Gruzijas valsts folkloras dziesmu ansamblis Basiani

The State Ensemble of Georgian Folk Song

Basiani

Artistic Director George Donadze

Ensemble Basiani performs Georgian traditional polyphony – folk songs and Christian church hymns, dating back to the XI-XII centuries.

In 2001 UNESCO proclaimed Georgian polyphonic singing a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Shortly before that, among the other selected audio and video materials, featuring the records of the Earth’s natural sounds, a fragment of the most popular Georgian table song Chakrulo was sent to the space by NASA in 1977.

Short Biography

Ensemble of Georgian folk song Basiani was created in 2000 at the Georgian Patriarchy. In 2013 it was conferred the status of State Ensemble of Georgia.

Since the day of its inception Basiani has been actively involved in the popularization of Georgian traditional polyphony – has travelled to different regions of Georgia with expeditions and concerts, restored and revived many forgotten examples of folk songs and church hymns, participated in renowned festivals, held concerts in many world-prestigious concert venues and universities, e.g. Auditorio Nacional de Musica – Madrid; Concertgebouw – Amsterdam; Gulbenkian Great Hall – Lisbon; UNESCO Head Office; D. Shostakovich Grand Hall of St. Petersburg Philharmonic; Stanford Live’s Bing Concert Hall, CA; Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, IL; Lincoln Center’s (NY) Mostly Mozart Festival (Alice Tully Hall, 2010) and White Light Festival (Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, 2012, 2019); etc...

Basiani’s successful performances were repeatedly covered by the American and European press, such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, New York Music Daily, Herald-Tribune, etc., which considered Georgian polyphony the sound from Heaven and the performance of Basiani – otherworldly mesmerizing performance!

Apart from concerts the ensemble also conducts workshops at various universities all over the world, e.g. the Universities of California, Texas, Princeton; St. Petersburg and Beijing Conservatories; Basiani actively cooperates with Georgian and foreign choirs in different countries.

Parallel to traditional direction Basiani periodically implements various avant-garde projects; in which Georgian folklore is sort of merged with contemporary musical directions.

Basiani has revived and recorded over 300 examples of traditional songs and hymns included in different albums.

Basiani is the name of one of the regions in Southwest Georgia (in what now is   modern-day Turkey, northwest of the city of Erzurum). There, in 1203, Georgian royal troops defeated the Conqueror with the victory consolidating Georgia’s position in Asia Minor.