Exclusive Interview on Georgia

Some of you familiar with my previous blogs about the situation in my home country may still remember the reference that I made a couple of weeks ago to a potential interview with the Georgian Ambassador to the United Nations.

After a few attempts to "catch" Mr. Alasania in-between his meetings and Security Council discussions to do the interview while the issue is still very much in the headlines, I finally got a chance to sit down with him at the UN Radio HQ this morning for a tete-a-tete dialogue about the current situation and what's in hold for Georgia and its two breakaway regions.

Although the interview airs on PRN (the NY-based radio station where I do my weekly show broadcast from the UN) and UN Radio this week, you can catch my private upload streaming right here.....

Quite a different side of Tinatin, I suppose... minus the dance beat :-) Would really love to hear what you think, if you get a chance to have a quick listen!!

A Night Out on the East River

What a month it's been so far, trying to juggle everything at once - the UK/Canadian promo of "Thinking of Someone Else", preparing new club remixes of the song as a bonus track for the single, researching and following the ever-so escalating conflict back home which has gone way beyond a Geo-Russian dispute, in fact, covering the news at the UN with a a particular focus on this issue, and so on.... So much to do, and since the summer is almost over - there's only so much time for a bit of fun!

Last night was a perfect opportunity to escape the reality of a political world - sailing across NY's Eastside with live music and a great company of friends and colleagues - what more could you ask for?

Well, it certainly didn't help waking up this morning with a piercing pain in the throat - no singing for me today, that's for sure! So what do you do instead on a beautiful Thursday afternoon with a sore throat and a bit of a headache (no, no, I only had a couple of glasses of Captain + Coke) - right on the verge of getting sick? I spent an hour or two in the heart of Central Park... reading today's newspapers and preparing for my radio show! Not glamorous, perhaps, but so relaxing, nevertheless. Oh, and my iPod helped immensely as well - new ideas on the way and all that.... Not as good as a proper holiday, but still rather soothing for the soul!

I've spent the last few months reading so much about Russian history and particularly the Soviet era, I realized the other day that I've been neglecting entertainment and fiction for a while now, so I just picked up a funny book called "A Waiter's Rant" - absolutely hilarious. So this book, alongside my other current read, "Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse?" (doesn't sound too entertaining, does it? Haha) and the iPod - can't complain!

Here's to the upcoming long weekend!!!

Will have to keep an eye on the politics, though, so you will forgive me if I write a paragraph or two about the current events and the news from home and beyond... Hard to be ignorant about it when it is so obviously close to home and is increasingly affecting all of us not only in Eastern Europe but pretty much everywhere else..... More on that later :-)

Human Rights Watch on Georgia/Russia in South Ossetia

I have just received this press release from the Human Rights Watch and since you have all been so attentive and caring in regards to this horrible conflict escalating by the day, I've decided to post a copy of the HRW release for those of you interested in both sides of the story.... taking into account the two varying sides only when it comes to the civilians - unjustly affected by this mayhem.

For Immediate Release:

Georgia/Russia: Do Not Attack Civilians in South Ossetia

New York, August 9, 2008 – Georgia and Russia should not under any circumstances target civilians as the current hostilities intensify in South Ossetia, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch, concerned by reports of attacks targeting civilians, called on all sides to respect the absolute ban against targeting civilians or carrying out attacks that indiscriminately harm civilians.

“All sides must remember that attacks on civilians, or acts intended to terrorize civilians, clearly violate international humanitarian law, and may constitute war crimes,” said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “This would be true even if they are carried out in reprisal for indiscriminate attacks by the adversary.”

After weeks of low-level hostilities, the conflict in South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Georgia backed by Moscow, escalated dramatically in the early morning of August 8, 2008. Georgia declared that it intended to restore constitutional order and launched a large-scale military offensive. Russia sent additional troops to South Ossetia, saying they were reinforcements to Russian peacekeepers who are in the area to monitor a 1992 ceasefire between Georgian and South Ossetian forces.

South Ossetia authorities claimed that Georgian forces used Grad multiple launch rocket systems to shell civilian areas, particularly in the capital, Tskhinvali, and that dozens of buildings were destroyed or damaged, including the university, the hospital, a shopping center, schools, and several government buildings. According to unconfirmed media reports, several Ossetian villages, including Dmenis and Tsunar, also sustained significant damage.

Reports on casualties vary widely, with different media agencies citing figures ranging from 15 to 1,400 people killed in South Ossetia as a result of the attacks. None of these reports could be confirmed.

