Author: Eliza Thomas

Six Georgian Bands Bringing Traditional Polyphony into the Pop Music Age

Georgian polyphonic singing, added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is a musical technique in which a single song has several melodies, each sung concurrently, with no one tune dominating the others. In Georgia, the style varies by region, but the practice reflects both military, folk, and religious culture. […]

Kyrgyz Soccer: An Introductory Guide

The history of soccer in Kyrgyzstan goes back to 1921, with an oft-cited first match taking place in Bishek, Kyrgyzstan’s capital city, against a team from Kazakhstan. The Kazakh team won, but not before the sport of soccer staked a permanent claim on the Kyrgyz national consciousness— the game’s been culturally significant ever since. However, […]