Georgian Polyphonic Folk Singing: A Workshop with Carl Linich

Traditional Georgian a cappella singing flourishes to this day, in concert halls and living rooms and around feast tables. Come learn thrilling polyphonic folk songs from the Republic of Georgia with Carl Linich. Songs will be taught in the oral tradition, using word sheets. All you need are open ears & hearts, and the willingness to give it a try. The atmosphere is very relaxed, and singers of all genders, ages, backgrounds, and levels of musicianship are welcome.

CARL LINICH has been studying, singing, and teaching traditional polyphonic folk and liturgical music from Caucasus Georgia since 1990, and has been sharing it with with students around the world for over two decades. Carl first began learning Georgian songs with The Kartuli Ensemble, and soon went on to form Trio Kavkasia with two other Kartuli Ensemble singers. Trio Kavkasia traveled to Georgia in 1995 and 1997 for extended periods to immerse themselves in the culture, and Carl ended up living in Georgia for about a decade. He has traveled extensively around Georgia, meeting singers, making field recordings, and amassing a tremendous repertoire of songs. He has also worked on many Georgian folk music projects and publications. In recognition of his work to promote and preserve traditional Georgian culture, Carl is a Silver Medal State Laureate of Georgia (1995) and has been awarded the Georgian President's Order of Merit (2009). Since relocating back to the US, Carl has directed The Supruli Choir in New York City, the Bard College Georgian Choir, and his own family trio with his two sons. Carl is also a member of Tenores de Aterùe, a men's quartet devoted to traditional music from Sardinia. Carl holds an MFA (2004) in Music / Vocal Performance from Bennington College in Vermont.

Trio Kavkasia writes: "The Georgian people, inhabiting a land the size of West Virginia wedged between Russia and Turkey, speak a group of languages related to no other outside the Caucasus Mountain region. Georgia is an island musically as well, exceptional in having an ancient, deep-rooted tradition of polyphony (music in several independent voices), while all the cultures that surround it, and all the cultures that have occupied or passed through it, are firmly monophonic. Georgian polyphony appears to be truly autonomous and original, and its rules of counterpoint and tuning derive from nowhere else. Three-part singing in Georgia was probably in full flower by the ninth century, substantially preceding the modern development of polyphony in Europe... Georgian singers consistently sing intervals and tune chords in ways that are at odds with historical Western vocal practice..."