მარო თარხნიშვილი - ჭონა
Channel: Jaba Shavishvili
Date: 2020-06-05

Mariam (b Kavtiskhevi, nr Gori, 1891; d Tbilisi, 1969). Georgian folksinger. The most outstanding female folksinger in Georgia, she was expert in eastern Georgian (Kartli-Kakhetian) traditional singing, with a repertory acquired from her family. Her debut with a choir came in 1910, and by 1920 she had organized a tour throughout Georgia with her own choir. In 1921 Dimitri Arakishvili invited her to lead an ethnographic choir at Tbilisi State Conservatory. During the 1930s she made personal appearances in Russia and the Ukraine, including recording sessions and radio broadcasts. She performed the traditional repertory of both women and men, and many of her versions of traditional songs (including Orovela, a virtuoso solo harvest song) are known as the ‘Tarkhnishvili versions’. Her performance style was based on a beautiful voice with virtuoso technique.