THE PARADIGM OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND VISUALIZATION OF MUSIC PERFORMANCES IN OLD TIFLIS: PAINTING, CINEMA, LITERATURE
DOI: 10.23951/2312-7899-2023-4-143-166
The article presents the paradigm of musical instruments of Old Tiflis in the 18th century and its evolution before the Sovietization of Georgia. The visual texts of Niko Pirosmani, Vagharshak Elibekyan, and Giovanni Vepkhvadze, as well as the video texts of Sayat-Nova and The Color of Pomegranate, are analyzed. The object of the study is the paradigm of musical texts of Old Tiflis as a cross-cultural space. The semantics and functional peculiarities of musical instruments in poetic and visual texts are highlighted. Particular attention is paid to the visualization of musical “performances”. The article argues the following thesis: the description of the paradigm of musical instruments in visual and artistic texts provides an opportunity to reveal the spirit, the material world of Old Tiflis, the evolution of musical tastes, as well as implicit functions, visual syntagmas, and connotative semantics of musical instruments. The empirical study of the material showed that the visualization of musical instruments in painting and film art is an important poetic technique for conveying the spirit of Old Tiflis. The analysis of the film by Sergei Parajanov revealed an allusion to the works of Pirosmani. The detailed analysis of Sayat-Nova’s poem revealed the semantic and functional features of the beloved instrument (kamancha). The analysis of the visualization of the kamancha in Parajanov’s film The Color of Pomegranates showed that many metaphors of Sayat-Nova’s poem were recoded into the language of cinema. The kamancha became the key player revealing the poetic battles in the film Sayat Nova by Kim Arzumanyan. The detailed analysis of the works of Khojabekyan, Pirosmani, and Elibekyan revealed that the musical trio (two zurna players and one drummer) is a classical set for all festivities, weddings, and revelries. At the same time, the zurna, accompanied by church bells in Parajanov’s film, changes its function to mourning. In Elibekyan’s paintings, the organ grinders with their instruments became not only a compositional trick, a method of representation, a communicative element of Old Tiflis’ inn culture of the late 19th – early 20th centuries, but also a sign of European musical influences, an artifact of the city and a visual marker of the urban public space.
Keywords: Old Tiflis, music, painting, cinema, urban culture, oriental musical instruments, visualization of everyday life, Elibekyan, Parajanov
References:
Avanesov, S. S. (2017). Tomsk: visual constructing of local urban spaces. ΠΡΑΞΗΜΑ (Praxema). Journal of Visual Semiotics, 1(11), 41–47. (In Russian).
Avanesov, S. S. (2018). Urban space as anthropological phenomenon. ΠΡΑΞΗΜΑ (Praxema)․ Journal of Visual Semiotics, 2, 10–31. (In Russian).
Bakhchinyan, H. (1988). Sayat-Nova: Life and Work. Yerevan State University. (In Armenian).
Bakhchinyan, H. (2016). Sayat-Nova’s Poetic Legacy. Texts and Analysis. Yerevan State University. (In Armenian).
Gaysaryan, S. (1961). Sayat-Nova (Introductory article). In Sayat-Nova, Stikhotvoreniya [Poems](pp. 5–62). Sovetskiy pisatel’. (In Russian).
Grishashvili, I. (1977). Literaturnaya bogema Starogo Tbilisi [Literary Bohemia in Old Tbilisi]. Merani.
Hayryan, Z. G. (2016). Ashougհ Poetry by Sayat-Nova in Russian Translations. Nauchnyi Dialog, 3(51), 132–145. (In Russian).
Isahakyan, A. (1987). Immortal Sayat-Nova (Foreword). In Sayat-Nova, Stikhotvoreniya [Poems](pp. 5–6). Sovetskiy pisatel’. (In Russian).
Kandelaki, R. (1964). Brodil khudozhnik po gorodu: Povesti [An Artist Wandered around the City. A Story]. Detskaya literatura.
