Re: Georgian Source for "Hello Earth" (male chorus section)

[au766@freenet.carleton.ca (Charles H. Baum)]

In a previous article, willtre@aol.com (Willtre) says:

>Recently I "accidently" found out via AOL's KB Folder that some info. I
>have on a source for the male-chorus interlude in "Hello Earth" in The
>Ninth Wave was not generally known... I had no idea that even Kate doesn't
>know where this piece (that she picked up from Werner Herzog's
>"Nosferatu") came from.
>
>2-3 years ago, my brother James was buying a lot of Russian orthodox
>liturgical music, thereby discovering the music of Georgia (Caucasia)
>along the way... he picked up a pretty obscure Japanese recording of
>traditional Georgian music (called, "The Marvels of Polyphony in
>Sakartvelo", CD Ethnic Sound Series #17, Victor, Japan 1987), and
>discovered upon playing the third cut that it was what must have been the
>source for this chant-like piece. On the Japanese CD it was called
>"Tshintsharo" (the liner notes were all in Japanese, so we couldn't learn
>anything more about this particular piece or type of music...Andy Marvick
>replied in an AOL msg. that the trailing credits in "Nosferatu" do mention
>something called "Zinzgaro"...) Back then when James' played the piece for
>me, I recognized the chord progression first, then started to hear the
>melody, moving in the same directions, at a slightly different
>meter--still very recognizable as the "Hello Earth" chorus. It is a very
>beautiful, haunting piece. 
>
>Just last Sunday, however, I was able to find out a little more about
>"Tshintsharo" because I discovered at Tower Records, a newer, domestic
>release of the exact same collection. The label, JVC, did not fully
>translate the liner notes, but about "Tshintsharo" it says this much:
>"This song performed without any trace of vibrato has a text including the
>line "May the well flow forth."
>
The Female Chorus Group of National Music School of Telavi is the chorus
which sings this cut on this CD, though most of the recordings I've heard
of this (usually on truly obscure Georgian vinyl albums) are done by male
choruses. Another JVC CD is Ethnic Sound Series No. 29, The Marvelous
Polyphony of Martve, which features the same piece done (track 17) by the
boy's chorus called Martve, directed by the Georgian choral director Anzor
Erkomaishvili, who also directs the Rustavi Ensemble.

The song is actually a traditional lyrical song from Kakheti-Kartli, the
easternmost region of the (former Soviet) Republic of Georgia, the area
around Tbilisi, the capital. The song is actually best transliterated as
_tsintsqaro_. The _ts_ sounds are glottalized underneath the ts, and teh
_q_ is like a _k_ sound, except made as far back in your throat as
possible, and then a little further back. (It's a sound that Georgians
like to hear foreigner attempt, and sometimes literally choke on.)
All vowels tend toward median (neither long nor short).

The version that Kate uses is actually a pretty good transcription of the
the traditional tune. The harmonies are also traditional--one of the
unusual distinguishing features of Georgian music is that it is almost
ALWAYS in harmony, usually three-part harmony in the Kakheti region, where
_tsintsqaro_ is from. I first became aware of it when the Kate Bush album
was used as background music for an episode of _Miami Vice_ involving
Soveit defectors and spies. I didn't actually see the episode, but my
friend had taped it on his VCR to time shift it, and my friend Frank is
one of a handful of people in America (besides myself) that instantly
recognized it as a Georgian tune. In fact, tracking down Kate Bush's use
of it is how I got into Kate Bush myself. (I've long been into Georgiaqn
music!)

Tsintsqaro can be translated as _At the Spring_ or _By the Source_ or _At
the Well_. It's a boy meets girl love song; he catches a glimpse of
her at the spring when she comes to fetch water.

The choral parts of Hello Earth are therefore actually a traditional,
public-domain folk-song!

A transliteration of the Georgian words I use to sing it (originally from
a 1936 transcription of the song):

1. tsin-tsqa-ro cha-mo-vi-a-re tsin-tsqa-ro
   tsin-tsqa-ro bi-cho da cha-mo-vi-a-re

2. tsin shem khvda ka-li la-ma-zi tsin shem-khvda
   bi-cho da ko-ka-rom e-dga-mkhar-ze-da

3. si-tqva u-tkkhar da i-tsqi-na si-tqva u-tkhar-ri
   bi-cho da gan-ris-khda da-dga gan-ze-da

4. repeat verse 1.

Charlie Baum
The Kartuli Ensemble
(North America's Georgian Mens A-Cappella Chorus)

--
Charles Baum   au766@freenet.carleton.ca
        also   cbaum@cap.gwu.edu