Kathryn Kilian

I’m trying to think of when I first heard of Hamlet Gonashvili, and was therefore introduced to Georgian folk music.  If I recall correctly, it was sometime during the Spring semester of my one year of a Master’s degree; I would take breaks from practicing Bartok‘s Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano and would figure out how to play the songs sung by Gonashvili instead!

This is the first thing I ever heard him sing:

His voice is so warm and full.  As I’ve watched (pretty much) all of the videos that I can find of him on YouTube, I’ve tried to deduce the characteristics that seem unique to him, and that make him such a compelling performer.

It may seem like a superficial way of expressing it, but when other singers sustain a note, it sounds like they are doing it because they are supposed to.  When Gonashvili holds a note, I can hear his patience.  I can hear his willingness to live in the moment, and let himself only move on to the next when that moment has grown too full; I can hear him biding his time, knowing that every moment has its place in the continuum of a song.

Great teachers, leaders, healers, musicians, and spiritual people have expertise in a certain area, and that knowledge helps them to guide others.  (Certainly Gonashvili is an excellent singer–he has wonderful breath control, executes the melismas characteristic of his country’s music effortlessly.)  However, I think that their more important quality is the ability to surrender to the moment, and it is that quality which allows them to connect to others so deeply.  Why is this?  When one experiences NOW, we relinquish our claims on the past and the future, and step into the unknown.  We give up our plan of “how this phrase will go”, and instead choose mystery.

This is what makes all of us equals, and this is what connects us.  No matter what our lot in life, we all have the present moment as well as the self-consciousness that makes us forget it.

Whenever I hear a great artist, they take me out of my “self” that I carry around with me all day, and put me into pure being.  They are willing to be in the moment and not know what’s coming next, and if I’m willing to live in the moment with them, they help me to open up my world.

There are many other artists that can suspend/stretch/eliminate time like this (one other I can think of is Baryshnikov)… which  are your favorites?  What helps you to live in the moment?