Tweet
"WE MUST UNITE AGAINST THOSE PEOPLE TRYING TO STEAL OUR HEART, SOUL, AND NATIONALITY"
Ani Feradze
Daily Georgian Times, Georgia
June 11 2007
Armenians claim Georgian song and dance ensemble "Erisioni" as
their own
We have recently discovered that Armenians have "baptized" Georgian
national songs as Armenian, including "Chakrulo". On top of that,
to add injury to insult, Armenians even had the audacity to suggest
some of the stolen songs to one of German firms and took it another
step and issued a CD.
Georgian song and dance ensemble "Erisioni" has been stated to be an
original Armenian creation.
Georgian Times talked about this issue with Jemal Chkuaseli - head of
"Erisioni":
G.T. - Mr. Chkuaseli, as far as we know one of German firms issued
a CD, where stolen Georgian songs are portrayed as being Armenian.
- I don't know what to say! It is really horrible; I just can't
find the words to describe what I am feeling right now. It is one
thing when it concerns private dealings it can be described as just
an incident. However, when Armenians touch upon spiritual values of
the country it is a cultural tragedy. I don't know who started this,
I wouldn't review social or economic grounds, but I definitely know
that "Chakrulo" is Georgian in its character, soul, and it an all
around Georgian national song and devoid of any outside influences
and that needs no scientific research in confirmation Our "respected"
neighbors have never had three part songs and perhaps we should invite
them to Georgia just to see how will well they will sing "Chakrulo".
They should know that such natural ability to sing is a God given
gift bestowed upon Georgians and it is an ability that cannot be
learnt and we are the best in the world.
- We are offended with this instance and in light of the fact that
Armenians are the nation with very interesting culture of their own.
This begs the question as why they want to lay claim to the cultural
traditions and songs of other nations?
- This is not the first case. Recently we were in Paris staging
a concert and the audience was astonished with the quality of our
performance. When we left, as we heard, Armenians came and stated
that the ensemble "Erisioni" was actually theirs; they even took it
another step further by writing about it. Isn't it terrible? These
people try to persuade the whole world with misrepresentation of the
truth and falsehoods.
GT: If Armenians dare to do such things then why don't you take various
measures in response? You could even bring a legal case against the
firm that issued the CD, and in the process you could find out who
actually misinformed this firm, couldn't you?
- Such case took place in 1989. Georgians in San Francisco brought us a
disc consisting of 12 Georgian songs recorded in the Armenian language,
which also included "Chakrulo". I concealed the disc and brought it
back to Georgia and showed it to a man in the position of authority.
GT: Who was this man?
- I would eagerly say his name, but unfortunately he isn't alive
and let me keep this in secret close. He listened to the disc and he
was very irritated, he promised me that the person who did it would
be punished. In the end I discovered that he lost the disc.
GT: Did you believe this?
- Not me, but he followed the advice of others. Somebody may
have told him to drop this case and he followed his or her advice. We
should know that coward is always a looser.
GT: Do you think that bringing a suit to court is senseless?
- I can say with confidence on my own but can say that we as
artists and scientists cannot deal with this problem alone unless
the government and the businessmen will support us.
GT: Yes but you could sue the people who stole your songs and demand
a financial judgment and why don't you try?
- That requires money and we don't money for them For seven years
we've been struggling to prove that the song "Shatilis Asulo" is also
ours and doesn't belong to anyone else; and only now we managed to
make our case.
GT: What help do you need from the government and business community?
- Unless we prove the case the Armenians won't understand anything
at all; I don't want to harm the nation, I mean against those people
who are responsible. With your newspaper I want to address every
member of the business community and governmental representatives:
People! We must unite against those people trying to steal our heart,
soul, and nationality. If you are patriots and really love your
country, help us to spread our culture throughout world and to help
the world better understand us Georgians; if they don't know you,
then you don't exist.
Let just step aside from the Armenian incident and take on the
subject of the Japanese singing "Khasanbegura" and to declare that
work as being a Georgian song, which motivates me to say it's time
to save ourselves.
GT: Can you name the firm and the people who expropriated your songs
and recorded in the Armenian language?
- I'll refrain from answering this just now, though this
information is already known already, let me see what fallout will
result from this article from the business community, otherwise it
does not make any sense.
First of all we have to collect scientific works and issue multilingual
books to illustrate who we are and where we came from.
GT: I would like to ask you about Erisioni as well, about your
future plans.
- We are invited on 20th anniversary of the famous organization
"Bebe Production" to Germany for June 19. They are organizing a
festival and we have the honor to open the festival. Top 4 ensembles
of the world are invited, which includes us. However, we are facing
one big problem.
Our costumes were made back in 1986. Our building lost its warehouse
long ago, and now there is a need for urgent reconstruction. I
would like to ask the business community to support us as we have
international demands for performing; it's inconvenient to come before
international audience with these old costumes.
GT: Do you still have contract with the producer with whom you recorded
"Shatilis Asulo"?
- The terms of contract are expiring and it is up to them whether
to accept our conditions and continue the contract or not.
GT: What makes Erisioni different from others?
- We have been able to make a synthesis of dance and song, as dance
cannot exist without song and that is what makes Erisioni so popular.
With the assistance of a wonderful person, Jim Low we created a huge
show. When he saw our concert he said: "I saw a diamond, now I have to
pack it and show it to the world". Without his assistance we wouldn't
be able to make this show a possibility.
GT: Are you going the give concerts in the regions of Georgia?
- We wanted to give a concert in Kutaisi, but we were not
able. There is no appropriate technique for setting the stage
background; we don't have such techniques, not even in Tbilisi.
