Polyphonies of Georgia

The Ensemble Marani are an exceptionally good Georgian male-voice choir based in Paris. The 12-strong group includes members of the Georgian community in France as well as French singers. Much of the repertoire is collected from choirs in Georgia as well as old recordings, one piece dating back to 1913. There are songs from all the strongest ‘vocal regions’ of the country: ‘Khasanbegura’ features acrobatic yodeling from Guria; ‘Kviria’ derives from Svaneti, which has such extraordinary harmonies that it sounds almost like overtone singing; and two songs are sung in the seldom-heard Laz language. ‘Me Rustveli’, which also has the Gurian krimanchuli yodeling, is a setting of the first quatrain of ‘The Knight in the Panther Skin’, by Georgia's national poet Shota Rustaveli.

Besides the quality singing and interesting repertoire, another reason for recommending this CD is the instrumental accompaniment on several tracks, including Adjarian bagpipes and panduri and chuniri lutes.