GRIMAUD AND GEORGIAN SONG

In 2018 with the financial support of the Georgian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, and “Georgian Chanting Foundation” International Research Centre for Traditional Polyphony of Tbilisi State Conservatoire published the book “Grimaud and Georgian Song” (in Georgia and English); the book was published by WPN Polish Publishers specially for Frankfurt Book Fair.

French ethnomusicologist Yvette Grimaud (1922-2012) was the first foreign scholars to break through the barrier of Soviet isolation and travel all over Georgia with her Georgian colleagues, recording nearly 400 Georgian folk songs in 1967.

This book presents Grimaud’s essays on Georgian singing, the reactions of local people to her fieldwork in Georgia, the lyrics of the songs published on the four CDs included with the book, and data and comments about the performers. The audio recordings acquaint us with the best performers of that era and demonstrate a great variety of dialects and genres, with the rich content and the complex forms of expression unique to Georgian musical folklore.