The GZAAT gazette is starting a new mini-project. Various teachers will be interviewed about their music preferences, and then based on these interviews, members of the newspaper will create Spotify playlists for each interviewed teacher. These playlists will later be available for anyone interested in listening to them, and students are greatly encouraged to check these playlists out and give them a listen. This article will cover Nia Chachiashvili, a biology teacher at GZAAT, and her diverse list of liked music.
TOM WAITS
Upon being asked who some of her top artists were, Nia immediately said that she was a fan of Tom Waits, an American singer-songwriter. Apparently, Nia was introduced to Waits about two years ago, by an online friend who had recommended him. When she listened to his music, she found that it “kind of fit”. One aspect of his music that she really appreciates is the lyrics of his songs, which are beautiful and interesting to Nia. Tom Waits is actually known for the gritty lyrics in his songs, as well as his raspy voice. His music can be classified as a mixture of jazz, blues, and avant-garde rock. A specific song of his which Nia found worth mentioning is “All the World is Green”.
CESAIRA EVORA
Another artist that was talked about was Cesaria Evora, a singer from Mindelo, Cape Verde. Cesaria’s music started out as a type of Cape Verdean folk, known as mornas. A common theme in such music is love for the homeland, and love in general. The most typical instrument used in this type of music is the guitar, which often plays in the background of a solo instrument, which could be another guitar, a violin, or even the voice of a singer. Cesaria often sang about the bitter history of her country, and her songs mostly used the guitar and piano. Later in her career, she went to Europe, where she gained popularity and was known as “The Barefoot Queen/Diva”, because she often tended to be barefoot. Cesaria’s music is very interesting to Nia and excites her very much. Apparently, quite unexpectedly, Nia had the opportunity to see Cesaria Evora perform in real life, which was a rare opportunity for her.
BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB
Another group that gained Nia’s love is the group known as “Buena Vista Social Club” .
This group was more of a social project than an actual group. The organizers of this project, executive Nick Gold, guitarist Ry Cooder, and director Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, recruited many retired veteran musicians from Cuba. They all worked together to resurrect traditional Cuban music known as son, and recorded an album in March 1996, which was issued to the public in September 1997. They soon gained popularity and even a documentary was recorded about the group.
JAZZ
Nia remembers how, when she was younger, she had a strong love for jazz music. She reminisces that there were multiple clubs in Tbilisi which offered a diverse repertoire of such music. However, she emphasizes that this was all quite a long time ago. Speaking of the older days, Nia also describes how, when she was a kid, certain rock artists, such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin, were extremely popular amongst the teenagers of her time and that people often collected records by these groups. Even though not everyone necessarily liked this type of music, it was considered to be “cool” to be a fan of these artists.
RAP AND HIP-HOP
So far, Nia’s music taste is quite broad, but there are certain genres that she doesn’t particularly like, such as rap and hip-hop, which she says aren’t really for her. However, Nia constantly keeps an open mind, saying that one of the factors contributing to her dislike for these genres is her lack of knowledge about them. She simply does not know much about and lacks experience with, this type of music.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Nia is quite knowledgeable about classical music. Apparently, Nia’s parents were big fans of classical music and attempted to educate Nia in this genre. She took piano lessons when she was in elementary school and attended a music school for about four years. However, Nia claims that music lessons ended up becoming a bit too stressful for her and, consequently, she left these studies behind. However, Nia’s overall appreciation of classical music remained and she remembers still tagging along with her parents to many performances. Today she says that she likes some classical music, and an artist she particularly admires is Bela Bartok, a Hungarian composer, and pianist. She especially likes his song “Humoresque”.
GEORGIAN MUSIC
While Nia’s musical preferences include artists and genres from across the world, it also focuses on her own country, Georgia. Nia says that she very much appreciates Georgian music and that she is specifically interested in Georgian folk music. One of Nia’s favorite Georgian songs is “ჩაკრულო”, which she describes as simply a great song. Another song she mentions is “რა მადლიანად ანათებს“.
Despite Nia’s obvious love for music, she says that she often does not have much time to enjoy it. This is because she doesn’t like to listen to music while doing other tasks. She must be fully invested in the song that she is listening to at the moment. She likes for her full attention to be reserved by the song only and she can’t always make time for this. However, when she does listen to music she really relishes it. She says that certain songs really affect her mood, and she often listens to music that makes her feel happy. An example of such a song that she mentions is “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong. She says that it helps her relax and get in a good mood. And after all, isn’t that what music is all about?
Edited by Kato Ambokadze