According to the Russian Federal Migration Service, 971 people fled South Ossetia on August 8 and sought refuge in North Ossetia, a Russian province that borders South Ossetia. North Ossetian hospitals reported that they were ready to admit the wounded; but the head of the regional hospital was quoted by Kavkazskii Uzel, a news website, as saying that, “the road which was intended for evacuation of the wounded has been bombed,” and doctors did not have access to the wounded.

Russia’s military command claimed that 12 Russian peacekeepers deployed in South Ossetia were killed and 120 injured, and also blamed the Georgian side for obstructing the evacuation of the wounded from Tskhinvali.

In the meantime, according to the BBC and other international media, Russian tanks have reportedly reached the northern suburbs of Tskhinvali while the Russian air force has been carrying out air raids in South Ossetia and further into Georgian territory. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili accused Moscow of bombing Georgian air bases and towns, resulting in the deaths of 30 military personnel and civilians.

Human Rights Watch called on both parties to abide by the fundamental principle of international humanitarian law, which requires armed forces to distinguish between combatants and civilians, and between military objects and civilian objects, at all times. It is also forbidden to carry out indiscriminate attacks or attacks that cause damage disproportionate to the anticipated concrete military advantage.

South Ossetia was an autonomous province of Georgia during the Soviet era. It declared independence from Georgia in 1990, and armed conflict between South Ossetian and Georgian forces ensued in 1991 and 1992. The conflict ended in 1992 with a ceasefire and establishment of a tripartite peacekeeping force, with Russian, Ossetian and Georgian peacekeeping battalions. The ceasefire adhered, but tensions continued, with Georgia accusing Russia of providing assistance to South Ossetia’s separatist movement.

For a background Q&A on the current conflict in South Ossetia, please visit:
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/08/08/georgi19577.htm

For more of Human Rights Watch’s work on Georgia, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/doc?t=europe&c=georgi

On Georgia Today

Many people underestimate the value of real human relationships we make with our online "virtual" friends on websites such as Myspace, but at times when that "human factor" is much needed, somehow the line between online and offline friendships is so blurred - it becomes too minuscule a difference.

With the most recent escalation of conflict back in my home country, Georgia (Georgia the country, not the state, remember that blog post early on? :-) and the growing interest of western media about the events taking place in Southern Ossetia, I - among many, many Georgian expatriates witnessed the genuine concern of the westerners, and in my particular case - the friends that I have recently made on Myspace have really demonstrated such heart-felt support and interest in the current events... It's staggering and heart warming. Thank you all so much for your sweet messages and concern.

Years after Southern Ossetia along with another Georgian region - Abkhazia - declared their independence from Georgia in the mid 90's, Georgia's President Mikhail Saaakashvili has vowed to bring both regions back into the fold. Over the past several months, the tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi have increased most significantly and the fighting has intensified - most recently, since earlier this week - even more so, as most of you may already know.

World leaders and international organizations, including the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council, have been actively calling for an end to the fighting in Georgia's de facto breakaway region, South Ossetia, but unfortunately as we have seen the news unfold throughout the day, the conflict is only escalating at a significant rate.

And with governments of Georgia, Russia and the de facto leadership of the de facto region of South Ossetia aside, civilians are truly the ones least deserving of this nightmare. While all parties are eagerly blaming each other, the ordinary civilians are being affected by the fighting not only in Ossetia, but even, for example, in the capital of Georgia - having spoken to my family back home last night, they voiced their worries about the younger male members of my family being forced by this current situation to join the local troops to fight in Ossetia... Scary... And unpredictable....

One wonders if this is just the beginning of something even more complicated and frightening due to all the political mayhem... And who gets stuck in the middle of it? People... People who want nothing more but to live in peace in their own homes with their family members all being well and alive.

As my compatriots and I keep our fingers crossed for a peaceful solution to this long-term conflict that has been going on for ages now, let's just hope it really doesn't get much worse before it's too late...

And thank you all once again, dear friends, for your thoughts and care - being born in Georgia and having moved to Russia quite early on, I can't help but feel torn and extremely uneasy about this, hoping somehow the international interference brings the right kind of resolution to this newly enraged... No, don't want to say the word "war".

Keep Yourself from Idols... Should I?

"Tell me who's your role model and I'll tell you who you are," someone I have a lot of respect in the world of arts said to me many years ago. I was too young to understand the true essence of what he was trying to say with this pompous-sounding statement, but years later, I realized there was more to it than "who's style do you prefer and who's album cover do you dislike".

There's a famous Russian saying derived from the Bible, I believe: "Don't make an idol for yourself" ("ne sotvori sebe kumira") but for whatever reason, it was never a motto I used in my early years. Perhaps it's for the better - that way, I had taken the time and effort to really delve into every ounce of my favorite artists' work and artistic being.

