Larchemi/Soinari - The Georgian Panpipe

This article focuses on the panpipe, one of the ancient instruments of the Georgian traditional instrumentarium. Some Georgian traditional instruments remain popular today, with playing and construction techniques still preserved. Others, however, have disappeared from everyday life and stage folklore. Today, an instrument considered as one of the most ancient Georgian traditions – the panpipe, which we can discuss based on documentation and materials from the first half of the 20th century – is among those that have disappeared from everyday life.The article aims to collate information about the instrument from different works by various researchers, and also to study its organological, ethnographic and musical features. It offers in-depth analysis of audio recordings and notated scores from fieldwork expeditions of the 1930s and 1950s. Nowadays, there are some attempts in the regions as well as in the capital of Georgia to restore this instrument, although construction and repertoire are significantly different from the traditional forms.