Performing Georgia in Distant Lands: Georgian Song and its Foreign Exponents

This article examines the ever-expanding network of Georgian choirs and Georgian singing enthusiasts in Europe, North America, and Australia. Questions it seeks to answer include: How has Georgian singing taken root in so many different places so far from its homeland? What connections do these singers have with Georgia itself? In what contexts do they perform Georgian songs? In explicating the origins of Georgian choirs in different parts of the world and their relationship to processes of musical revival in Georgia itself, the article reveals a complex web of intercultural encounters and mutually transformative experiences. It also points to the broader significance of this transnational phenomenon in relation to the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage and its internationalisation.