One of my favorites (not the most loved one, but easily the next one down) was an adult contemporary vocal sensation of the 90's who became particularly huge in the latter half of the decade onwards - just as I had approached my teens and had definitely decided to pursue a singing career.

It was at the time when the internet had a few more years to go before it had hit every single household in Russia in a big way. So album sleeves with credits, fan club and management info's were the only source for the determined teenager in Moscow.

I had barely turned 13 when one day I decided to write to her and send one of her songs I had recorded by myself in my bedroom - something I wouldn't have done if I hadn't loved her that much (not a typical "fan" and never have been, for some reason).

Believe it or not (and let's not forget that it was right after Russia's initial introduction and first steps towards capitalism and westernization), in the middle of our morning class at school, I got called into my Principal's office: "Your mom's on the phone" (there were no mobile phones at youngsters' disposal at the time...) What could it be, I wondered....

"Are you sitting down? You got a letter through the mail... From across the Atlantic..." I couldn't believe what my mom was saying - it was so surreal, especially living in a rather isolated world detached from the rest of the western hemisphere altogether... And all of a sudden, a letter from the management of someone I had loved and looked up to - needless to say, I was speechless and couldn't wait to get home from school to see the letter with my own eyes!

And there it was.... Beautifully printed with gold font at the top - quite different from our local barely visible print on poor, worn out paper, that's for sure!

The sweet note was signed by a direct contact at the management company who also happened to be related to the artist herself and whose name (being a die-hard fan) was very familiar to the 13-year-old.

It was so overwhelming - I decided to keep the letter (and have done so, in fact) and promised myself that one day I would work with the people who had been directly involved in making her records that I had played over and over again and sang along with enthusiastically in our little Moscow apartment....

There's something inexplicably satisfying in the very knowledge that I have indeed kept the promise made to my 13-year-old self. And although the dream is still a journey and a reality in the making, it makes me feel immensely warm deep down whenever I remember literally obsessing over the little details and bit and pieces of what is now my life - my very own career that seemed like a faraway dream back then, although there are still miles and miles to go before it's fully achieved.

As for the artist mentioned above, I watched one of her latest "behind the scenes" sessions the other day and I have to admit, it was a truly disappointing sight. Having lost her charisma and artistic honesty completely, I thought I was watching an ultimately fabricated and calculated show - and if that's what they call "behind the scenes".... Wow.

It is a shame that anyone who makes it THAT big is expected to "lose it" and become totally alien to the very notion of reality - they are always expected to lose their sense of being a part of something larger and more important than their own persona. It's as if they live on a different planet altogether where the rest of the universe revolves around them. Unfortunately, more often than not, that's precisely what happens.

As Maria Callas used to say, an artist's responsibility is to serve something bigger than himself/herself - the art. Except it's usually the other way around in this day and age of the showy show business.... Music serves the artistic ego and not vice versa.

What can you do..... Just enjoy the music, I suppoose, while the rest takes care of itself...

Rocking Russkies: "Oh, Sweet Home Alabama...!"

The other day, a friend of mine from London sent me an email attachment with a subject that read, rather pompously: "Globalization".

"Oh, not again!" I thought to myself, "How much more of this bureaucratic talk can one tolerate without feeling like an amateur politician?"

On the contrary to my initial gut feeling, the video proved an ultimate proof that globalization is, indeed, a phenomenon which is growing by the day - both online and offline.

As you all know, back in the USSR, the Soviet Red Army was quite famous for its impressive (mainly in size) official choir composed of soldiers turned into musicians and vice versa. Even in the 21st century, many years after the Soviet regime collapsed, the Red Army choir is still going strong, performing extensively nationwide to this very day.

Up to this point, it's all very sweet and patriotic, but what about globalization, you may ask? Good point! :-)

Having imagined a very Sovietsky-looking army choir consisting of nicely groomed musical soldiers of the Red Army, how one mixes that group with a Finnish rock band called The Leningrad Cowboys is quite a stretch, no doubt.

And it gets better, too...

Not long ago, The Leningrad Cowboys (remember how Leningrad was initially called St. Petersburg, way before our time, and in the post USSR climate was reversed back to the same identity?) held a concert in Russia for a screaming group of Russian teenagers. As a special "patriotihttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifc" flavor for the crowd, they invited the Red Army Choir to join them on stage for a special performance of a VERY unexpected number... "SWEET HOME ALABAMA"!!!

As "To the Point News" agency suggested, one couldn't have made this up - no way!

To see this spectacular video, do make sure you click on this link !

Happy Independence Day vs. Victory Day!

And here comes the much anticipated, as all the other celebrations that result in a long weekend, Independence Day!

