Project Proposal
Title:
Saving a Treasure:
the Digital Transcription
of
Georgian Church Chant
Time Frame:
Two Years
Budget:
34,000 EUR
Agsavali Organization
Tbilisi, Georgia
2007
CONTENTS
I.
Applicant Details
II.
Introduction
III.
Project Proposal
IV.
Working Plan
V.
Timetable of Activities (attached Excel-table)
VI.
Budget Breakdown
2
I.
Applicant Organization
“AGSAVALI” is a member group of the organization “Kartuli Khma” [The Voice of
Georgia]
a.
AGSAVALI
Date of Establishment: 19.05.2004.
Legal Address: 10/23 Tamarashvili Street, Tbilisi, Georgia
Registered as a legal Non-Governmental Organization by the Vake-Saburtalo
District Court, Tbilisi Georgia, on May 19th, 2004. Registration No. 5/9-877.
Tel/Fax: +995 (32) 98 76 51
+995 (32) 39 77 47
Mobile: +995 (93) 26 95 03
+995 (55) 54 15 80.
+995 (99) 55 67 28
E-mail: agsavali@yahoo.com
Website affiliation: http://www.anchiskhati.org
b.
Agsavali Mission Statement

Revival and dissemination of medieval Georgian professional music

Editing and publication of archival Georgian church chant manuscripts

Support for a publication of continuing theoretical and historical research related to the
general knowledge and understanding of Georgian church chant

Commitment to performance aimed at the authentic revival of church chant practice

Creation of a community library, which will house video and music sources of
Georgian church chant, and be a center for increasing understanding and awareness
of Georgia’s Christian heritage.

To work in association with, and building upon, the work carried out by other members
of the Georgian church chant scholarship community, notably members of the
Anchiskhati Church Choir.

