Internet Site Vesti.Ru (News.Ru). Russian Federation. 12.04.2013

Author: Olga Oksenich

Source: http://www.vesti.ru/only_video.html?vid=499217

 

The legendary Georgian men’s choir “Rustavi” gave a concert in Moscow. Artists in national costumes performed a century old songs. The Ensemble hasn’t been in the capital of Russia for ten years. The concert which was held the day before was the only one within the international tour.

 

Davit Gvelesiani with the jubilee of the Ensemble “Rustavi” celebrates his own holiday: he sings as a soloist in the group for 30 years already. Last time Davit arrived in the capital ten years ago. At that time they were forced to prolong the concert in Tchaikovsky Hall: the audience didn’t let the artists leave for the whole hour. And the matter here, as Davit says, isn’t only in the talent. “As we are Orthodox Christians, before each performance we all stay together and pray: “Our Father”, – explains Davit Gvelesiani, a soloist of the Ensemble “Rustavi”.

To follow the traditions on the stage and in the wings isn’t easy, tell us the artists. Sometimes rehearsals last for 12 hours. And in Moscow they work till they are on their last legs, so sometimes they hardly have time to change costumes and put on make-up.

The costumes for a show – are also a tribute of the tradition. They look exactly like the ones that were worn in Georgia in the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries. In sewing they used the sketches of well-known men of local lore. They followed the drawings so scrupulously, that each fold of an ornament is repeated in millimeters. The artists joke: in the costumes there is hidden special magic. It’s enough to put on them, and we become stronger.

The men’s choir “Rustavi” – this is ten people. They say about them: “Polyphony that is rising above as an echo in the mountains”. In the troupe they have their own orchestra, and a dance group. All the dances, as songs, are – on love. “We love our culture as the Georgians and Caucasians, – says Erik Ekhvaia, a soloist of the Ensemble. – And we have a strong desire to show this culture to the whole world!”

The group was named after in honor of one of the oldest Georgian towns. And that’s not a chance. The Ensemble “Rustavi” by itself is as a treasure of cultural inheritance. In the repertoire there are the songs, which are more than one hundred years old. “We collected them in archives, in old manuscripts, we learned them from the old, and today, as you see, we sang them”, – says Anzor Erkomaishvili, the founder and artistic director of the Ensemble.

Anzor Erkomaishvili says that collecting the folklore bit by bit – is a titanic work. And what is gained hard, – must be kept carefully. There aren’t acceptable any modern interpretations: only authentic (original) sonority of the old songs.

During its 45-year history, the Ensemble held four thousand concerts in seventy countries of the world. Within the jubilee tour, they perform in Moscow only once, – as the schedule doesn’t enable more. But the artists guarantee: it won’t be necessary to wait for them for the whole decade again.