Peter Lyukimson, Israel, exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
A famous Israeli singer Mickey Mirel (Michael Mirelashvili), better known to the Israeli audience under his stage name "Tashtash" has informed his fans that he had finished preparations for his grand show, designed to introduce the Georgian musical culture to the world. The premiere of the new show will take place soon in Tel Aviv. Tashtash intends to tour with the show in the UK, France, the U.S. and other countries.
Mickey Mirel is 33 years old, but he became famous only a couple of years ago, when his song "I want to be a Georgian!" became one of the biggest hits on the Israeli stage. Mirel together with Nanni Schreyer invested his success in the Nanochka night club, which, as cleverly described by one observer, "has infected the Tel Aviv youth with a Georgian virus."
All this time, as it turned out, Mirel did not only perform Georgian songs on stage, but also worked hard on a new show and album together with composer Rafi Dzhanishvili.
The show was based on famous Georgian songs and dances, which Tashtash knew since his childhood. The majority of the lyrics were translated from Georgian into English to make them comprehensible to European and American audiences.
"It was important for me to convey the beauty of the Georgian folk and classical poetry to the audience, but at the same time it was important to convey to them the unique charm of the Georgian language, which are part of the original songs. Therefore, the show features Georgian as well as English and Hebrew. At the same time it was rather difficult to create modern versions of Georgian folklore songs in order to make them more understandable to the audience."
Mirel has hired a number of talented Israeli singers, dancers and musicians for the show. The majority of them are from the Caucasus (but not necessarily from Georgia). One of his dreams is to include the performance of the National Ballet of Georgia in Israel guided by a great dancer, Tamaz Tsitsiashvili in the show.