Having lived here for just over three and a half years, I am rarely as excited about the event as most of my friends, particularly because I have never been big on fireworks!

The closest equivalent of the US Independence Day back in Russia is by far May 9th, the traditional day when first the USSR, and now its principal successor state, Russia, proudly marks "Victory Day" as its most sacred of all public holidays.

Probably the only other public celebration that can easily beat the V Day in Russia is Dec 31st, New Year's Eve. The pompousness of Christmas in the West has always bewildered me, and yet I've always felt slightly jealous because we don't have a remotely similar grandeur over Christmas back home, which by the way takes place on January 7th. Nothing compares the vivaciousness in the streets of Moscow on New Year's Eve - every family celebrates it like the joy and festivity of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year all assembled into one night, December 31st, when the President of Russia makes his annual speech broadcasted on every Russian channel exactly at midnight.

Unusual to talk about New Year's celebrations on a humid July afternoon, isn't it. But it really is the biggest public festivity back home that brings people closer for that one night when everything seems hopeful, positive and brand new. May 9th is fun, albeit somewhat bureaucratic, whereas December 31st is what the whole year is all about. I am sure it is a big deal everywhere, but since Christmas seems to be the "ultimate" in the western world, we just make up for it altogether a week later on our side of the pond!

I still remember the night of Dec. 31st - Jan. 1st, 1993-1994 in Moscow, on Stariy Arbat (Old Arbat) Street in the very heart of the city - the night when the first President of the post-Soviet Republic of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, was allegedly killed in Chechnya, and my cousin Ketuta, both 9 years of age, with eyes wide open watched the evening news with my parents in the living room.

Ketuta has still not forgotten the Christmas Tree (we call them the New Year's trees back home, hence the big night) that my dad creatively came up with the night before the celebration.... Christmas trees were a big deal at the time - in order to get a good one, you'd have to look for it all over the city and then pay an absolute fortune (well, for us it was quite a lot), so instead, Dad, being a painter himself, decided to paint a Christmas tree on the wall - literally. We bought small decorations for the "tree" and decorates the wall so beautifully and had so much fun doing it - to us, it really seemed like the most gorgeous Christmas tree in the whole wide world! It's true when they say that the little things are what really counts!

Sorry for getting carried away, but since we were discussing the public holidays, such as the one on this very day, the time machine did its little trick on me yet again.

As for the Independence Day celebrations tonight, everyone seems so excited about it, let's just hope the grey skies permit the excitement to flourish to its maximum potential! I remember every time the weather turned out to be disappointing on the Victory Day back in Moscow, the Mayor of the city used to make the clouds "go away" - not metaphorically but literally - with a click of a button... Quite cool, actually. But can't really be an ecologically "natural" process, can it?

When Luis Alberto met Mariana Villareal - The Slavic Invasion by Mexican Soap Operas

The other night, as a girlfriend of mine and I were wrapping up a girl's night out in Central Park, I couldn't help but check the time on my watch with 2 min intervals desperately trying to make it in time for nine p.m. No... Not what you think! There was no prince charming waiting impatiently by CVS for a goodnight kiss... It was even tackier than that, trust me. Can I really admit it? OK, let's try: I didn't want to miss my daily doze of a horrible, cheesy Russian soap opera on one of the cable channels - crazy or what??? Never been much of a housewife, or quite frankly have NEVER been a housewife (not yet, anyway) and not big on romantic novels either, so what's this all about? Nostalgia - that's it!

Years ago, when I was still a little girl, Russian TV aired the very 1st Latin American soap opera which became an instant sensation across the Soviet Union. You may find it unbelievable but this is actually true - in 1996, President Boris Yeltsin decided to broadcast a popular Brazilian soap on election day in an effort to keep voters away from the polls!

And as for American soaps - do any of you remember the endless saga by the name of "Santa Barbara"? The show was a huge hit in Russia, being the first American program to air there after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Being the first soap opera of "insane" length and complicated twists (Latin American soap operas aired earlier were generally not longer than 200 series), the very name of it became the local ironical denominative of soap operas and, even more so, of long stories about personal love filled with all sorts of madly entangled interpersonal twists.

Who would've thought that foreign telenovelas would have made such an incredible impact on such a huge, vastly populated nation, and in fact the entire Soviet block. But trust me, it's actually true - even as a little kid, I remember the entire capital of Georgia, Tbilisi, and later Moscow after we moved there, being completely taken by the lives and dramas of all of the characters of these soap operas.

