The Georgian women’s ensemble “Mzetamze” will be visiting the UK in November.

The Georgian women’s ensemble “Mzetamze” will be visiting the UK in November. They will be giving workshops in London, Cambridge, Oxford and Bristol and will be giving concerts too.

Within the long tradition of concert performances of Georgian folk music, the Ensamble Mzetamze represents something completely new. Up yo now, only a small group of specialists have been aware of how prolific the traditional repertoire of songs of Georgian women actually is: in addition to lullubies for one to three voices, we find songs which are part of domain relating to the magical effect on the water and infectious diseases, with songs associated with religious customs and round dances, songs which were sung whilst carrying out work traditionally done by women (such as the production and processing of wool or calming the caws during milking) and also comical and dance songs;the dirges wichih are still common in many places even today are particularly impressice.

Mzetamze meas “sun of suns”. A mythological name indicating female origins. Here, the sun aslo symbolizes the inherent self-confidence of Georgian women and a new approac to their traditional music.

In 1986, 6 women musicologist from Tbilisi conservatory-Ketevan Baiashvili, Nino Shvelidze, Ketevan Nikoladze,, Nato zumbadze, Nino Makharadze and Nana Valishvili-joind together to form an ensamble dedicated exclusively to the music traditions of Georgian women.