---because, after all, the center of the universe is Georgia. I'm not entirely kidding. Once, when in my high school library reading National Geographic because they had nothing worth reading which I hadn't already read, I read a long article on Georgia which convinced me that I was born in the wrong nation. It impressed me enough that I have a daughter with that name (OK, I had a grandmother named Georgia too; whatever).
On that note, there are no religious images in this world which haunt me more than this one:
Righteous Lot.
Beautiful chant. Thanks for posting it.
ReplyDeleteGeorgia really is the best (and most crazy maddening) country on earth. If you ever get a sabbatical from life, I'll show you around...
ReplyDeleteSamn!, should you ever be able to serve as my personal tour guide to Georgia, I will name my first grandchild after you.
DeleteIt's a deal.
DeleteUsed to have a family next door from the "real Georgia" as he called it. He was a med student with a wife and 4 kids. Wish we hadnt lost touch. Only man in that profession I would intentionally go to.
ReplyDeleteBut the actual Universal Center is at Chota. ;-)
Hezekiah Garrett
I love Georgian chant. Thanks for posting the video. A couple of Paschas ago, the SoCal Georgian community came and served Pascha with our (fairly plain-Jane) OCA church. Their mountain chant was so incredibly gorgeous and haunting. One of the most beautiful Paschas of my life.
ReplyDeleteIf this YouTube link works I'd be interested in what people think of this chant. I don't believe many are familiar with it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dmh9jLFJ7Q&feature=player_embedded
My all time favorite post from your previous blog was on Lot's wife... in fact, I think you might have used that icon in it as well.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your haunting, are you referring to the icon's substance or its style? Its style appears to be closer to that of the early (mid-1st millennial) Monophysite icons and possibly reflects the Armenian influence in Georgia of that period. Here's someone who paints both periods (I'm linking only to the older): http://www.iconpainter.ge/icons/archaic-style
ReplyDeleteInteresting stuff on that link Vis, thanks.
DeleteI think that the main reason that I'm haunted by this icon is that a person (one of two as I recall) who pointed it out to me and told me that it was "the only icon left which still facilitated prayer" for him died awhile back. For some reason the veneration of Lot offered him a particularly needed avenue of hope.
Aside from that I suppose that the icon's substance is of more concern to me, though I do like that "archaic Georgian" style and I think that archaic form especially suits the subject of Lot. I think that my favorite Eastern iconography might be Romanian folk icons. I prefer the Moscow School to Novgorod and to classical Byzantine iconography, but I think my favorite iconography is the more folk and archaic stuff.
My monk son introduced us to Georgian chant. Choir director Wifey loves it but finding music for it is tough. Beautiful chant (and icon). I love the Ethiopian/Coptic styles of iconography. I miss the Coptic Church we rented for a year.
ReplyDeleteThe only wines I buy are Georgian semi-sweet reds.
ReplyDelete