I just came across an article about Russians finding their utter heroes in Mexican soaps, which was written and published in The NY Times in 1994. Here's an excerpt:

"In her gala opening performance at the Rossiya concert hall, Victoria Ruffo did not dance. Or sing. Or tell jokes. For two hours, against a giant backdrop of billowing sequined white tulle, the Mexican star of Russia's favorite soap opera, "Simply Maria," sat in an armchair on stage.

With the help of an interpreter, Ms. Ruffo chatted in Spanish with a bubbly Russian master of ceremonies and at the end, she answered a few questions from an audience of more than 2,000.

Russians are addicted to television soap operas, particularly to Mexican soap operas like "Simply Maria." When communication workers went on strike last month and the show starring Ms. Ruffo did not air, the protest calls were so ferocious that the Government quickly acceded to the strikers' demands."

Crazy, isn't it? Not in the slightest bit exaggerated either, I can tell you this from my personal experience - people were SO hooked on these nonsensical addictions, it was basically the only real entertainment and stress relief for our people back then.

And by the way, these soap operas were a million times bigger in Russia than in their countries of origin:

"I had never heard of Victoria Ruffo before," explained Zarina Martinez Borresen, the cultural attache at the Mexican Embassy in the mid 90's. "The show doesn't have the same success at home as it does here."

I remember my grandparents, who really were very bright and busy and all the rest of it, don't get me wrong, discussing the details of every episode as though Maria's problems had really been their own. "Did you see how Juan Carlos looked at her when she told him about the baby?", "Do you think Maria is going to stay with Victor or go back to Juan Carlos?", etc. No kidding, I'm dead serious!

Missing an episode was the biggest small tragedy in every family back then - even the husbands who initially criticized and laughed at their sentimental Soviet wives became addicted to it little by little. "Forget the soccer, 'The Rich Cry, Too' (Los Ricos Tambien Lloran) is on television!" It was that intense.

But unfortunately (or rather - fortunately) the undying enthusiasm wore off with time as we became more open and exposed to some of the more intellectually stimulating forms of Western art, television, entertainment, etc. It is in our blood though - even now.

Sometimes my friends and I laugh about it, we still remember some of the crazy plots and names of characters - it's quite nostalgic of us, if you think about it, and may seem a bit "retarded" to others, but it really was a part of that whole political "collapse" - and perhaps in many ways, it helped to make that transition a little more bearable and slightly less "shocking"?

When "Abroad" Becomes a Home

Some of you probably heard about the Euro 2008 soccer semi-final results - Russia got completely swamped by the Spanish team. In fact, they met twice during the tournament, and on both occasions, Spain pretty much outplayed Russia, particularly in the semi finals.

Now, fear not, my friends, this blog isn't about football (sorry, I should say "soccer"!) but rather about sometimes - only sometimes - actually feeling like you miss being home, in my case, back in Europe.

One of my best friends in Moscow sent me a message on Facebook this morning and we had a brief chat about the Euro 2008 - she couldn't believe that I missed all of the games, except for the highlights (Russian cable TV made us, the viewers, watch the scored goals a million times over and over again!) - "It's time you come back home," she added, jokingly.

And then I realized something...

A lot of my friends - both in Russia and Georgia - have never really approved my moving abroad. Not only because we don't get to see each other that often (I visited Moscow, where my parents are still based primarily, last September, but believe it or not, I haven't been in Georgia for... 4 years... shocking!!!) but also due to a simple fact - you'd be surprised how many of my friends and relatives strongly believe that one should live and die in one's very own homeland. An admirable kind of patriotism, no doubt, and as much as I love and miss both of my homes and the family and friends, I sometimes wonder if I could ever go back for good, having lived away from home for so long now... Should I feel guilty? I'm not even sure if this is good or bad.

Ever since I was a little girl, watching all the Hollywood movies, listening to what we used to then call "The American music" ranging from Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson, Whitney, etc. I had an inexplicably strong urge to one day live in this country and do what I love the most (and have always loved, in fact) here, in USA. A part of this fascination was definitely an offspring of my parents' ultimate dream for me to live here someday.

When the first group of ex-Soviet people were finally allowed to cross the border into the Western world, my parents came to the States to visit some friends on several occasions, which was pretty much unheard of at the time. So every time they went away for a couple of weeks to the Land of Hope and Dreams, my cousin (it's weird calling Ketuta my cousin, she's my sister, for God's sake - after all, we grew up together!) and I used to mark the days of their absence on our individual calendar as our grandma had suggested to keep us entertained and out of mischief... :-) We were rather impossible, particularly when we were plotting the next "disaster" as a duo! :-)

Back when the Soviet System Collapsed and people were hopeful and excited about the future back home, my dad, was offered a very tempting and creative job in NY with a Green Card, refurbished home, etc. to go with it, and had my mom not insisting on going back to Georgia ("How can we ever leave our home, family, friends???", she was definitely against it!) I'm sure we would have moved right away. But we stayed back in Tbilisi, and guess what? A year or so later, a civil war broke out! Good timing! :-)

The next opportunity was also turned down, but this time by none other than yours truly. When I came to New York to perform at the Alan & Marilyn Bergman show several years ago, my agent strongly suggested - no, he actually insisted - that I stay in the US and pursue my career here, except not in the pop world but on Broadway, instead. Because of all sorts of reasons, I declined the tempting offer and stubbornly made it clear that I wanted to live in London and that was it.

