International Research Center for Traditional Polyphony

The International Research Center for Traditional Polyphony (IRCTP or Polyphonic Center) is an academic organization focused on the study of the phenomenon of traditional vocal polyphony. It is a part of Tbilisi Vano Sarajishvili State Conservatory. Establishment of IRCTP was announced during the First International Symposium of Traditional Polyphony in 2002, and it was logistically established by the order of the Rector of Tbilisi State Conservatory in February 2003. Its director is Rusudan Tsurtsumia. The head of its International Bureau is Joseph Jordania. Central activity of the Polyphonic Center is organizing biannual symposia, with subsequent publication of the presented papers, fostering dissemination of the knowledge on human musical cultures and establishing close professional contacts between ethnomusicologists interested in study of the phenomenon of traditional choral singing.

Georgia has been known among ethnomusicologists as the country with extremely rich traditions of vocal polyphony since the 1920s. Study of vocal polyphony has been one of the central issues for Georgian ethnomusicology from the second half of the 19th century. In 1972 Union of Composers of Soviet Union organized the conference dedicated to traditional polyphony in Georgia (this was the very first conference in the world, fully dedicated to traditional polyphony). The ongoing series of biannual conferences dedicated to the problems of traditional polyphony, with the wide participation of the experts from Soviet Union, Europe and America, were organized in 1984, 1986 and 1988. The following conference (scheduled in 1990) was initially postponed and later canceled due to the political instability in post-soviet Georgia. The series of biannual conferences on traditional polyphony were revived in 1998 and 2000, leading to the organizing of the First International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony in 2002. The first symposium was preceded by proclamation of Georgian traditional polyphony among the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2001. Representative of UNESCO attended the Symposium, providing support of UNESCO. The Polyphonic Centre has been supported during the recent years by the Presidents of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze and Mikhail Saakashvili. For several years the Polyphonic Centre was also supported by the Japanese government. There has been a steady increase in interest towards the study of traditional polyphony (choral singing) during the recent years. In the 1970s there were two initial conferences organized on this subject, in the 1980s four conference, in the 1990s three conferences, and during the first decade of the 21st century nine conferences had been organized in several countries (apart from Georgia, in Taiwan in 2002, in Austria in 2005 and 2008, in Portugal in 2007). A centre for the study of European traditional polyphony was established at Vienna University in 2005, and the study group on multipart music of ICTM was established in 2009 and organized a conference in Sardinia, Italy in 2010. The earliest international organization to dedicate its activity entirely to study of traditional choral singing was Polifonies Vivante, organized in France during the 1991-1994 by Simha Arom.

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