Georgia: Sacred & Secular Vocal Polyphony

Georgian polyphony is one of the most glorious sounds in the world – a dozen or so singers (usually male) in rugged and idiosyncratic three-or four-part harmony. The most famous of the Georgian choirs is the Rustavi, founded by Anzor Erkomaishvili in 1968. But the Ensemble Basiani, attached to the Georgian Patriarchate and part of the Holy Trinity Cathedral choir in Tbilisi, is also top quality.

The first half of this disc consists of folk songs – vigorous and muscular – while the second half consists of liturgical chants from the Georgian Orthodox church – slower, but hauntingly beautiful with angular harmonies. It’s the most interesting music on the album. What is good about the collection is the overview it gives of the different regional styles. Georgian polyphony varies enormously from region to region and it doesn’t take long to recognise the local traits. There’s the rich, drone-based style of Tbilisi, Kartli, and the wine-growing region of Kakheti in the east; the spare and angular style from Svaneti in the Caucasus mountains and the vigorous, athletic sound of Guria in the west – with lots of krimanchuli yodeling. The latter inevitably becomes a bit like a vocal showcase. For me, the slowly moving harmonic blocks clashing into each other, typical of the eastern style is Georgian music at its most magnificent. ‘Chakrulo’, probably the most famous of these songs, was sent into space with the Voyager spacecraft in 1977, although the version recorded here is rather underwhelming.