Traditionalism means a lot to the average Georgian, and we are more than happy that a considerable number of people in the world want to follow the old traditions like we do in this country, – said the master of ceremonies of Ethno-Georgia-2024, a festival that was funded and organized by the association Tsinapari (“ancestor”) and its founder Giorgi (Ghia) Shiukashvili, which took place last Saturday in the beautiful village of Shilda of the Kakheti region.
The interesting get-together was dedicated to the unique demonstration of martial arts of various nations of the world. There were teams from Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Norway, Spain, Turkey, and of course Sakartvelo. Each of them presented their own national imagery and feints, masterfully depicting the ancient models of bout. The Georgian team, for instance, demonstrated two shows: Kartuli Chidaoba (Georgian Wrestling) and Khridoli (an ancient Georgian technique of combat and defense), perfectly prepared by the president of the Georgian Martial Arts Federation, Nukri Mchedlishvili.
It rained cats and dogs the entire day, and the mood for the festival started out quite blue. The hundreds of invited spectators and participants managed to shelter themselves, though, eating and drinking the time away. Yet, the powers up there wanted the festival to go ahead, and so it did. The ceremony was opened by the world-renowned opera singer Tamar Iveri, whose vocal recital of the Hymn literally reached the skies to let the world know that Georgians are marching in good will and faith. Then the participating ethnic teams were solemnly asked to the well-equipped stage of the festival by the master of ceremonies, dressed in an eye-catching snow-white chokha (myself, Nugzar B. Ruhadze). The sponsor and organizer of the festival Ghia Shiukashvili was excellently supported by Irakli Soselia and his family, who are currently living in Italy, doing a wonderful service to their motherland from there. It was him who brought Italians, Spaniards and Norwegians to Ethno-Georgia-2024. In each case, before every show of combat, a presentation of historical relations between Georgia and the visiting nations was made for the attentive public.
Among the participating speakers were First Deputy Chairman of the Georgian Parliament, Giorgi Volski; First Deputy Minister of Culture of Georgia, Ioseb Bagaturia; Honorary Consul of Kazakhstan in Georgia, Irakli Kakaladze; renowned professional sumo wrestler Tochinoshin Tsuyoshi, alias Levan Gorgadze. From behind the scenes, the festival was inspired and encouraged by the President of the International Federation of Georgian Wrestling, Temur Khubuluri, a twofold world champion in judo and the Olympic prize winner, dexterously assisted by the ubiquitous Tamaz Robakidze. All of them emphasized the importance of traditionalism, ethnic customs and the exchange of cultural values between nations in the modern technologically accelerated world, thus bringing to memory and learning much about the way of life of our ancestors, without whose one-time effort, our civilization could not have lasted. This is exactly what the ethno-festival was devoted to, elegantly justifying every spent cent and second, every drop of sweat, used on turning that lovely event into a real success.
The crown of the richly loaded day was the concert that followed right after the martial-art performances. The air was filled with the divine sounds of Georgian folk singing by the famous Rustavi ensemble and the group of local polyphonic artistry, named Shilda. The celebrated Sukhishvili National Academy of Dance, presented by young children, demonstrated outstanding artistic skill, building a real choreographic fire on the stage. Then came a mix of modern pop and folk solo vocal numbers which was culminated by a breathtaking song about Sakartvelo by renowned Georgian musician, composer and vocalist Tamara Gverdtsiteli, leaving the audience with enhanced heartbeat and genuine goosebumps.
Certainly, the entire show needed to be preorganized and staged, masterfully realized by Otar Chachanidze and Manana Bakradze, the couple who lead theu whole thing with amazing calm, love and professionalism, which was a real delight for Ghia Shiukashvili, whose efforts to promote Kartuli Chidaoba, Kartuli Khridoli and Kartuli ethnic culture goes beyond the boundaries of this country to let the world know better what our Sakartvelo is all about.
By Nugzar B. Ruhadze
