NOT A REVIVAL, A TRADITION OF REVIVALS: REREADING GEORGIAN TRADITIONAL POLYPHONY TROUGH THE ENSEMBLE TRADITIONS1

Abstract

With a population of 4.5 million, Georgia is a small country located on the eastern side of the Black Sea between the Caucasian mountains. While it has an ancient history with the lands off the Black Sea inhabited since Palaeolithic times, its history over the past 1600 years is essentially that of a small Christian Orthodox state trying to survive amidst more powerful nations. Georgia’s thick