The Georgians Are Coming!

Who knew that nestled in between the Caspian and Black Seas, just below the Caucus Mountains, there was a tiny, former Soviet republic of mad-crazy jazzophiles? Not just the home of Joseph "I'm changing my last name to Steel" Stalin, Georgia has a long history of musical composition, Christianity, and being invaded by neighbors.

Their history with jazz goes back a long way (though not quite as far back as their history with Christianity; converted as early as 319 AD, one of the earliest in the world). Valentin Panakh first played some jazz back in 1922--this is the year of the Moderns as Joyce publishes Ulysses and King Oliver calls up a young Louis Armstrong to play with him in Chicago. This is old people!

(The flag of the Republic of Georgia)

In any case, the jazz craze goes mainstream when Glen Miller's movie Sun Valley Serenade becomes the Titanic/Star Wars of 1945-6 Georgia. People copied the fashions, got the haircuts, learned to play the tunes and generally go ga-ga. In particular, they love "Chatanooga Choo-Choo." Heck even Stalin loves jazz and the Pravda encourages everyone to listen to it. Afterall, the Nazis hate it and it is the music of the Allies.

But then..

In the little town of Fenton, Missouri--that's right, Missouri--a guy by the name of Winston Churchill made a little speach called the "Sinews of Peace" Address. You might know it because it contained one of the most powerful metaphors of the Cold War:

"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. "

Boom! Jazz is banned. All American cultural products are contraband until 1953--the year of Stalin's death.

Except, that Georgia hates the Soviet Union. They think of themselves as being occupied by a foreign power. And they love jazz.

1962--Benny Goodman tours Moscow, Tashkent, and Tbilisi.
The Moscow audience (reportedly half of which is made up of KGB agents spying on the other half) sits cowering nervously.

The Tashkent (Uzbekistan) crowd is a bunch of exhausted cotton farmers who were forced to attend. They sleep through the show.

The Georgians are rushing the stage, dancing in the aisles, going absolutely nuts. Georgian nationalism is wrapped up in the music. They called themselves aesthetic dissidents.




If you are interested in Georgia's take on jazz, check out:
http://www.radiosyndicate.ge/


We were lectured by a Georgian professor and then listened to a peformance by travelling Georgian musicians.







And, yes, they did play "Georgia on My Mind."