Well, I did move to London some time later, and I have to say I never ever regretted the teenage decision, although deep down, I always had a quiet urge to one day move here, to America, but this time on my own terms. How was it different from the previous offer? It was actually a great offer, now that I look back on it, but somehow I didn't feel prepared at the time and don't ask why - who knows! Immaturity being one of the issues, for sure :-)

So when I think about the struggle and a long path that perhaps could have been easier and shorter, after all, under different circumstances, I don't for a second want to go back and leave all of this behind, especially being half way "there", it would mean betraying myself in many ways. And as much as I love and miss my friends back home, there's a constant will power and a passion for what I do and why I do what I love in a country that was always an ultimate dream destination for me - and there's no way I could let it go. Those of you who had to make that journey at one point will surely understand what this is all about...

I don't think I'd be so passionate and so madly in love with all of this had it dropped on my lap too easily and too quickly... Doubt it.

"Where are you from?"

It's a classic question, isn't it, especially in a world capital such as the Big Apple, for example. It's not so hard if you're from an obvious place (e.g. France, Italy, Australia, Japan, etc.) but a tricky "dubious" answer like "Georgia" is nearly always followed by a quick explanatory "the country, not the state!" Otherwise, I'm bound to get bombarded with additional questions, such as " you don't have a Southern twang at all!"

No, not Atlanta, GA - the former Soviet republic of Georgia, that is!

I suppose it was only recently that people in the western world became more open to the notion of Georgia not being Russia but a former member of the Soviet Union instead. Although I have to admit, a lot of the new friends I have made here over the last 3 years that I've been living in the US, have really embraced this cultural exoticism of being a Georgian and even more so, they seem quite fascinated about what it means to be from the former USSR.

A few years ago, saying you were from Russia was a big deal - next to stating that you're an alien, really. Every time I mentioned that I'd spent my formative years in Moscow came as a huge cultural shock to those in the western part of the globe... Not anymore! It seems that the "Russification" of Europe and the US has become a norm in certain aspects, except the problem is that a lot of cliché misinformation tends to go hand in hand with it, as well.

I spent the evening chatting about this with a British friend of mine who happened to spent quite a bit of time in Russia during the last few years - in fact, she lived and worked in Moscow for a while. I am always rather surprised (though I know I shouldn't be - that's the norm, after all!) to hear my friends and colleagues talk about where they come from - very rarely do they ponder over a straightforward question like "Where are you from?" like I do...

Don't get me wrong - I am very aware and very proud of my Georgian roots, but having moved to Russia with my family at the age of 9, I got slightly confused as to which of the two places I could actually call "home" in all confidence and the due nostalgia.

Traveling the world and living all over a sufficient part of the western hemisphere over the years has really been a blessing in disguise. On the one hand, it is fascinating and enriching for the character and the inner being to be able to grasp the variety and diversity of the different cultures and also making them all a part of oneself in some small way. Yet, not forgetting who you are and where you come from (sounds corny, I know!) is a very important factor for discovering and nurturing one's own identity.

I do feel very lucky to have witnessed at least the tiniest part of the end of a Soviet era as we knew it and the transition into a new more westernized world as we now know it. The silliest things that may come across as trivial to a European or American reader made it so exciting and memorable even at a tender age of 7 onwards: the first grand opening of a McDonald's "restaurant" in Moscow, a pompous event, a ridiculously long queue and insane prices; a first Pepsi Cola invasion; the ability to buy any foreign record (the reign of piracy had just kicked off over there!) at a dingy Gorbushka Park in the outskirts of Moscow, etc. All of that and more made it quite an experience for me - and I think I actually appreciate it more now than I ever did before.

Whenever I go back to either Tbilisi (the capital of Georgia) or Moscow (no need for clarification here!!) I do feel a strange sense of coming home, yet having spent all these years away from the nest, I genuinely don't know if I'd ever be able to go back to square one and settle down back where I started for good... But then again, who knows...

