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HARMONY TOWN — A trio of musicians from the country of Georgia made a casual video of a regional Georgian song that is charming the Internet.
The group, called Trio Mandili, is made up of three women named Tatia Mgeladze, Shorena Tsiskarauli and Ani Chincharauli, according to their Facebook page.
At first the video looks like it’s just going to be another self-indulgent teenage video as the women walk down a gravel and dirt road pulling faces. But once the song begins, you know it’s going to be magical.
The lead begins to sing in a clear voice accompanied by a string instrument that resembles a mandolin. (It’s is likely a type of panduri, a native Georgian, three-stringed instrument.) But when the women sing together, the tight harmonies and the perfectly blending voices seem other-worldly. It’s truly magnificent.
On Monday, Reddit user OutOfNiceUserNames posted an explanation and informal translation of the song that provides interesting cultural context. According to the translated source, the women are singing a song about a traditional regional relationship between a man and a woman that is generally platonic. The song is about a man and a woman in one of these relationships parting at the end of a night.