which probably is the driving force for true art, which had evoked interesting new concepts in Georgian music of the previous period, said what needed to be said, covertly, but still spoke using double coding, the language of proverbs and brought its sorrows to listener.

The paper, which touches upon the musical culture of two periods of Georgia’s independence, is an attempt to answer these questions and generalize the problems, based on the comparative method.