Village Harmony

A troop of twenty Americans came to Georgia to learn chants and songs. I went and visited them in Qazbegi, and later went out to Sighnaghi to hear them perform. We took the kids with us, and together with Sighnaghi Joni’s kids, Shergil and I babysat for the afternoon as the Americans prepared for their final concert.

Not only the Americans performed but Zedashe, a local Kakhetian folk quartet, and the brand new Sighnaghi dance troop, lead by our old dance teacher Zaza. What a show! The women were fantastically beautiful in their queenly medieval style gowns and hats, the men were dashing in their mountain costumes, and one little boy repeatedly stole the show by showing such madness and charisma in his dance he received ovations for every solo.

For one dance he came out in a big Qazbegi hat and a sheepskin vest tied with a rope around the waist. Tucked behind this belt were perhaps a dozen long knives, which he pounded into the wooden floor one after the other while spinning wildly around and around. At the end of this madness, he almost fell over from dizziness and we roared our approval as he finally lept off the stage with a shout, leaving his big furry sheepskin hat behind next to the bristling forest of knife hilts.