It's becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate the innermost importance and emotional bond between myself and these two homes where, at the end of the day, I took my first steps both literally and metaphorically. Seeing Red Square or any other typical Moscow sight on television is a thrill for me each and every time. And yet, I met a lovely Georgian girl through an American producer that I am working with at the moment and have become friends with, at a bar next to the record company yesterday and I thought to myself, "I know I've been away a long time, but there's something special about two Georgians really clicking with each other miles and miles away from home." I was genuinely happy and proud in a patriotic sense to have been introduced to my compatriot... Oh, did I ever mention that Georgians are notorious for being a little too heavy on the patriotic side? :-)

As I'm writing these words, I can't help but remember that classic line from the Beatles "Back to USSR":



"Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia's always on my my my my my my my my my mind...."

Russkiy Amerikanskiy or Brighton Beach Foreva!

A day spent on the train to and from Brooklyn left quite an impression on me this afternoon. In search of “khinkali” (Georgian dumplings - well worth the schlep!) I also managed to dive into a Russian-American world yet again for several hours…

Every time I visit Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, I am constantly amazed by how un-American, let alone non-NYC it really feels being in the area.

Many years ago, Brighton Beach was dubbed “Little Odessa” by the locals, since many of its residents had come from Odessa, Ukraine. Largely populated by a huge community of Jewish immigrants who left the Former USSR 1970’s onwards, the locals are probably more culturally similar to Russians and Ukrainians than to the earlier Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn.

You will hardly ever hear an English-speaker in the street, and most of the stores and restaurants (if not all of them) are strictly Russian-oriented. I remember a couple of years ago I accidentally bumped into an elderly lady on Brighton and apologized to her in English (we are in America, after all, or are we not?) - she looked at me like I had just landed from Mars and told me to go get a life (in Russian, of course.)

Easter being one of the main Georgian family-gathering celebrations back in the former Soviet Union, I desperately tried to get real “red” Easter eggs this year and called one of the Georgian restaurants in Brooklyn, hoping I could get my dozen eggs for take out. Indeed, they did have the authentic Easter eggs, but because I asked the first question in English and not Georgian upon calling the restaurant, the owner immediately told me off and threatened that because of my non-Georgian attitude, he’d never sell me anything, including the Easter eggs! I took it as a joke initially, but as it later turned out, he meant it with all his heart and patriotic soul!

Although, there are times when I feel so nostalgic, it’s actually quite nice to be able to drop by, purchase a few Russian books and perhaps even some russkiy CDs and DVDs for “some good times”, accompanied by delicious snacks from one of the local stores - can’t go wrong with the food in the area, that’s for sure!

But to live there…. I don’t know. It seems pointless moving all the way to the US and A from USSR to create a local Russian Republic of Brighton Beach in New York. As a dear friend and a writer/journalist I have immense respect for, Ian Williams, once put it: “If you immigrate the country, you need to keep your language yet acquire the skill and knowledge of the culture in a country that you have moved to, yet you do have to maintain your own roots, as well.”

There is a healthy balance of course, but the question is: where does patriotism end and assimilation begin?

My Soviet Correspondence

It was a cold winter’s day in Moscow in 1999. I still remember being wrapped up in a warm pullover with a cup of cocoa on my desk, as I surfed the internet on my brand new computer that my dad had just brought to me as a Christmas present.

I started searching the web very actively, looking at various “White Pages” for musicians, both well-known and completely unknown ones.

Some of those names rang a few bells here and there but one particular listing caught my eye almost instantly. I will let you, my readers, figure out who the legend was, but he is an amazing musician - truly. I was convinced that it was either a typo or perhaps a different musician with the same name…

As I kept on staring at the listing, I remembered my childhood when my father used to play X's records at home back to back. It was at the time when foreign music, especially Jazz was forbidden in the Soviet countries, and buying a Jazz record was close to committing a serious crime.

One day Dad showed me a newspaper article in one of the soviet papers when I was a little girl: “A certain well-known Georgian architect/painter is buying numerous Jazz records throughout the Soviet Union as well as high-end sound equipment (i.e. expensive speakers, valve amplifiers, etc.) - beware of the gentleman and anyone else who is hugely involved in promoting American music in the USSR, which, we believe, corrupts our nation as a whole - they are DANGEROUS." It was about my father, a rare music lover.

Carried away by those memories, I accidentally double-clicked the link on the webpage and ended up sending an empty email to "him". But thinking (and secretly hoping) that he would ignore the blank note from an unknown address, I decided not to worry about it too much; there was no way he would even consider replying to a completely unknown .ru email address, clearly located somewhere in distant Russia.

