kwɒˈtɪdɪən,kwəʊˈtɪdɪən compositions

July 2021

Cuotidian

Sounds from Georgia, Armenia, Chechnya, Slovakia

Мадина (Madina) - Турпал Абдулкеримов
Afterlife- Palmistry
Hondo Agujero - Le Parody
Clínica - Wasted Fates
Doble Tic Azul - Putochinomaricón
Waiting For Our Ship to Arrive - Black Sea Dolphins
Ge Ge Ge (Nu Gacherdi)  - Onise
Forgotten Melodies - Irakli
Nami Vels - Niaz Diasamidze
Svanuri - Trio Mandili
გაგონილი მაქვს - HIKARI 
Mitsubishi Gang - HIKARI feat. Katakaya
Talga - Dzvali, D.R.O., HIKARI, Sabanadze, Grotsak, Dasavleli, Kazzy Jazz, Jeronimo, Ras Green
Kursaa - Natalie Beridze
Gagma Napiri - Michailo
A Ceremony - Lara Sarkissian
Gnum Գնում (Going) - Lara Sarkissian
Celebrity Clouds (live) - kordz, Natalie Beridze

This mix is is about traveling through sound. Most of the recordings and ideas for the tracks are taken from music heard on marshrutkas and in taxis when traveling from one place to the next. They were literally the soundtrack to our travels.  

We recorded these snippets as a kind of diary, atune to what was playing on stereos and to impromptu sounds like the distorted beat through a speaker in the doorway of an Indian restaurant in downtown Tbilisi. Other recordings captured a busker beneath a bridge in Tbilisi’s old town, young men singing traditional songs in the bars of Svaneti. The idea was to connect and collect in the moment, to later get creative with the treasure.

You hear a mosaic of styles - classical, ambient, urban and pop - from the Chechen bop Medina at the beginning, introduced to us by a Chechen lorry driver who picked us up on a dirt track in Svaneti, to the stunning compositions from Natalia Beridze, a Georgian musician who bridges the gap between the nation’s classical music and modern techno club culture. In a similar vein, Armenian-Iranian DJ and producer Lara Sarkissian (FOOZOOL) melds traditional sounds and deep bass music. Her distinct sound shaped much of the end of this mix. 

There are also clips from Armenian director Sergei Parajanov's famous film, The Colour of Pomegranates. The scenes are tangible thanks to its detailed diegetic soundtrack - the clanging of church bells, running water in natural baths, pages of a poetry book flipping with the wind, old tatiks praying. Although it’s a film primarily about Armenian culture, it’s also very Georgian. I was inspired by how culturally independent these two countries are, whilst they share so much.

I loved tracing the crossover of flavours and ingredients in Georgian, Turkish, Armenian, Syrian, Iranian and many more cuisines. Adjara in Georgia had a very Arabic feel and we drank endless Turkish coffees and ate sticky warm baklava straight out of the oven. Hearing about Chechnya and Azerbaijan, neighbouring Islamic nations, fascinated me. At the Genocide museum in Yerevan I was overwhelmed by the stories of Armenians who found refuge in Syria. And of the Syrians now finding refuge in Armenia. I used recordings of a Syrian friend, Aziz, teaching me words in Arabic, which in some ways reflects this. He is also a traveller, and a rebel, and a poet.

I also borrowed songs from further afield - closer to home for me. Le Parody makes journeys through her records, bringing Andalusian folklore to the dance floor and retracing the exodus from India to Iberia - which is the ancient name of Georgia's Kingdom of Kartli. PUTICHINOMARRICON (loosely translated from Spanish as CHINK FAG) gives off a similar sense of rebellion and resistance to that in the Georgian techno revolution and to that of revolutionary director Sergei Parajanov. The Madrid-based artist who emigrated from Taiwan to Spain before his first birthday creates digi-techno-pop under an othering oriental, homophobic slur as a stage name.

So perhaps rebellion and resistance is another theme here. Mostly, this mix recounts an outsider’s experience of new cultures, recreated in my own frame of reference with willingness to immerse, absorb, and hopefully in some ways understand.

ReBuenna Wiisong

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