Songbook Georgia | Liederbuch Georgien

Tamar Buadze studied choral conducting and singing at the State Conservatory V. Sarajishvili in Tbilisi. In 2003 Tamar Buadze met the Laz singer, Nazi Memeshishi, from whom she learned many Laz folk songs which she then re-arranged into three-part singing. She founded the Tutarchela (Moonlight) Women's Choir in 2004 which gained international recognition a year later through Ruth Olshans documentary "Wie Luft zum Atem" ("Like Air to Breathe"). She was made director of the JPOR Folklore School in 2006, where she founded the second and third generation of the Tutarchela Ensemble and the Tutarchela Youth Choir. Since its founding this choir has reached a wide public not only in Georgia but also internationally with its lively interpretation of Georgian folk music. In 2008 she won prizes for excellence in leading choirs and for her musical arrangements.
In 2010 the Festival Concert "From the Alps to the Caucasus" was staged for the first time in collaboration with Imke McMurtrie and the Femmes Vocales Women's Choir. On the initiative of the German ambassador, Maia Frank-Henning, she founded Tutarchela International in 2011 in which women from other countries living and working in Georgia sang with members of the Tutarchela Ensemble. Tamar Buadze holds regular international seminars and workshops on Georgian song. She also gives concerts and advanced training groups in Germany and Switzerland as as a singer and teacher. She arranges musical exchanges with German and Swiss musicians such as Franziska Welti, Ralf Sochaczewsky and Fraua Kruse-Zaiss. In 2012 she received a medal of honour from the Georgian President in recognition of her cultural activities in Georgia and Europe. 2013 on the holiday of the city of Rustavi, Rustavkalakoba, she was nominated honorary citizen.

Imke McMurtrie is a singer and vocal coach, music ethnologist and author. She studied education, music and theatre in Munich and Berlin. From 1976 to 1982 she was a member of the Living Theatre (USA)