Increased collaboration with youth groups in and around Tbilisi, Georgia to energize
the younger generation towards a recognition of their national heritage
c.
Resume: Agsavali Projects
1.
“Digitalization of Chant Manuscripts,” 2005-present
Annotation: Under the guidance of the chairman of “Kartuli Khma”
[Georgian Voice], church chant expert Malkhaz Erkvanidze, Agsavali
members worked with sensitive church chant manuscripts in a
digitalization project. Computer transcriptions of forty-five chants were
entered into the music writing software, Finale, for the preservation,
research, and publication efforts of Georgian chant, as supported by the
mission of the “Kartuli Khma” organization.
2.
“Masterclass training,” 2003-present
Annotation: Agsavali organized and sponsored an ongoing training in
authentic church chant singing with the teachers Vasil Tsetskhladze and
Malkhaz Erkvanidze. Many chanters have benefited from this opportunity,
and a particular focus of the project has been studying the 300 hymns
associated with the Lent and Easter season.
3.
“My Roots Grow in the Native Land,” June 1st-8th, 2003
Annotation: For this project, Agsavali organized a folk concert and trade
exhibition devoted to the International Day of Children in Tbilisi
4.
“Children Are Our Future”
Annotation: Working with the Children’s Home “Begura” [Sparrow],
Agsavali sponsored a folk music concert and educational events.
5.
“My Roots Grow in the Native Land,” June 5th, 2006
Annotation: Agsavali coordinated again with the “Begura” Children’s Home
to collaborate in an event for Internation Conservation Day in Tbilisi. At a
festival sponsored hosted by the Ethnographic Museum and sponsored by
the Georgian Foundation for Child and Youth Development “Mrevli,”
Agsavali again organized a concert and joint art workshop and meal with
the children.
6.
“Saplings,” October-December, 2005
Annotation: Agsavali organizes artistic-cultural events on the themes of
“Ecology” and “the Future is in Our Hands” in collaboration with the
“Begura” Children’s Home. Children participated in drawing pictures,
creating an exhibition, and in a final event, planting trees together with
local neighborhood leaders.
7.
“Educated Youth,” June 11th, 2006
Annotation: In collaboration with the organization “Natlieri,” Agsavali
helped to organize a contest whereby talented students were selected by
a panel and given a project to discuss the topic: “Infectious Diseases and
Immune Preventive Measures.”
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d.
Publications
List of recordings and books issued by the Association “Kartuli Khma,”
consistent with the mission statement of the group. Audio albums directed by
Malkhaz Erkvanidze, chairman of Kartuli Khma, and performed by the
Anchiskhati Church Choir:
1.
Audio Album “Medieval Georgian Church Hymns”.
2000, Tbilisi. 30 hymns.
2.
Album “Georgian Folk Songs”.
2000, Tbilisi. 22 folk songs.
3.
Article “The Character of Georgian Polyphony”.
2000, Tbilisi. State Conservatory
4.
Article “The Character of Georgian Polyphony and Unity of Forms”.
2001, Tbilisi. State Conservatory
5.
Audio Album “Anchiskhati Church Choir and the Folk Group “Dzveli
Kiloebi” LIVE (Concert recording).
2001, Tbilisi. 23 songs.
6.
“Georgian Medieval Chanting of Gelati School” was published – Volume I.
255 church hymns (chorales). The book was supplemented with the
research and audio recording performed by Anchiskhati Church Choir.
2001
7.
“Georgian Medieval Chanting of Gelati School was published” – Volume
II. 129 chorales. The book was supplemented with the research and
audio recording performed by Anchiskhati Church Choir.
2002
8.
Article “Sound Order of Georgian Polyphony” (the Problems and Opinions
on this topic).
2003, Tbilisi. State Conservatory.
9.
Audio Album “Medieval Georgian Chanting”.
2002, 20 hymns.
10.
“Georgian Traditional Music” (Gurian regional variants): 29 examples,
supplemented with research articles and an audio recording.
2004
11.
Audio Album “Anchiskhati Church Choir and the Folk Group “Dzveli
Kiloebi” LIVE (Concert recording).
2003, Tbilisi. 21 songs.
12.
Collection of Georgian Chanting.
2003, Tbilisi. 220 hymns.
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13.
Musical Notation Collection of Gurian Songs “Learn Georgian Folk Songs”,
supplemented with four CDs.
14.
“Georgian Chanting” – volume III (Kartli-Kakheti tune) 239 hymns,
supplemented with the research and audio recording performed by
Anchiskhati Church Choir.
15.
“Georgian Chanting,” Volume IV, “The Lenten Triodion and Pentecostarion
Chants,” 140 hymns. 2006.
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II.
Introduction
Consideration of Georgian church chant history
Georgia is a country of ancient musical traditions. An understanding of world music
will not be complete without a thorough investigation of the depth of Georgian sacred
and secular music. Interest in Georgian music has grown enormously around the
world and the importance of Georgian music is coming to be widely accepted by
leading world musicologists.
Georgian polyphonic singing has preserved examples of archaic layering from
ancient times, and has much to offer in the study of ancient music systems.
