News



THE 12th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM

ON TRADITIONAL POLYPHONY

25– 28 September, 2024, Tbilisi, Georgia

International Research Centre for Traditional Polyphony of Tbilisi State Conservatoire and Anzor Erkomaishvili Folklore State Centre are inviting scholars working on the problems of polyphony to the 12th  International Symposium on Traditional Polyphonic, to be held on September 25- 28, 2024.

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The project “The Network of European Bagpipers”  is implemented by the Erasmus+ program and unites the representatives of 6 countries. (Bagpiper performers, masters and researchers) The project is two years long and aim of the project is to safeguard and to promote specific part of ICH (bagpipes playing and making tradition).

As part of the project, Bagpiper performers visited Georgia and Italy. They get acquainted with the technology of making Bagpipes and the traditions of its performance. The project is continuing, which involves visiting the representatives of all six countries, promoting the tradition of making and playing the Bagpipes.

Project partners are:

  • Suiti Cultural Heritage Foundation (Latvia) – Coordinating partner;
  • Centre of Croatian traditional instruments (Croatia);
  • Associazione culturale Multietnica (Italy);
  • Asociación Gaiteros de Graus (Spain);
  • Cech slovenskych gajdosov (Slovakia);
  • Sarajishvili Tbilisi State Conservatoire (Georgia)

See the booklet



Introduction to Computational Ethnomusicology

A 3-days, hands-on workshop in Tbilisi

Sep. 20-22, 2023

Lecturer team: Frank Scherbaum, Nana Mzhavanadze,
David Shugliashvili, Levan Shugliashvili

 

Computational ethnomusicology (CE) is the application of computer science and computational methods to the study of music in diverse cultural contexts. It aims to analyze, represent, and understand musical traditions and practices through the use of computational tools and algorithms, such as machine learning and data analysis. The goal of computational ethnomusicology is to enhance the understanding of music across cultures and to provide new insights into the structure, meaning, and social aspects of music.

 

The aim of this three-day workshop is to provide basic practical experience in the use of computer tools for the study of Traditional Georgian Vocal Music. The central theme of the workshop will be the “Analysis of the tonal organization (tuning system) from audio recordings”.

 

The first day will consist of a crash course on the state-of-science regarding the acoustic and perceptual properties of sound, with special emphasis on “pitch” and “pitch determination”. For  the second day, it is planned that participants will make their own recordings of a Georgian three-part song, which will then be analyzed from different perspectives. On the third day, the results of the analysis of the recording experiment will be discussed, and finally, selected past and current projects on the study of traditional Georgian music using computer tools will be presented.

 

The workshop is intended for participants with basic computer skills who can bring their own computer (as well as headphones) and the willingness to engage with a highly interdisciplinary topic that touches upon music, acoustics, ethnomusicology and computer science. The workshop is limited to a maximum of 10 participants. To apply to participate, please send

  1. a) an email with your resume (CV) and
  2. b) a letter explaining your motivation and experience to fs@geo.uni-potsdam.de and polyphony@tsc.edu.ge not later than May 31, 2023.

 

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On April 1-6, the Tbilisi State Conservatory will host a delegation of bagpipers from 5 countries within the framework of the “The Network of European Bagpipers” project.

The two-year project is implemented by the Erasmus+ program and unites the representatives of 6 countries. Tha aim of the project is to safeguard and to promote specific part of ICH (bagpipes playing and making tradition).

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Erkomaishvili - Copy


The two volume collection “Anzor Erkomaishvili and Contemporary Trends in the Study of Traditional and Sacred Georgian Musicprovides a comprehensive review of the current state of, and new developments in, Georgian ethnomusicology, from raising the tourist industry for lovers of Georgian traditional music to the peculiarities of teaching Georgian traditional music to countless choirs around the world. It presents a tribute to Anzor Erkomaishvili, a pivotal figure in Georgian traditional music, the author of many widely known masterpieces of Georgian traditional and church-song repertoires. The steadily increasing popularity of Georgian traditional music, both among professional ethnomusicologists and lovers of choral singing, provides an urgent need for this volume.

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On September 26-30, 2022 Tbilisi State Conservatoire and the Folklore State Center of Georgia hosted the 11th   International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony at Tbilisi State Conservatoire.  The symposium was held under the patronage of the President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili and with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth of Georgia.

It has already been 20 years since the first symposium was held at Tbilisi State Conservatoire; and the international conferences that started in the 1980s have continued to exist under the name of International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony since 2002. Over the past years, more than 450 scholars from 38 countries, and about 250 folk ensembles have participated in the symposium.

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From September 26 to September 30, 2022 the Tbilisi State Conservatory and the Georgian State Folklore Center will be holding the 11th Symposium on Traditional Polyphony. The symposium will take place at the Tbilisi State Conservatory, under the patronage of the President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth.

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This bilingual collection was created by the UNESCO Participation Program within the framework of a project implemented by the International Research Center for Traditional Polyphony at the Tbilisi State Conservatoire.
The idea belongs to Teona Lomsadze, who studies the topic of traditional music revival in modern Georgian society. According to her, the intention of this project is to consider singing practices recognized by UNESCO across Europe, and use them as examples to show what role they played in the modern processes of women’s liberation. Practices wherein the repertoire of women occupies an important place – Bulgarian, Estonian, Lithuanian, Portuguese and Georgian – were selected. The collection includes articles by 13 women authors.

The collection was published within the framework of the UNESCO “Participation Programme”
(2020-2021). The project is co-financed by V. Sarajishvili Tbilisi State Conservatoire.

Project Manager and Compiler: Teona Lomsadze
Project Coordinator: Nino Razmadze
Editor: Rusudan Tsurtsumia
Working on proofreading English texts: Lauren Ninoshvili, Brian Fairley

Translated by Marina Decristoforo, Marika Nadareishvili, Baia Zhuzhunadze, Nana
Mzhavanadze
Designer: Sandro Chkhaidze
Sound Engineer: George Jolbordi

The publication was non-profit and it is available in electronic form.

Appendix and Audio material is available here.