The five-day original music radio festival titled “Music from Batumi” concluded, bringing pleasant moments to everyone who managed to spend at least one evening with the participants of this event.
The evenings were held in front of Ajara Public Broadcaster’s Ajara Radio, on a beautifully decorated makeshift stage.
The festival organizers were Ajara Radio journalists Teona Zedania and Ilo Shavishvili. As they told us, this location was chosen because it was technically possible to broadcast the evenings live on the radio. This also emphasized that radio has always been the primary and main supporter for original music performers, because people who create their own music are first heard on the radio. With this project, they brought young authors closer to the audience and simultaneously allowed listeners to hear them.
The festival featured local musicians, bands, and groups such as “Melomaniac,” “Babajana,” “Tabemono,” “Moonlight,” “Kai,” Vazha Turushi, Irakli Pagava, and others.
As for the program, as its name suggests, only original music was presented. This festival also serves to bring original music and its creators to a wider arena.
This was the first festival of its kind, which the organizers held within the framework of the grant competition for festivals to be held in local administrative territories, announced by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports of Ajara.
As Teona and Ilia told us, the goal is to popularize original music, because the demand for original music at concerts is not very high, and its creators often have to “shelve” such music.
“Precisely to showcase these people and to define the role of the state in this support, it was decided to hold such a festival. Local bands and performers were given the opportunity to play for 40-45 minutes,” says Teona.
The organizers’ desire is for the festival to become international in scale, but for starters, they confined themselves to local bands. As Ilia and Teona say, original music defines our identity:
“We understand that commercial establishments demand other music, those that are more familiar to the ear, to keep the listener in full comfort, but you become a musician and your recognition is determined only by your own work. Unfortunately, original music festivals are rarely held, especially in the regions there is no luxury for this. The role of radio is great in this, whose main goal is to promote the creativity of such musicians. When a global hit is written, it is first heard on the radio. The same is true at Ajara Radio, which helps local musicians to develop. Therefore, this festival is also held under the auspices of Ajara Radio. What the public hears on the street is broadcast live. The main supporter of the festival is the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports of Ajara. Holding such a festival involves large sums of money, and therefore the role of the state is important. Without the support of the Ministry, we would not have been able to hold the festival independently. A number of private sectors also cooperate with us, and their role is also crucial. We extend our sincere gratitude to everyone who stood by us.”