In music manuscripts dating from the 9th-10th centuries, neumatic notation adorns
the liturgical text. For example, in the “Satselitsado Iadgari” (Collection of Festival
Chorales) compiled by Michael Modrekili between the years 978-988, one may
clearly observe such neumatic notation marked in red above the text.
Georgian chant developed continuously between the 6 th and 19th centuries, with a
particular flourishing between the 9th and 12th centuries. Special academies in each
region of Georgia taught a variety of subjects including church chant.
Church chant was learned verbally from generation to generation, with the
assistance of manuscripts for master chanters who could read neumatic notation.
After the termination of the royal government in Georgia and the autocephaly of the
Georgian Orthodox Church by the Russian empire in 1802, chant in the Georgian
language was prohibited in churches and monasteries. As a result, the number of
master chanters able to recall the vast repertoire of the yearly cycle gradually
decreased, and by the second half of the 19th century, the tradition faced virtual
extinction.
This cultural disaster was noticed by 19th century Georgian intellectuals, who began
to work intensively to save the vanishing chant tradition. Special commissions were
established in eastern and western Georgia to begin the process of transcribing the
oral tradition into western musical notation. One famous opera singer and
musicologist, Pilimon Kordidze, returned from Italy to lead this movement and spent
the second half of his life collecting and notating music from the last of the master
chanters. Also working in this effort were the Karbelashvili brothers from eastern
Georgia, Ekvtime Kereselidze, Razhden Khundadze, and many others.
The transcriptions saved at the turn of the last century survived through the
Communist period in state archives, mostly in the C. Kekelidze Institute of
Manuscripts and the State Folklore Center of the Ministry of Culture of Georgia,
where they remain to this day.
While Georgian folk music has enjoyed popularity and recognition throughout the
world, Georgian medieval chant is relatively unknown not only to foreign scholars but
to Georgians as well, because church music had been banned from public use by
the Communist State.
Following the restoration of Georgia’s independence in 1991, important steps have
been made to open this aspect of our national history and musical. The end of State
7
atheism has allowed church traditions to revive, including the all-important church
chant, which is at the heart of the Georgian church service.
At the heart of this work, the Choir of the Anchiskhati Church in Tbilisi began singing
medieval chant in 1989, guided by the scholarship and choral experience of Malkhaz
Erkvanidze. Through preliminary study of the archival manuscripts and few surviving
pre-Soviet audio samples of sacred music, the choir has begun the process of
reviving Georgian chant.
The Choir of the Anchiskhati Church strives to protect and popularize Georgian
chant by studying and performing authentic chorales. The medieval chant
manuscripts, as well as the 19th-20th century music transcriptions, are in a very
vulnerable state mostly because they exist only in single copy. In the event of their
destruction, Georgia and the world would face the loss of numerous musical
masterpieces, so it is our hope to preserve and protect this important archive with all
expediency.
According to our estimates, the archive collections of Georgian chant transcriptions
(collected between 1880-1920) contain 8000 hymns from different medieval chant
schools throughout Georgia. This material has not been adequately studied and
must be preserved. It is our wish that these precious materials be made accessible
so that their practical use and study may begin again.
This proposal will detail our plan to digitalize a significant portion of the extant 20 th
century manuscripts in preparation for their further study, publication, dissemination,
and performance.
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III.
Project Proposal
1. Project Proposal
The main objective of the proposed project is to protect and revive the
musical heritage of Georgian. This is a large goal. This proposal will deal
specifically with a large number of manuscripts containing Georgian chants.
The applicants intend to digitize these manuscripts into digital notation,
providing it in a viable format for practical study by professionals. The
practical revival of this music will follow these necessary first steps through
subsequent print media projects.
2. Organization:
This aspect of the project will deal with the creation of a proper organization
for the approximately 2000 unorganized chant manuscripts housed in The
State Folklore Center of Georgia. Agsavali has devised a numbering system
to deal with this large quantity of manuscripts.
3. Public Website
It is the goal of this project proposal to make this music accessible to a wider
scholastic community and to benefit the larger community through the
popularization of Georgian traditional music. Following on the successful lead
