Blues Without Borders

As the Summer Literary Seminar participants walked through the streets of Tbilisi on our way to Writers House for morning workshops, afternoon lectures or evening readings, many of us passed the Creator Bar on Ivane Machabeli Street. It looked like the sort of basement haunt where poets and jazz musicians might gather on a side street in any North American city. A sign on the outside wall announces a variety of live music, but jazz is only offered on Sunday. On Thursday, there's classic rock, while Friday and Saturday offer blues rock. I was curious to hear Georgian interpretations of American music and decided to visit the bar one evening during our stay. This blues quartet - two guitars, bass, and drums - rocked the room with classic electric blues and southern rock played and sung to perfection. There were only about 25 people in the audience, but they were carried away with the music, up on the floor dancing or bopping in their seats. In another room, its air filled with a sweet smokey scent, couples necked on comfortable couches. The decor and the paint on the walls of the Creator Bar was pure psychedelia and the overall effect was that of a Sixties underground jazz club. Sadly, because of noise regulations in this very residential district, the second set was also the final set, ending just before eleven. I was left longing for more.

I had wondered whether the band was Georgian or was in fact made up of expatriot Americans. After the set was over, I went to talk with the leader, Vova Mogeladze, who assured me that he and his partners in the band are all Georgian. I congratulated Vova on their excellent performances of the blues. Vova told me his "Blues Mobile Band" plays clubs all over Europe and had just recently returned from a tour. Vova is modest. Yes, the band does play clubs, but is also a popular draw at major concert venues in Georgia and across Europe. A tall blonde woman had come up as well to speak with the band and asked if she could get a selfie with them. Vova allowed that she could and, as she was about to take the picture, pulled me in beside him, so that I appear to be the fourth player (absent from this picture) in this great blues band. I asked the woman, a Russian named Екатерина Титова (Ekaterina Titova), if she would e-mail me a copy of her photos. She agreed and has recently sent eight images to both me and Vova. What a special souvenir of this evening in a Georgian club.