Alexander Basilaia (March 11, 1942 – October 3, 2009) was a Georgian

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 of popular music

Popular music

Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...

 and film score

Film score

A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...

s. He led the popular musical group Iveria

VIA Iveria

Iveria was a Georgian music ensemble founded in 1968. It became very popular over the whole Soviet Union in 70's. It's art director was Alexander Basilaia. They were singing both Georgian folk and contemporary songs, wrote and performed Argo and Jays Wedding musicals, released 6 vinyl albums on...

 since its founding in 1968 through the mainstream success in the 1970s and 1980s until his death of a long and severe disease in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 in 2009. He held the titles of Honored Artist of Georgia and Honored Citizen of Tbilisi

Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...

.

Basilaia was trained as a contrabass

Contrabass

Contrabass refers to a musical instrument of very low pitch; generally those pitched one octave below instruments of the bass register...

ist at the Tbilisi State Conservatoire and became active at the Soviet Georgian scene in 1963. In 1968 he founded an ensemble (VIA

VIA music

VIA music or Vokalno-instrumentalny ansambl , was the official name applied to pop and rock bands in the Soviet Union...

) which was named Iveria after an ancient Georgian kingdom

Caucasian Iberia

Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...

. Basilaia was a principal composer and an art manager for Iveria which quickly gained popularity for its fusion of pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

, rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 and jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 with traditional Georgian music and attained to Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

-wide fame with its musicals

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 The Wedding of Jays (1980) and The Argonauts

Argonauts

The Argonauts ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, the Argo, which was named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts", therefore, literally means...

(1982). Basilaia’s third and the last musical Pirosmani was successfully staged in both Georgia and Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 in 1996. Basilaia last work "Something has Ended" appeared shortly before the composer’s death in October 2009. He was buried at the Didube Pantheon

Didube Pantheon

The Didube Pantheon is a burial in Tbilisi, Georgia, where some of the most prominent writers, artists, scholars, scientists and political activists of Georgia are buried. It was opened in 1939.- See also :* Mtatsminda Pantheon* Saburtalo Pantheon...

in Tbilisi.

External links

• Alexander Basilaia. Georgian National Cinema database