of the State Folklore Center in creating a database website for Georgian folk
music, Kartuli Khma will create a website where the digitalized versions of
the proposed 2000 chants will become available. We foresee this as an
ambitious project, yet we are ready for the challenge, and have the staff and
expertise to actualize this goal.
The chants will be organized by theme group, and will be catalogued by
name. Audio recordings made by the Anchiskhati Church Choir and the
Sakhioba Choir associated with Agsavali will be uploaded to the website to
aid practitioners and scholars.
4. Publications
The digitalization of chant manuscripts and the creation of a website to
represent this work will facilitate the publication of some of these materials. In
collaboration with existing publishing entities, Kartuli Khma will periodically
issue brochures and other informative bulletins to the music community. At
the conclusion of the project, a catelogue of all digitalized hymns will be
published on the website and in print.
Likewise, a book of selected chants will be published with full introduction
and compact disc recordings. A concert performance of pieces from the
publication will mark the book release.
9
5. Expectations and Monitoring
It is expected that after the first weeks of set-up, the applicant group, Kartuli
Khma, will be able to fully organize and digitize an average of fifty
manuscripts per month. The ongoing project will last two years.
Simultaneous to the digitalization project, other members will organize the
chants, build the website, issue the progress bulletins, prepare the
manuscript and audio publications, and rehearse the performance
ensembles for the recordings and the final concert. In this way, the project is
multi-faceted in order to best serve the musical community in Georgia and
abroad, both in the immediate timeframe of the project’s implementation, and
also for generations of future scholars and musicians.
At the end of each month, the chairman of the project will submit a report of
the work accomplished during the previous month. At the end of each three month quarter, the organization committee will convene to access goals and
progress, and to define new parameters for the future quarter.
6. Project Participants
There are a number of projects associated with this project, which will require
different specialists, with varying commitments throughout the project. Kartuli
Khma has assembled a team of 11 persons to implement the project,
including 1 programmer, 1 editor, 3 operators, 1 photographer, 1 Hymn
specialist, 1 Translator, 1 designer, 1 proof-reader, 1 financial manager.
Project Director/Researcher _ Malkhaz Erkvanidze, Anchiskhati Church Choir
Notation Editor_Levan Veshapidze
Computer Programmer/Website Design _ Zaal Tsereteli
Transcription Specialist _Elgudja Narimanashvili, Agsavali Member
Transcription Specialist _ Davit Shukakidze, Agsavali Member
Photographer _ Iveri Meskhi, Agsavali Member
Chant Specialist – Ekvtime Kochlamazashvili
Interpreter/Translater - Ketevan Eliozashvili
Consultant –Magda Sukhiashvili, Professor of Musicology, Tbilisi Conservatory
Book/Bulletin Designer- Gocha Balavadze
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IV. Project Schedule
1.
Preparation Stage, 1st – 2nd weeks
Forming the Organizational Committee for the Project
Concluding Agreements with persons and partners participating in the Project.
Presentation of the Project;
Holding a Press Conference;
Renting an Office Space;
Furnishing the Office with technical equipment
2.
Restoration Study Activity, 3rd week
Active organization and digitalization of the manuscripts.
3.
Promotion of the Project and Website
Weeks 21 – 25; Development of the Website
Weeks 25 – 48; Online publishing of digitalized manuscripts and audio recordings as
well as ongoing bulletins and progress reports.
4. Editorial activity
Weeks 40 – 48; Selection, editing, and publishing of the chant book and audio
recording
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Budget Breakdown (Euros)
Item
Quantity
Price per
Item
times
total
Director of the Project
1
300
12
3600
Editor
1
250
12
3000
Researcher 350
Financial manager
Operator
Operator/Designer
Hymn specialist
Interpreter
Proof-reader
Designer
Income Tax 12%
utilities costs
Internet
Office Equipment
PC P-IV
Printer/Xerox/Scanner
UPS
program Finale
Furniture
table
chair
chair-armchair
office shelves
stationary and office
supplies
paper
cartridge
flesh-card
miscellaneous
Publishing
books/prezentation
Presentation of the
Project
Website Development
Publishing Books
Close of the project
Banking service
commission fee 1%
In total
1
1
2
1
1`
1
1
1
0
180
200
200
180
150
150
200
9
12
12
12
10
12
4
1
2250
2160
4800
2400
1800
1800
600
200
2713.2
1
23
12
276
3
1
3
1
650
307
46
350
1
1
1
1
1950
307
138
350
3
5
3
2
166
34
85
45
1
1
1
1
498
170
255
90
2
5
20
30
5
12
12
1
12
120
240
60
60
1
500
1
500
1
600
2000
1000
1
1
1
600
2000
1000
340
Wages/Fees
2
25
34 277
All amounts in EUROs.
This project is co-supported by “The State Folklore Center of Georgia” as well as the “Ministry
for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and Sports.”
12