Margaryan, Ye. G. (2017). At the Crossroads of the Ancient World-systems: A Prolegomenon. Dialog so vremenem, 59, 18–42.
Margaryan, Ye. G. (2020). Abo Tbileli. Arabic Perfumer – St. Protector of Tiflis. Kritika i semiotika, 2, 286–301. (In Russian).
Margaryan, Ye. G. (2023). “The City Speaks”. About the Tiflis Vernacular Urban Language on the Example of Signage and Advertising Inscriptions. Kritika i semiotika, 1, 332–349. (In Russian).
Mkrtchyan, L. M. (1963). Bryusov’s Work on the Translations of Sayat-Nova’s songs. In Sayat-Nova v perevodakh V. Ya. Bryusova [Sayat-Nova in translations of V. Ya. Bryusov] (pp. 40–46). Yerevan. (In Russian).
Pirosmani. (1986). Izbrannye proizvedeniya [Selected works]. Sov. khudozhnik.
Porfiryeva, A. (2014). Venetian Life Narikala’s Vicinage: Italian Opera in Tiflis. In N. A. Ogarkova (Ed.), Music in the Framework of European and Russian Cultures. Events. Personalities. History (pp. 134–172). Russian Institute of Art History. (In Russian).
Sayat-Nova. (1963). Sayat-Nova v perevodakh V. Ya. Bryusova [Sayat-Nova in translations of V. Ya. Bryusov] (pp. 40–46). Yerevan.
Seyranush, M. (1991). Vagarshak Elibekyan. Izobrazitel’noe iskusstvo. (In Russian).
Simyan, T. S. (2019а). Musical and Carnival Space of Old Tiflis (by the Example of Vano Khojabekyan, Vagarshak Elibekyan, Agasi Aivazyan). ΠΡΑΞΗΜΑ (Praxema). Journal of Visual Semiotics, 2, 63–80. (In Russian).
Simyan, T. S. (2019b). Old Tiflis in the Memory of Different Generations: Painting, Cafe, Sunset of the City (by the Example of V. Elibekyan, A. Ayvazyan). Syuzhetologiya i syuzhetografiya, 1, 256–276. (In Russian).
Simyan, T. S. (2019c). Sergei Parajanov as a Text: Man, Habitus, and Interior (on the material of visual texts). ΠΡΑΞΗΜΑ (Praxema). Journal of Visual Semiotics, 3, 197–215. (In Russian).
Simyan, T. S. (2020). Creolized Texts of Old Tiflis (On the Example of Pirosmani, Elibekyan, Ayvazyan). Kritika i semiotika, 2, 256–285. (In Russian).
Simyan, T. S. (2022). Sergey Parajanov and Tiflis: “Guide” of Cultural Memory, Urban Space and Its Transformation. Kritika i semiotika, 1, 198–215. (In Russian).
Simyan, T. S. (2023). The Problem of Semiotic Translation: Sergey Parajanov as a Mystifier and “Translator”. Critique and Semiotics. 2023. 1. P. 453–468.
Simyan, T. S., & Ghazaryan, G. A. (2020). The Biological Spirit of Old Tiflis: Matchmaking, Money, Interpersonal Relationships. Idei i idealy, 12(1:2), 257–274. (In Russian).
Tatosyan, G. A. (1982). Notes. In Sayat-Nova, Stikhotvoreniya [Poems](pp. 177–194). Sovetskiy pisatel’. (In Russian).
Tonikyan, A. (Ed.). (1968). Vano Khojabekyan. Yerevan. (In Armenian).
Tumanyan, O. (1977). Izbrannaya proza. Rasskazy, skazki, stat’i [Selected Prose. Stories, Tales, Articles]. Ayastan.
Tumanyan, O. (2010). Giqor. Parus, 1(6). http://www.mecenat-and-world.ru/aragast/heritage.htm (In Russian).
Issue: 4, 2023
Series of issue: Issue 4
Rubric: ARTICLES
Pages: 143 — 166
Downloads: 165