The Caucasus is a region surrounded by Iran to its south, Turkey and the Black Sea to its west, Russia to its north, and the Caspian Sea to its east, with Central Asia on the other side of the shore. Today, it consists of three ex-Soviet republics, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in the south. In the north, across the Caucasus Mountains, are several republics within the Russian Federation which share similar cultures.
Despite its modest size, the region is frequently described as one of the most linguistically and culturally diverse regions of the world, with over fifty ethnic groups and over forty indigenous languages, most of which are unrelated to languages spoken anywhere else on Earth, from where it gained the epithet “Mountain of Tongues”.
This exhibition focuses on the South Caucasus, which has strong historical ties with neighboring Central Asia and Middle East.
The Armenians and Georgians are two ancient peoples who first established independent political entities in the region around the 4th century BC, and were the first nations to adopt Christianity as state religion in the 4th century. They maintain distinct languages and cultural traditions despite having lived under successive foreign rule since the Middle Ages to Soviet times. Azerbaijanis are a Turkic-speaking group who are supposed to have a mixed Turkic-Caucasian origin and have adopted a Turkic-Persian high culture as well as Islam.
The region has for a long time been managing influences from its neighbors, most notably from Persia since the Middle Ages, and adding to that the Ottoman Empire since the 15th century and more recently from Russia since the 18th century, in addition to the many differences between the three nations themselves. Despite major differences, they do share a level of cultural similarity that is distinctive of the region.
Music
Each of the nations has its unique musical traditions: polyphonic singing among the Georgians, urban folk music that mixes Middle Eastern, European and indigenous styles among Armenians, and the mugham classical music tradition among Azeris that is closely related to the Persian dastgah system and, by extension, to classical music in the Islamic world.
At the same time, they also share common musical heritage, notably in the art of the wandering singer-poet called ashik or ashugh, who accompanies him or herself on the long-necked lute saz and sings traditional narrative poetry on historical legends or their own poetry. The most renowned figure is Sayat Nova, an 18th century bard who wrote and sang poetry in Armenian, Azeri and Georgian using Armenian melodic structure and Persian poetic structures, and established a tradition of such performances among Georgians. He is considered one of the main sources of many shared popular melodies among the nations today.
Costumes
The Caucasus is a region with varied geography and climate despite its modest size: from the polar winters of the mountainous areas to the humid, subtropical weather by the Black Sea coast, and all varieties in between. At the same time, an active lifestyle prevails in the region too. The costumes of the region therefore respond to needs in these conditions: multilayered clothings with overcoats of simple cutting to facilitate agility and a display of strength, while still remaining graceful with display of broad shoulders and tight waist, made possible by local supplies of materials such as cotton, hemp, and mulberry trees for silk, as well as wool and skins of sheeps and goats.
While each nation has its own typical dress, there are a few pieces that are shared among the different nations as typical Caucasian clothings: the chokha, a monochrome, woolen long overcoat for men, which sometimes include breast pocket for bullets; the arkhalig, a long, tight-waisted, low-cut jacket with short skirt for both men and women, typically decorated with elaborate embroidery; and headwear such as the papakha, a men’s fur cap, and various silk scarves that women wear as head covering. Many such traditional clothings are now only worn on special occasions.