Tsinubani
Mariam Chincharauli
Maro was born and raised in the famous village of Shatili, Khevsureti. At an early age she married into Guro, one of the most remote villages of the highland. In 1952, when the Khevsur people were forcefully relocated to the lowlands, she was moved with her family to a village outside Rustavi. When a landslide hit the area around Guro, access back up to the village was blocked and so was their potential return.
Life was hard in the valley at first as there was no water in their new settlements and the land yielded poor crops. The family was forced to move from one village to the next. After fifteen years of moving and three sons born in three different villages, they heard news of a poultry factory opening on the outskirts of Tbilisi where workers received free houses.
Maro, eighty-two years old at the time of recording, lives there today. Four of her many grandchildren make up the band Debi Gogochurebi, (the Gogochuri Sisters), which sings many traditional Khevsur songs taught to them by their grandmother.
Visit Mikheil Chincharauli's profile, to hear the songs of Maro's brother from Shatili.
Mariam Chincharauli