Music

Website Map of Eastern Georgian Music

http://www.tsutisopeli.com

ABOUT THE PROJECT Ts’utisopeli, which translates literally to ''minute village,'' is a Georgian proverb that refers to our transient lives on earth. It is a piece of folk wisdom frequently heard in conversation, in ritualistic toasts and in song texts throughout the country. In the spirit of this sentiment, the aim of the Ts’utisopeli Project is the documentation, preservation and dissemination of village songs from the eastern regions of the Republic of Georgia. Similar to many places in the modern world, daily life and culture in Georgia is rapidly changing. Youth are drawn away from their villages to find work in the capital, and a notable number of households have one parent missing who has left to find work abroad. It is common, particularly in the more isolated regions represented in this project, to meet single elderly people who find moving away from their land to the city unimaginable. They are often living alone, joined by their children and grandchildren only during brief summer holidays. Anyone with the opportunity to wander through these mountains and valleys will meet many of these beautiful, fiercely charismatic and unstoppably generous characters, and will likely be greeted with streams of stories, lessons, songs and friendship. All of the songs on this site were recorded between the years of 2010-2014 by Aurelia Shrenker and Richard Berkeley. The site and its recordings serve no commercial purpose whatsoever. We the recorders were overwhelmed by the generosity of spirit of these people, whose songs were one of the many things they shared: They took us to visit their family members’ graves; they told us stories of lost children and war; they walked with us to their places of prayer, including us in their rituals; they mended our torn shirts and taught us to make bread in their clay ovens; they fed us day after day, everything that they had, never asking anything in return. They gave us the gift of their world – a gift that was never intended just for us, but rather to be shared with you. Ts’utisopeli, which translates literally to ''minute village,'' is a Georgian proverb that refers to our transient lives on earth. It is a piece of folk wisdom frequently heard in conversation, in ritualistic toasts and in song texts throughout the country. In the spirit of this sentiment, the aim of the Ts’utisopeli Project is the documentation, preservation and dissemination of village songs from the eastern regions of the Republic of Georgia. Similar to many places in the modern world, daily life and culture in Georgia is rapidly changing. Youth are drawn away from their villages to find work in the capital, and a notable number of households have one parent missing who has left to find work abroad. It is common, particularly in the more isolated regions represented in this project, to meet single elderly people who find moving away from their land to the city unimaginable. They are often living alone, joined by their children and grandchildren only during brief summer holidays. Anyone with the opportunity to wander through these mountains and valleys will meet many of these beautiful, fiercely charismatic and unstoppably generous characters, and will likely be greeted with streams of stories, lessons, songs and friendship. All of the songs on this site were recorded between the years of 2010-2014 by Aurelia Shrenker and Richard Berkeley. The site and its recordings serve no commercial purpose whatsoever. We the recorders were overwhelmed by the generosity of spirit of these people, whose songs were one of the many things they shared: They took us to visit their family members’ graves; they told us stories of lost children and war; they walked with us to their places of prayer, including us in their rituals; they mended our torn shirts and taught us to make bread in their clay ovens; they fed us day after day, everything that they had, never asking anything in return. They gave us the gift of their world – a gift that was never intended just for us, but rather to be shared with you.