leqsebi

ia mtazeda
breath at Vardzia, a city built into the cliff overlooking the Mt’k’vari (Kura) River near the Turkish
border.
23. Omi gumbrzed (“The Battle of Gumbri”). Source: ShKh 178-179; Go 114-115. Recited by Nadira
Arabuli in the Khevsur village Chirdili in 1911. The fortress of Gumbri is in central-southern
Georgia. According to Shanidze, the battle described here took place during the Russo-Turkish wars
of 1877-78. The expression “Cross of Blood” (siskhlis jvari) refers to an honorable death in battle.
24. Oy Jgëræg-ieha, loygwi-i-she-e-da (“Oy Jgëræg, stand by us”). Source: SvP 312. Svanetian hymn
recorded by Ak’ak’i Shanidze in 1932. The use of nonsense syllables is rather common in Georgian
songs, especially in refrains (rather like the fa-la-la-la ’s and hey-diddle-diddle ’s of English folk
tunes). In the province of Svaneti, where the style of singing and the harmonic structure of the songs
are markedly different from what is found elsewhere in Georgia, a number of hymns, laments, and
dance tunes have “texts” that are largely or entirely uninterpretable. There are, in fact, two types of
such texts. In the first type, of which this song is a typical case, a small number of simple, open
syllables is employed (other examples in SvP 266-7). For a song of the second type, see #25.
25. Ak’alæ-æd, mak’alæ-æd ([Svanetian nonsense song]). Source: SvP 356. Recited by Khabji
Chkhet’iani in the Upper Svan village of Lenjer, ca. 1939. As can be easily seen, the nonsense
syllables in this song have a more complex phonological structure, resembling actual words. Mixed
in with the completely uninterpretable sounds are Svan sentences and phrases (for example
tsæ:nisha dæshwd “the bear of Tsena,” from a humorous song about the misadventures of a bear
wandering from one Svanetian village to another). There are also a few classical Georgian words
(k’iri k’irsa, ch’iri ch’irsa “lime on (to?) lime, want on want”). More-or-less mangled fragments of
classical Georgian, the language of the Orthodox liturgy, are particularly common in Svanetian
prayers and spells. Nonsense lyrics of differing degrees of wordlikeness have also been noted in the
songs of the Havasupai Indians of the southwestern United States; see Leanne Hinton Havasupai
song [Tubingen: Gunter Narr, 1982] .
26. Ochop’int’ra (“Ochopintra”). Source: MP 107-8. Recited by G. Lobzhanidze in the Rachan village
Ghebi. Georgian hunters traditionally believed that the wild animals they killed for food and fur
were under the protection of a divinity, who insured that only those hunters who maintained
themselves in a state of rectitude and observed the taboos would be allowed to take their prey. The
Svans, as we have seen, represented their deity of the hunt as a woman (Dali). By contrast,
Georgians of the eastern provinces (Khevsureti, Kakheti) and of the upland districts of Racha
invoked a male figure, Ochopintra, for success in hunting [see MP 247-8]. Interestingly, the
Circassians of the North Caucasus are likewise of divided opinion concerning the gender of their
hunter deity, Mezythe: S/he is female for the East Circassian Kabardians, but male for the West
Circassians [GOM 43, 108-9; PC 171 note 1]. Before setting out, the mountaineer hunter will ask
Ochopintra to spare an ibex from his herd. If he succeeds in killing one, he pauses to give thanks to
the deity. If the hunter should kill too many animals, however, he risks incurring Ochopintra’s wrath.
(Dali likewise was believed to punish those who overkilled).
27. Gonja modga k’arebsao (“Gonja came to the door”). Source: MP 111. The poem was recorded by
N. Bregadze in the Rachan village Ts’edisi in 1964. A variant is sung by the ensemble Mzetamze on
their first CD. The figure of Gonja was invoked during times of drought in western Georgia (Imereti,
Lechkhumi, Racha). The poem was chanted while a ritual such as the following, which was observed
in Lower Racha, took place: A group of young men from the village chose one of their number to
play the part of “Gonja.” This man stripped down to the waist, and was smeared with lampblack.
Holding a long, thorny branch in his hand, he and his companions went from door to door, singing
this song [MP 259]. The eastern Georgian equivalent is called “Lazaroba,” during which young
women go about the village barefoot and call upon a personage named “Lazare” to bring rain [DGF
I, 224-5].
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