MUSICAL AND CARNIVAL SPACE OF OLD TIFLIS (BY THE EXAMPLE OF VANO KHOJABEKYAN, VAGHARSHAK ELIBEKYAN, AGASI AIVAZYAN)
DOI: 10.23951/2312-7899-2019-2-63-80
The article analyzes the musical and carnival space of Old Tiflis since late 19th up to early 20th century. Mainly visual and artistic texts of Armenian artists and writers – Vano Khojabekyan, Agasi Ayvazyan, Vagharshak Elibekyan served as an empirical material for this article. In the course of the reasoning, the following thesis is substantiated: Old Tiflis was a multicultural, musical and carnival city, in which a dance language was formed (Kintauri, Bagdaduri). Old Tiflis was a ‘hybrid’ space in which ritual (sacral) and profane dances (kintauri, baghdaduri, lezginka, etc.) could be seen simultaneously. The article briefly presents the basic approaches to the analysis of the Tiflis text: the Tiflis text of Armenian literature, the Tiflis text of Georgian literature, the Caucasian text of Russian literature. The author explains the connotative difference between the designation of the toponym Tbilisi versus Tiflis, which is key in the discourse “Tiflis text of Armenian literature”. Old Tiflis was a multinational city in which musical instruments of the West (piano, violin, mandolin) and the East (drum, zurna, duduk, kamancha, etc.) ‘met’ and ‘lived’ together. Social ‘top’, the elite was oriented towards Western music and invested in teaching their children to play the violin, piano, etc., while the social ‘bottom’ (kinto, carachocheli) turned to the Eastern, Caucasian instruments and melodies. At this very juncture the language of social ‘bottom’ dances (kintauri, baghdaduri) was formed. The article presents also the functions of the Eastern instruments and the scope of their use. Duduk and zurna were the most ‘omnivorous’, used during weddings, revels, christenings, commemorations, and in oriental baths during rest and parties. The main ‘heroes’ of Old Tiflis were mainly the representatives of the social ‘bottom – kinto and carachocheli. The article also describes the inner world of kinto, his lifestyle, the psychological state of his soul and appearance. The material of Vano Khodjabekyan’s graphic drawings (“Clown in Ortachali”, “Drunk Bear”, “Cout in Boat at Kura”), Vagharshak Elibekyan’s “Meeting with the writer Raffi”, “Zurnachi” and paintings introduces the language of clothing and the spirit of revels. The Old Tiflis dance language is so vital and lively that it was retransmitted in Soviet cinematography (G. Danelia “Don’t Cry”, “Mimino”) and at the present stage, is presented by different dance groups all over the world (for example, Ramishvili & Sukhishvili). In addition to the profane dances, the article also presents a ritual (sacral) dance, when the groom dances on the burial stone of his deceased father (Khojabekyan “The dance of the groom on the burial stone of the deceased father and circular dance with unmarried friends”) is an echo of the archaic, mythologized thinking. The ritual dance shines through Armenian, Georgian and Caucasian dances. Chronologically this dance was documented for the first time in letters of an Armenian scholar and cleric Grigor Magister (XI century), but the last manifestation of such ritual dance performed by Armenian groom is seen only in graphic drawings of Khojabekyan on Old Tiflis whereas in other Western and Eastern regions it wasn’t perceived. An empirical analysis of the primary texts showed that Old Tiflis being a carnival and musical space where different values, customs and traditions of various peoples were ‘cooked’, had its urban flavor, the language of dances, feasts, and revels. Old Tiflis of the late XIX and early XX century still remained at the junction of the national, mythical and European mixture. Old Tiflis was an interesting example of cultural ‘interspace’.
Keywords: kinto, kintauri, baghdaduri, lezginka, sacral dance, ceremonial dance, dance of the groom on the burial stone, zurna, duduk, barrel organ (organ), reveling, visual semiotics, microhistory, urban anthropology, semiotics of the city
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Issue: 2, 2019
Series of issue: Issue 2
Rubric: ARTICLES
Pages: 63 — 80
Downloads: 970