Why does the same ancient chant melody sound completely different depending on which corner of Georgia you're standing in?
Musicologist John A. Graham returns for Part 2 of our exploration of **Georgian Orthodox chant**, this time going deep into the three great transcribed monastery schools: **Gelati, Shemokmedi, and Svetitskhoveli**. At the heart of Graham's research is a fascinating argument: the schools inherited essentially the same model melodies, but each region learned to harmonize and ornament them through the sound-world of its own **Georgian folk polyphony**. The chanters who sang in church were often the same master singers who performed at the feast table afterward, and the two traditions shaped one another over generations.
We explore the east–west divide created by the Likhi Range, the nearly lost chant tradition of Svaneti, whether Georgian congregations historically sang, the ninth chords of Gurian polyphony, voice crossing, the three levels of ornamentation, the ornamented middle voice of Vasil Karbelashvili, the musical "signatures" that let scholars identify individual chanters in manuscripts, and the controversy over whether Trio Mandili represents authentic Georgian folklore.
⏱ **CHAPTERS**
00:00 — Cold open: voice crossing, village singers, and Petritsi
03:46 — Welcome back
05:59 — Why the same chant sounds different across Georgia
08:29 — The published Georgian chant volumes
09:16 — Svaneti: a chant tradition almost lost forever
10:06 — Svetitskhoveli, Davit Gareja, and Bodbe
12:23 — The Likhi Range and Georgia's east–west divide
14:22 — Svaneti: slower, simpler, chordal chant
17:37 — Open fifths and the Svan sound
20:41 — Gelati: the "nest" of Georgian chant
26:01 — Melody, harmony, ornamentation: what actually differs?
28:53 — How master chanters ornamented a melody
31:03 — Did ordinary people sing in church?
34:05 — The Lord's Prayer and unornamented recitative
37:06 — Why great singers were village VIPs
46:13 — Ioane Petritsi, the Trinity, and three voices becoming one
47:06 — The east–west argument summarized
49:10 — Why Gelati harmony sounds different
50:40 — Shemokmedi and the ninth
54:09 — Gurian polyphony and the ninth chord
58:57 — Why Georgian singers deliberately seek dissonance
1:02:01 — Georgian tuning: 170 cents, not 200
1:04:58 — Georgian harmony works from the melody downward
1:08:28 — Octaves in eastern and western Georgian music
1:15:22 — Cadences across the three monastery schools
1:21:12 — How Vasil Karbelashvili built and ornamented a chant
1:24:06 — The individual style of master chanters
1:26:52 — Musical signatures: identifying a chanter by his hand
1:33:07 — Arakishvili and the ornaments notation left out
1:34:35 — How much should modern ensembles improvise?
1:38:34 — The Sakhioba Ensemble and the CD era
1:39:40 — Is Trio Mandili really Georgian folklore?
1:41:38 — The St. George troparion: my favorite chant
1:48:10 — Can the lost art of improvisation be revived?
🎼 **GUEST — JOHN A. GRAHAM**
Website: https://www.johnagraham.com
Georgian tours & chant resources: https://www.johngrahamtours.com
Georgian Chant: https://www.georgianchant.org
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV0vT4n6QKcbk6lAS1CSO9Q
📖 **DISSERTATION**
*The Transcription and Transmission of Georgian Liturgical Chant*
John A. Graham, Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 2015
🎵 **MUSIC & FOOTAGE**
Chant recordings and video used by permission of John A. Graham. Filmed at Bana Monastery, Kintsvisi Monastery, and Ubisa.
Troparion to St. George performed by the Sakhioba Ensemble. Additional chant performed by the Anchiskhati Church Choir, directed by Malkhaz Erkvanidze.
Historical recordings include the Apolon Tsamtsishvili Choir (Tbilisi, 1903), Gigo Erkomaishvili Choir (Kutaisi, 1907), Samuel Chavleishvili Trio (Kutaisi, 1909), and Erkomaishvili brothers (1965).
Notation and photographs from Graham's dissertation, reproduced by permission.
#GeorgianChant #OrthodoxChant #SacredMusic
