To the Moon & Back #3: The Sounds of Abkhazia

It was September 2013. I was travelling around Georgia when my old friend Bulat Khalilov from Ored Recordings mentioned that we could meet in the land of Abkhazia. For me, it took only a special visa to cross a border that Georgians still can’t do to this day. This is due to a conflict that began with the Abkhazian war (1992-1993), when Abkhazia declared itself an independent state, a status that Russia would soon officially recognise. The drama for many Georgians can be explained in simple terms: Abkhazia, the ‘Riviera of the Black Sea’ during Soviet times, was the most beautiful part of their country.

Since then, Abkhazia has been living a strange life. It’s an independent republic not recognised by most Western nations, but on its soil, it’s a true nation which prevents itself from being swallowed by its large Russian neighbour. For some, it’s an occupied region with a unique cultural heritage, which makes it much closer to its North Caucasian cousins than anybody else. 

The year before, we had travelled with Bulat all the way through North Caucasus, from the ancient Circassia to Chechnya, from North Ossetia to Dagestan and further. A few months later, he launched, with Timur Kodzoko, their celebrated label Ored Recordings, which has been documenting traditional music coming from those mountains. But never did they set foot in Abkhazia before our adventure. 

Our time in Abkhazia was magnificent. The joy of the locals was contagious, their drinking abilities as developed as anywhere else in the region, and their music truly fantastic. It was a perfect blend of intense choir music with the peculiarities of their traditional instrumentation. Over a few days, we made ten films but never released them properly – it seemed that releasing anything related to this part of the world would quickly awaken tensions.

Well, it’s always time to defend minorities, even those that might change with time. And in an era filled with fights for local identities, we thought it would be good to shine a light on a rare and forgotten part of the world, a sublime tropical land on the Black Sea which deserves more than to make the news only during times of tragedy.

The Sounds of Abkhazia is released alongside an accompanying album of music on Ored’s Bandcamp page, and with the support of the cultural centre SKLAD in Sukhum.