However, even if we had such capabilities, we still don't have
specialists and that combination makes it impossible to give concerts
in Georgia; the only thing that we can provide is the necessary
lighting.
Ani Feradze
Daily Georgian Times, Georgia
June 11 2007
Armenians claim Georgian song and dance ensemble "Erisioni" as
their own
We have recently discovered that Armenians have "baptized" Georgian
national songs as Armenian, including "Chakrulo". On top of that,
to add injury to insult, Armenians even had the audacity to suggest
some of the stolen songs to one of German firms and took it another
step and issued a CD.
Georgian song and dance ensemble "Erisioni" has been stated to be an
original Armenian creation.
Georgian Times talked about this issue with Jemal Chkuaseli - head of
"Erisioni":
G.T. - Mr. Chkuaseli, as far as we know one of German firms issued
a CD, where stolen Georgian songs are portrayed as being Armenian.
- I don't know what to say! It is really horrible; I just can't
find the words to describe what I am feeling right now. It is one
thing when it concerns private dealings it can be described as just
an incident. However, when Armenians touch upon spiritual values of
the country it is a cultural tragedy. I don't know who started this,
I wouldn't review social or economic grounds, but I definitely know
that "Chakrulo" is Georgian in its character, soul, and it an all
around Georgian national song and devoid of any outside influences
and that needs no scientific research in confirmation Our "respected"
neighbors have never had three part songs and perhaps we should invite
them to Georgia just to see how will well they will sing "Chakrulo".
They should know that such natural ability to sing is a God given
gift bestowed upon Georgians and it is an ability that cannot be
learnt and we are the best in the world.
- We are offended with this instance and in light of the fact that
Armenians are the nation with very interesting culture of their own.
This begs the question as why they want to lay claim to the cultural
traditions and songs of other nations?
- This is not the first case. Recently we were in Paris staging
a concert and the audience was astonished with the quality of our
performance. When we left, as we heard, Armenians came and stated
that the ensemble "Erisioni" was actually theirs; they even took it
another step further by writing about it. Isn't it terrible? These
people try to persuade the whole world with misrepresentation of the
truth and falsehoods.
GT: If Armenians dare to do such things then why don't you take various
measures in response? You could even bring a legal case against the
firm that issued the CD, and in the process you could find out who
actually misinformed this firm, couldn't you?
- Such case took place in 1989. Georgians in San Francisco brought us a
disc consisting of 12 Georgian songs recorded in the Armenian language,
which also included "Chakrulo". I concealed the disc and brought it
back to Georgia and showed it to a man in the position of authority.
GT: Who was this man?
- I would eagerly say his name, but unfortunately he isn't alive
and let me keep this in secret close. He listened to the disc and he
was very irritated, he promised me that the person who did it would
be punished. In the end I discovered that he lost the disc.
GT: Did you believe this?
- Not me, but he followed the advice of others. Somebody may
have told him to drop this case and he followed his or her advice. We
should know that coward is always a looser.
GT: Do you think that bringing a suit to court is senseless?
- I can say with confidence on my own but can say that we as
artists and scientists cannot deal with this problem alone unless
the government and the businessmen will support us.
GT: Yes but you could sue the people who stole your songs and demand
a financial judgment and why don't you try?
- That requires money and we don't money for them For seven years
we've been struggling to prove that the song "Shatilis Asulo" is also
ours and doesn't belong to anyone else; and only now we managed to
make our case.
GT: What help do you need from the government and business community?
- Unless we prove the case the Armenians won't understand anything
at all; I don't want to harm the nation, I mean against those people
who are responsible. With your newspaper I want to address every
member of the business community and governmental representatives:
People! We must unite against those people trying to steal our heart,
soul, and nationality. If you are patriots and really love your
country, help us to spread our culture throughout world and to help
the world better understand us Georgians; if they don't know you,
then you don't exist.
Let just step aside from the Armenian incident and take on the
subject of the Japanese singing "Khasanbegura" and to declare that
work as being a Georgian song, which motivates me to say it's time
to save ourselves.
GT: Can you name the firm and the people who expropriated your songs
and recorded in the Armenian language?
- I'll refrain from answering this just now, though this
information is already known already, let me see what fallout will
result from this article from the business community, otherwise it
does not make any sense.
First of all we have to collect scientific works and issue multilingual
books to illustrate who we are and where we came from.
GT: I would like to ask you about Erisioni as well, about your
future plans.
- We are invited on 20th anniversary of the famous organization
"Bebe Production" to Germany for June 19. They are organizing a
festival and we have the honor to open the festival. Top 4 ensembles
of the world are invited, which includes us. However, we are facing
one big problem.
Our costumes were made back in 1986. Our building lost its warehouse
long ago, and now there is a need for urgent reconstruction. I
would like to ask the business community to support us as we have
international demands for performing; it's inconvenient to come before
international audience with these old costumes.
GT: Do you still have contract with the producer with whom you recorded
"Shatilis Asulo"?
- The terms of contract are expiring and it is up to them whether
to accept our conditions and continue the contract or not.
GT: What makes Erisioni different from others?
- We have been able to make a synthesis of dance and song, as dance
cannot exist without song and that is what makes Erisioni so popular.
With the assistance of a wonderful person, Jim Low we created a huge
show. When he saw our concert he said: "I saw a diamond, now I have to
pack it and show it to the world". Without his assistance we wouldn't
be able to make this show a possibility.
GT: Are you going the give concerts in the regions of Georgia?
- We wanted to give a concert in Kutaisi, but we were not
able. There is no appropriate technique for setting the stage
background; we don't have such techniques, not even in Tbilisi.
However, even if we had such capabilities, we still don't have
specialists and that combination makes it impossible to give concerts
in Georgia; the only thing that we can provide is the necessary
lighting.