A Taste of Georgia

September 2013

by Nina Bendukidze

This event was an introduction to Georgian culture and was  the launch event for the celebrations of the 25^th anniversary of the twinning between Bristol and Tbilisi.

Special guest was Peter Nasmyth, who gave two free illustrated talks: “Adventure Tourism in Georgia” and “Tbilisi’s Old Town Development”. Writer and photographer Peter Nasmyth has been travelling in the Caucasus for the past 25 years, writing on the area for most major UK newspapers. This month sees the launch of the 2nd Edition of his walking guide to Georgia, 'Walking in the Caucasus‘ which he presented at the talk. His familiarity with Georgia began during the late 1980s when he worked as a journalist in the Soviet Union during its dramatic collapse. In 1988 he was instrumental in organizing the first live musicians TV satellite bridge between London and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), and since then has blended broadcasting and writing with a variety of culturally based projects. He has been nominated for the United Nations Media Peace Prize, and his books including "Georgia: In the Mountains of Poetry" are a must read for any fans of Georgia. More recently he has published two architectural books and co-founded the Tbilisi Heritage Group - dedicated to preserving the city's historic character.

The audience could test the traditional Georgian food - khachapuri, lobiani and tkemali, and see books and artefacts from Georgia

Venue THE STATION,  Silver St, Bristol BS1 2AG.

The venue is the old Fire Station building, now a thriving centre for young people, near the former Bridewell Police station. Part of BRISTOL OPEN DOORS day, Supported by THE STATION,  http://www.thestationbristol.org.uk/

This event was kindly sponsored by Regent Holidays http://www.regent-holidays.co.uk/  

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BTA at the Bristol Harbourside Festival in 2013

July 2013

Written by Wenjing Huang

Bristol Tbilisi Association volunteers attended the exciting Bristol Harbourside Festival on 27th July, 2013. The location of the BTA’s display stand was in the twinning zone in Cathedral Walk just off Hannover quay.

The BTA Chairman, Derek Pickup, actively introduced Georgian music, artifacts and books. Dressed in a traditional Georgian hat he spoke with hundreds of people about the activities of the BTA and links with Tbilisi. Some of the BTA executive members came to help as well and they gave out the newly-designed postcard at the event, showing a fantastic night scene in Tbilisi.

The display stand with a colorful banner with images of Tbilisi, attracted many people to the BTA. They learned about the Bristol- Tbilisi link as well as about Georgian cities and Georgian culture. On the day of the event, THE BTA also informed people about the 25th anniversary of the Bristol-Tbilisi twinning, especially the 14th September open day ‘A Taste of Georgia’, which will be held at the Station near Broadmead.

The Harbourside Festival event will help BTA to promote friendship and understanding between the people of Bristol and Tbilisi.

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Georgian Choir Iadoni performs at Womad Festival in July 2013

July 2013

by Novvy Allan

IADONI (canary, in Georgian) a well known Georgian choir not only sang but cooked in Womad’s fantastic Taste the World tent on Sunday 28th July. The singers, all from Guria province, are mostly quite aged now, and this was the first time any of them had ever been out of Georgia! They were brought over by the Art Gene Group NGO “Union of Art Gene”, whose main aim is to promote Georgia’s traditional folk culture www.artgeni.ge.

Unusually IADONI includes women singers expert in krimanchuli reminiscent of Alpine yodelling and specific to Guria, which we hadn’t heard in Georgian singing before and was amazing. Throughout the performance in front of a packed audience, one of the eldest men stood on the cooking stage and, assisted by one of the women singers, made Chakapuli stew - lamb, onions, coriander, parsley, tkemali (sour plum sauce) and lots of wine - instructing the enthralled onlookers in Georgian at the same time!

Taste the World at Womad is the brainchild of Bristol based Annie Menter her idea to extend the experience of different world cultures by sharing cuisines.

After the performance people were invited to sample the Chakapuli washed down with a small glass of delicious Georgian Tsinandali white wine kindly donated by the Bristol Tbilisi Association.

