Giorgi Gigashvili is gifted when it comes to his music and Billboard Georgia named him as No. 1 for Billboard’s 'Global No. 1s' series. Giorgi talks on his different personalities when it comes to creating his music on the piano, his Carnegie Hall debut and more!
Billboard is launching its inaugural 'Global No. 1s' series, an initiative to spotlight top-charting artists from around the world. Billboard has partnered with its ten-plus global editions to showcase distinct voices topping their local charts around the world in exclusive interviews. Stay tuned throughout the week to discover who's No. 1 in the UK, Brazil, Korea, and more!
Billboard is launching its inaugural 'Global No. 1s' series, an initiative to spotlight top-charting artists from around the world. Billboard has partnered with its ten-plus global editions to showcase distinct voices topping their local charts around the world in exclusive interviews. Stay tuned throughout the week to discover who's No. 1 in the UK, Brazil, Korea, and more!
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MusicTranscript
00:00Hi, this is Gyorgy and this is my Billboard Global cover story.
00:09I feel like I have three different kinds of personalities.
00:14Even my name sounds different within these different kinds of personalities.
00:22The first one is me as a classical pianist who has a name, Gyorgy Gigashvili.
00:31Gyorgy Gigashvili
00:35To be honest, I have a full photo album in my head, which comes to my mind now.
00:43The first moment that comes into my mind is when I met my idol, Marta Argerich,
00:51who is like a god to me.
00:55In 2019, at the Vigo Piano Competition, where she was the chairman of the jury,
01:04I received the first prize and it was like my biggest dream came true.
01:10The second thing that comes to my mind is my debut at Carnegie Hall last October.
01:20I could express myself as a Georgian befriended to the US country.
01:28And it means so much to my country and to myself,
01:33being able to express my art through the greatest hall in the world, I think.
01:39The last image is my first classical music album, which is called Meeting My Shadow.
01:49It won a decent classical award in the category of newcomer,
01:57which means a lot to me because it's my first professional recording.
02:03The first sound that comes into my mind as a classical pianist is Mozart's Symphony No. 40,
02:20because it was the first piece which was heard by me at the age of five or six.
02:28Because my mother used to play this all the time.
02:32I think it's the reason why I am a classical pianist right now, and thanks to my mom.
02:43My second personality has a name, Gigasha, who's a different personality.
02:53Talking about Gigasha, the first sound and the first song that comes into my mind is a listen by Beyoncé.
03:04Because in 2007, my father bought me a computer.
03:12And this was the first moment when I fell in love with her.
03:17I also love to play pop, synth, R&B type of music.
03:27And I think that's the reason why I'm a classical pianist.
03:32I also love to play pop, synth, R&B type of music.
03:41And I have many gigs with my friend Nini.
03:45And we even had our first EP, which was called Ben in a Hammock.
03:52It was my first try of breaking boundaries between classical music and this kind of music,
04:02which is being seen very unserious by the classical listeners.
04:11But I always try to tell them that there's no serious and unserious genres.
04:18It's always the music that speaks to us.
04:23And for me, I think to have a concert in the evening and to play Prokofiev,
04:30and when the concert ends and I go to the club and I sing and perform a song by Beyoncé,
04:39it's okay and why not?
04:42And I have a third character.
04:47It contains Georgi Gigashvili and Gigasha also.
04:53And it means that I'm an activist.
05:01The piece that best describes what is happening in Georgia today
05:08is Prokofiev's Sonata No. 7.
05:12And the soundtrack of my third personality as an activist is a shouting of people at demonstrations,
05:24the hymn of Georgia, and whistles.
05:29And it doesn't have a song or a piece which can be a soundtrack.
05:34It's like people's voice, which is a soundtrack by itself.
05:44Since I remember, I'm always standing at demonstrations with my people, with my friends.
05:53I think when you're an artist, you have a voice to share.
06:01And by voice, I mean that you have to stand with your people and stand for your country.
06:11And I think it's my responsibility and duty to share my voice,
06:17not only as a pianist and an artist, but as a citizen of Georgia.