Soft Eject
Encyclopedia
Soft Eject is 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...

 folk-rock band founded in 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...

 in 1989. The band combines Georgian and European folk influences with psychedelic
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...

 and art rock
Art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...

 music. They chiefly perform in English. Currently, the band consists of six members: George “Vaho” Babunashvili – bass, vocals; Nodar Manchkhashvili – drums; George “Giorgi” Kobakhidze – guitar, vocals; Alexander “Sandro” Nikoladze – flute, lyre; Emzar Burduli – French horn and vocals; Anna Sikharulidze – accordion and keyboards.

Soft Eject debuted at a Georgian rock festival in Batumi
Batumi
Batumi is a seaside city on the Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia. Sometimes considered Georgia's second capital, with a population of 121,806 , Batumi serves as an important port and a commercial center. It is situated in a subtropical zone, rich in...

 in 1990, and then relocated to 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...

 touring extensively from 1992 to 1995. In 1995, Soft Eject shot their first video for the single “Please Just Carry On” which remains one of their most popular songs to this day. Next year, the band opened their own recording studio, S.E. Studio. In the 200s, they took part in all important rock festivals in Georgia, organized nation-wide tours and performed several times in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Soft Eject was involved in the bloodless 2003 Rose Revolution
Rose Revolution
The "Revolution of Roses" was a change of power in Georgia in November 2003, which took place after having widespread protests over the disputed parliamentary elections...

 in Georgia, supporting, together with other popular Georgian rock acts, the opposition demonstrations in the inclement weather and earning the nickname “Rain Musicians.” During Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

’s similarly non-violent Orange Revolution
Orange Revolution
The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter...

 in 2004, Soft Eject joined other Georgian rock groups such as Zumba
Zaza Korinteli
Zaza Korinteli better known by his stage name Zumba is a Georgian rock musician, folklorist and civic activist. His music fuses a wide variety of genres, principally Georgian folk tradition, rock, and reggae...

 and Green Room in a solidarity concert in downtown Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

 to support the local opposition cause.

The band members engage in civil society and several other cultural projects. Vaho Babunashvili was a member of the supervisory board for the Georgian Public Broadcasting
Georgian Public Broadcasting
Georgian Public Broadcasting is the national public broadcaster of Georgia. It started broadcasting radio in 1925, and Georgian TV started broadcasting in 1956. Today, 85% of the Georgian population receive the First Channel , and 55% receive the Second Channel...

 and has been involved in research and popularization of Georgian folk music. He is also a bass player for the Tbilisi-based jazz-rock band Green Room, a founder of NGO Modern Sound House (MSH) and Step Records Ltd record company. Nodar Manchkhashvili has translated up to 100 books from English into Georgian and runs his own publishing company Uncle Nodar's Books. George Kobakhidze works as an art manager for the popular radio station “Utsnobi 98.0 FM”. Sandro Nikoladze is one of the lead musicians in the National Ballet Troupe Sukhishvili and performs in Moving Theater. Emzar Burduli performs with the Tbilisi National Symphonic Orchestra.

The band members have authored and produced the first interactive Georgian national musical instruments catalogue.

Discography

  • "Everybody" - 1993
  • "Something New" - 1994
  • "Now!" - 1995
  • "Collection" - 1995
  • "Wanderer" - 2001
  • "Nine Mountains Away" - 2003

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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