“IADONI ... digging deep into the polyphonic traditions of Georgia that prompted Igor Stravinsky to declare it the music that most affected him in his lifetime”

www.womad.org/artists/iadoni

www.polyphony.ge/index.php?m=555&lng=eng

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BTA executive committee member Anthea Nicholson's book launch

 April 2013

Bristol Tbilisi Association executive committee member Anthea Nicholson has written her first novel set in Georgia called “The Banner of The Passing Clouds” . The Banner of the Passing Clouds vividly describes life in Tbilisi and gives an extraordinary insight into living under communism in Georgia. The event went with great Georgian music, food and wine.  

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Georgian Wine Day - 2012

July 2012

by Bruce Allan

Georgian Wine Day was held on Monday 30th July at the Georgian Olympic House, 45 Millbank beside Tate Britain. It was a memorable occasion. Ambassador Giorgi Badridze, Beka Dvali and Irine Dakhundaridze from the embassy were present together with many guests including Dr. Tamara Dragadze, Keti Kalandadze and Michael Bloom. Novvy and Bruce Allan represented the BTA. Besides wine tasting and delicious food, performers included the famous Georgian choir Shvidkatsa who were followed with very spirited dancing and drumming by young Georgian performers of the Kavkasioni ensemble. Georgian Olympic House also hosted an exhibition of bronze objects that were 3000 years old, the famous painting "Fisherman" by Niko Pirosmani and mechanical figures (dolls) by well-known sculptor Tamar Kvesitadze.

The Kavkasioni Ensemble

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2011 Supra Success

January 2011

by Alex Hughes

Over 100 people came to the BTA's Georgian banquet on the 14th January. 

Georgian wine, not available in Bristol shops was brought by the Ambassador, His Excellency Giorgi Badridze. Ambassador Badridze also acted as Tamada proposing a range of traditional toasts interspersed with comments on the current situation in Georgia. The Bristol Georgian choir sang three sets of traditional songs and HE joined in with the choir on their final number.  BTA chairman Derek Pickup and incoming BTA Hon Sec Esther Pickup-Keller set up a stunning informal exhibition of Georgian artefacts including one of the first ever coins minted in Georgia. Fifteen members of the Newport-Kutaisi Twinning Association attended with their Mayor and Bristol's Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress were also on the top table. It was great to see so many friends of Tbilisi both old and new including former chair Dr Henry Parry, freeman of the city of Tbilisi.     

Read more: 2011 Supra Success

BTA Book Launch at Bristol Central Library

July 2010 

by Bruce Allan

The Bristol-Tbilisi Association (BTA) is presenting new and classic books about Tbilisi and Georgia to Bristol Central Library. These rare books include titles that look at Stalin's history, while others explore contemporary social issues. The BTA is providing two copies of each title so people can take the books home rather than just using them in the twinning reference section. 

Bristol's Lord Mayor, Colin Smith attended the presentation and there were readings from two of the books, as well as a performance by the Bristol- Georgian Choir. 

 The list of books donated by BTA to the Bristol Central Library.

Read more: BTA Book Launch at Bristol Central Library

Paradjanov comes to Bristol and the Forest of Dean

May 2010

by Bruce Allan

The Bristol Tbilisi Association completed a successful partnership with the Paradjanov Festival 2010, the Arnolfini and the Bristol Gallery bringing the works of the great film director Sergei Paradjanov to the people of Bristol. Following a successful festival of his work at the BFI and National Theatre, London, Arnolfini showed his four most significant films during the first two weeks of April. Complementing these the Bristol Gallery showed photographs of Paradjanov taken by his friend, the photographer Yuri Mechitov in the exhibition Paradjanov through the lens of Yuri Mechitov.

Paradjanov was a Georgian of Armenian descent persecuted by the Soviet State for refusing to produce state supported propaganda films. Instead he drew on his love of the region, its myths and legends, to create another way of viewing the world through films and tableaux.

The BTA was privileged to host Levon Grigoryan, filmmaker and author and Paradjanov's assistant on the film The Colour of Pomegranates and Cora Tsereteli, film historian, author and Paradjanov's friend. They gave presentations at two of his films, giving us an insight into how truly radical Paradjanov's work was when it first came out in the 1960s and what it was like to work with a man of such genius.  

Yuri Mechitov returned to the UK in May when the Paradjanov Festival including his photographs were shown at the gallery upstairs at the George at Newnham on Severn in the Forest of Dean. http://upstairsatthegeorge.co.uk/2010/04/03/21-5-10/

Read more: Paradjanov comes to Bristol and the Forest of Dean