News



THE 11th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM

ON TRADITIONAL POLYPHONY

26– 30 September, 2022, Tbilisi, Georgia

International Research Center for Traditional Polyphony of Vano Sarajishvili Tbilisi State Conservatoire and the International Centre for Georgian Folk Song are pleased to announce that the scholars working on the problems of polyphony are invited to participate in the 11th International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony, on 26–30 September, 2022, in Tbilisi, Georgia.

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ქართული საეკლესიო მუს. ისტორია-გარეკანი (3)

Magda Sukhiashvili’s book “History of Georgian Church Music. Lectures” covers the issues of history and theory of Georgian art of chanting. Since neither a textbook nor a course on the history of Georgian church music has yet been published, the book is the first attempt to provide students with educational resources. It reflects almost two decades of pedagogical experience of the author.

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We are pleased to announce that the project “Research in Ethnomusicology: Thirty-Three Themes and Concepts” (author Bruno Nettl, Georgian translation) prepared by the International Research Center for Traditional Polyphony of Tbilisi State Conservatoire  received highest estimate and became the owner of the state scientific publishing grant of  Shota Rustaveli National Scientific Foundation of Georgia.

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The publication continues the “Teach Yourself Georgian Folk Songs” publication series by the
Georgian Chant Foundation and this time it features the study of Acharan folk songs. This is a score
collection for study purposes accompanied with audio CDs. The publication is intended for professional
as well as amateur musicians. These songs are performed by the Moqvare and Elesa ensembles from
the Keda municipality.

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From October 20 to October 24, 2020 the Tbilisi State Conservatory, the International Center of Georgian Folk Song, and the Georgian State Folklore Center will be holding the 10th Anniversary 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 Education, Science, Culture, and Sports.

The Tbilisi Symposia present contemporry trends in world scholarship on polyphony and promote the integration of Georgian ethnomusicology with Western ethnomusicology. These symposia have played a major role in arousing the interest of foreign scholars, who unanimously recognize its special place in the musical culture of the peoples of the world, in the study of Georgian polyphony.
41 scholars from 19 countries will take part in the tenth anniversary symposium. This year’s symposium will be held under special circumstances – given the conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic – and in accordance with the agreement with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Georgia. This year the symposium will be held in full compliance with the regulations imposed by the government, in a mixed format. Foreign scholars (except for 6 participants from the USA, Switzerland, Austria, and the UK) will participate remotely.

You can view the booklet and the program of the 10th Anniversary International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony and get comprehensive information about the scholarship, directors, and musicians participating in this year’s symposium.



The 7th International Festival of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was held from October 17th-22nd, 2019 in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China. The festival was cosponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of PRC, Sichuan Provincial People’s Government, UNESCO and the China National Commission for UNESCO. Main activities of the 7th IFICH included the opening ceremony and performance, the International Forum on ICH, the main venue activities at the ICH Expo Park, the parallel session of Sichuan’s “region-based ICH”.  The festival had more than 1000 participants from the 100 countries.

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“Network of UNESCO recognized values” – Fourth meeting of partners in Tbilisi, 7-11th of October, 2019.

The aim of the project is to build a network of the organizations representing Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) which is important for sharing experiences, best practices and tools for the safeguarding of traditional culture. The network will also increase the administrative capacity of the partner organizations.

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Specialist of International Research Center of Traditional Polyphony, Teona Lomsadze’s article “When tradition meets modernity – Georgian folk-fusion music” was published in journal of  ethnological studies “Folk Life”, by prestigious British publishing company Taylor & Francis online. This fact is noteworthy due to the fact that it is the first article in Georgian ethnomusicology which is published in peer reviewed international journal and is dedicated to the issue of transformation and contemporary interpretations of Georgian traditional music.

Full article is available through the following link:

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/MXFYB5WGIJKNVGAWAGI4/full?target=10.1080/04308778.2019.1656791