A Georgian supra is no ordinary dinner—it's a lively feast where toasts, songs, stories and laughter matter just as much as the food. "Supra" means tablecloth, and in Georgia any gathering around a table or picnic rug can turn into one. Long shared tables bring everyone close enough to toast, talk, and sing together.
Every supra has a tamada—a quick-witted toastmaster who leads the toasts (and decides who gets to add one when someone calls "alaverdi!"). The toasts cover everything from friendship and family to music, love, and those who can't be with us. And after every toast? A song, of course.
At Cygnet, singers from three Melbourne Georgian ensembles—Melbourne Georgian Choir, Tsinskaro, and Gorani, performing together as Gaumarjos—will lead the songs. But anyone at the table is warmly invited to join in… as long as the tamada gives the nod!
Georgian polyphony is ancient, bold and beautiful, filled with tight harmonies and delicious dissonance. Some of our songs come from Svaneti, once one of the most remote places on earth.
At Cygnet, Gaumarjos will bring you welcome songs, table songs, love songs, wedding songs, work songs, church songs, harvest songs—and even a wild tale of a brave horse galloping all the way from Australia to Georgia.