Song hunters in Svaneti: Musical tourism and other intercultural encounters in highland Georgia

This dissertation analyzes the continuities and disjunctures between pre-socialist, socialist, and neoliberal Georgia, as exemplified in intersubjective, intracultural, and intercultural encounters between singers and musicians. It approaches these dynamics through an in-depth ethnographic examination of the Georgian highland region known as Svaneti, particularly examining the life of a key interlocutor: the Svan singer, instrumentalist, music teacher, folk ensemble director, and “songmaster” Islam Pilpani (1934–2017). In less than two decades, heavily mythicized Svaneti has gone from an isolated and dangerous rural backwater to a hot tourist destination that some fear is approaching the point of diminishing returns. Svan people, infamous for adhering to an exacting moral code of mountain hospitality and blood feud, have experienced startling changes to their way of life in this time period. The most entrepreneurial have capitalized on foreign fascination with Svaneti’s stunning natural landscapes and exotic, supposedly medieval culture. A key aspect of the latter is Svanetian music, which attracts foreign singers due to its archaism, connections to pagan ritual, and harmonies interpreted as strikingly dissonant. Intercultural encounters bear both risks and opportunities. As song tourists have expanded their own horizons and created new opportunities for Svan musicians, local musicking has shifted to accommodate and sometimes prioritize the needs of foreigners or lowland cultural administrators. By examining the relationships that develop between Svanetian musicians and people from other parts of the world, I uncover the power dynamics, agendas, and potentialities at play when localized musical customs become fetishized as commodities and artifacts of national cultural heritage.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Musicology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2019

Author dc:creator

• Knight, Matthew E.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Buchanan, Donna A.
• Greenberg, Jessica
• Silvers, Michael
• Solis, Gabriel

• Ethnomusicology
• Republic of Georgia
• Svaneti
• Svans
• Caucasus
• Postsocialism
• Neoliberalism
• Intercultural Encounter
• Cultural Institutions
• Political Economy
• Hospitality
• Gift
• Moral Economy
• Feasting
• Georgian Polyphony
• Georgian Folk Music
• Folk Polyphony
• Choral Music
• Music Tourism
• Cultural Tourism
• Ecotourism

Statement dc:rights

• copyright 2019 Matthew E. Knight

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/105202

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/105202