I somehow managed to quickly get over the accident and carried on surfing the internet for hours on end…

The accident seemed so passé by the end of the day, but something was prompting me deep inside to check my email “just in case.” I couldn't sleep, it was almost 2 am and let's not forget - I had to be up within a few hours to make it in time for an early lesson at school the following morning.

Yet, that gut feeling, or intuition, coming from nowhere eventually took over and I quietly got up on my tiptoes and walked over to my new electronic friend to check the incoming mail.

To my amazement, there was one unread message in my mailbox – a quick note from "X" in response to my “blank letter”. He politely apologized for his “low-tech” email and asked me to kindly resend the letter once more as he could not decode the characters the first time. Needless to say, I could hardly believe my eyes...

I was so excited and ecstatic: wearing nothing but my dad’s XL-size bathrobe and slippers, I immediately ran over to my parents, who, meanwhile, were enjoying some late night tea with my uncle and aunt in the kitchen.

Obviously they were furious to find their daughter so wide awake at first, but when I told them in great detail about the online accident, my dad, especially, was completely thrilled that his daughter had gotten through to one of his all-time favorite musicians, someone he’d admired for such a long time and regarded as a real out-of-this-world genius all of his life.

Clearly, going to sleep straight away so that I could more or less get up at 7 am as usual was well out of question by then – I absolutely HAD to reply to X's note - it was now or never.

Immediately after writing a full-blown letter, I anxiously awaited his response every day but nothing came through for what seemed like forever...

After weeks of waiting for the letter from X, I had almost given up my fantasy about hearing from him again, when to my great surprise, the great musician DID write back to his young fan.

I still remember how warmly and enthusiastically he congratulated me on "all the impressive accomplishments at such an early age" and also pointed out that my family sounded so extremely supportive, which can be such a vital point (I definitely agree!) X told me about his life at the moment and how he had slowed down in recent years but still continued to make music on regular basis. To my astonishment, X also asked me to send my music straight to his home address that he willingly provides in the same email. I could NOT believe it!

As soon as I got the email and read it to my folks, a quick concern crossed my mind... (And being a worrier by nature, it wasn't surprising at all!!!)

“What if he’s expecting something more from my singing than it really is and gets disappointed when he hears the cassette? He doesn’t know that I didn’t make any of these recordings in a professional studio – and that’s something he must be so used to by now…”

Nevertheless, I immediately puts a package together for X – five of the songs that I had recorded on my sound system along with several pictures taken with Mom and Dad.

In my hand-written letter, which I quietly drafted during a school class, I thanked him for taking the time to write to me and also for giving me the opportunity to send my tape directly to my musical inspiration. I think I even apologized for the quality of the demo tape and told X about the songs that I had recorded on my sound system, a couple of which had been his projects originally!!!

The next day my dad sent the parcel to the US via DHL (quite a rarity at the time!) and from then on, I started checking my mail every single evening after school (do you remember dial-up and not being able to "connect" some of the time??? Nightmare!), hoping and praying that one of these days I'd get a letter from him once more – and this time with his opinion about MY singing…

Several more weeks went and the long-awaited letter finally reached the Soviet destination - I anxiously opened the email. I was blown away, and in fact, I have kept that letter to this date... He described his young fan as “extremely musical with a wonderful voice and ‘great ears’ to be able to sing exactly along with the original singers”. As for the pictures, “my wife, and I loved your photos… very stylish! And your parents look terrific, you must be so proud of them! Maybe someday we will all be able to meet in person. But in the meantime, keep singing!!” I was speechless!!!

To my great joy and pride, we actively start to communicate via email on regular basis and engaged into a series of dialogues about music, art and the different lives in ex-Soviet Union and modern America. It was so fascinating and so unlike anything else I had ever encountered!

I actually had the guts to send my songs to this great legend on regular basis for his advice and guidance, always getting his feedback in return, thus developing a musical and also a human bond with this great man without us ever meeting each other face to face - even to this very day, almost 10 years later, we still haven't met.

Bearing in mind that all of this happened at the time when the internet was a brand new communication tool and spam, myspace, chatting were not yet known to the mass audience, it really was a very special discovery and a connection that I still value and cherish so close to my heart. Every time his new album hits the stores, I literally run to get my hands on a copy - not a digital one but an actual "tangible" CD... Can't beat a physical CD with liner notes, credits, etc. if you're a real fan - that's impossible!!!

It's so amazing when those you truly admire and look up to don't disappoint nor demystify your perception of their personality behind the great talent - I strongly believe that true talent isn't always accompanied by huge egos and other unpleasanteries.

Oh, and by the way, I wonder if any of you have guessed who this great man is? He is among my friends on myspace.... Quite a drag to try and figure it out, I am sure!