He was said to be an unnaturally gifted child. At the age of four he stood at the grand piano and created strange melodies. His mother could not understand where the little child could have heard the tune, or how he could remember it. She could never have imagined that the melody had been created there, at that very moment.
By the time he was ten years old a recital of his work had been given, and at the age of thirteen he performed a recital of his own work in the House of Artists. On top of that… "Dato is a very gifted child and such talent requires care and protection. He studies hard, likes reading and he writes poems, he is good at drawing and is fond of playing chess… and now music. Isn’t it all too much? Aren’t we asking too much of the little chap? Maybe he should concentrate on just one of his talents!" – wrote the "Tbilisi" newspaper fearfully.

One thing that was understood perfectly by the correspondent was Dato’s all-round creative talent. But there is another important point here, nobody took the reporter at his word, nobody wanted Dato to concentrate on just one talent.
In short, the reporter was seething… All the newspapers were making a fuss…

"Dato Evgenidze’s Concert"…
"A little composer"…

However, Dato was still a schoolboy playing with his classmates. He used to go to various free parties as was the fashion at that time…Only sometimes, while alone, he used to sit down and express his childish feelings and experience in big, white and black  letters, writing poems of five verses.

"The whole world is strung to a finger,
Hitting the palm again and again,
The rubber broke and the globe
Rolled across the bridge, a gay ball"…

Dato has enjoyed dressing in a strange manner since his childhood… He used to wear "cool" clothes to walk down the street. He even went to Music College dressed like this, in a style which did not reflect his "pioneer" childhood at all.

When Dato was studying in Moscow he used to come to Tbilisi so often and surprise his friends and relatives with his strange appearance and fashionable ideas. Years passed and each of Dato’s visits was accompanied by stories of his "Moscow life": about his unbelievable success, friendships with world-famous foreign movie stars, tours abroad with "Dato’s Fusion Band", "Dato’s New Band" or "Dato’s New New-York Band", festivals he had arranged on the Canary Islands, etc...

All these experiences surrounded  "fortune’s favourite" with a halo of fascination. At each visit home, feeling free and happy, he would put on a T-shirt and jeans (and his earring as well) instead of his tail-coat and arrange concerts which elicited the most glamorous and spontaneous associations. Everything seemed to be so light, so easy, so attainable… like waving a magic wand…

Yes, a magic wand, indeed, what else, I wonder…

It wasn’t necessary for everybody to know how the light changed in Dato’s life. No-one was aware of his pain and struggle, or how his scores were "accidentally lost" at musical competitions only to be recovered the next night. No-one noticed how his stage face would disappear` then reappear in a ballet performance. They would never believe that he left his piano concert score - an entire year’s work - in a taxi just one day before a musical competition, and what unbelievable efforts were needed to write it all out again from scratch overnight, not just orchestrated but ready for each instrument. They would never know how one story became a legend in Moscow: just before an exam at the Conservatoire, he read one of the most difficult works of Hyndemit in half an hour and then performed it brilliantly…
It’s not necessary for everybody to know this.

The ear-ring and bandanna are in place and the magic baton as well… And that’s all that matters.

"Don’t ring me up…
If you want to say something bad,
Go to the street,
Stop a car there, on your way,
Wait for a trolley-bus, or
Get into a crowded subway,
Before you come,
That which seems bad may not be so evil…"

Georgian society mostly knows Dato Evgenidze through these concerts, as well as through his songs, ballads and music for films and theatre performances.
He is very popular. It is almost impossible to go to one of his concerts unless you book tickets in advance. There is always a full house and the standing ovations are always sincere.

Dato believes that the turning point in his music was the concert held in the small hall of the Conservatoire. The title of the concert was "ING". I remember that there wasn’t any light there but the candlelight and energy of the audience created a fabulous atmosphere. Dato remembers that he played the very first note to the last in one breath.

"Then I tried to improve and perfect what I’d already written, I was no longer interested in improvisation. In fact the "Saturday" was part of this stage of creative development.  Of course, you all remember the "Saturday". It was a marvellous evening at the Opera Theatre. Those who could not attend the concert probably watched it on TV…

It is strange music that cannot be presented very easily. On the stage we see Dato, a chamber orchestra, the "Kartuli Khmebi" (Georgian Voices) company, a folk instrument ensemble, a "zurna" (oriental wind instrument), a pipe, a drum, a "kamancha" (a musical instrument with stretched strings), a "Big Band", a choir, a jazz-quintet and two harps.

The music has just been created and immediately acquires a new quality. The audience is fascinated and delighted. It is full of energy, a fabulous show…
Some time later I wished I could have read or heard a music review of this concert somewhere.

Dato describes it all in two sentences: "I synthesised the different musical styles I heard in my childhood. Imagine you are in a court-yard in Tbilisi where all the windows are open; you can hear the sounds of a piano, pop music, zurna and drinking-songs all at the same time…"

Those who were able to attend the "Saturday" concert will never forget that evening. The energy that united the stage with the audience created something different, a one-off moment, something very exclusive which could never be repeated.

Dato admits - "I was asked to repeat the experience in Saint-Germain Theatre in Paris but I couldn’t do it. What I did there was completely different. The same folk melodies, the same composition, the same effort, but… I repeated only the concept…"

 "In the dark hall the white grand piano
Made of mist
Is pouring out never-ending notes
Like snowflakes…"

"I believe I have completed this stage of my creative development, now I am concentrating on written music."

Dato Evgenidze started this long ago but this side of Dato is less well-known in Georgia. I remember the Young Artists Seminar in Tsinandali where famous musicologists and composers first listened to a piano concert and requiem performed by Dato, then spent the whole night in exciting discussions and conversations about the music.

Perhaps that’s why Dato thinks that the experiment in improvisation exemplified by jazz music is at an end and now wants to spend more time on classical music. He already knows that this is what he is going to do, but I think that the majority of his fans will miss his "experiments" very, very much.

"A passer-by stops and suddenly asks
Got a light?
You turn your pockets inside out,
Even trying to get into your soul…
You may even find it there,
But he does not appear to be there any more…"
 
"At the moment I am working on a ballet for the Maria Theatre in Saint Petersburg. I have a contract with Makhar Vaziev, the chief ballet-master.
The title of the ballet is "Guest". Lasha Bugadze and I have written the libretto. The story takes place in the present time. A daughter of God comes to Earth, i.e. on to the ballet stage", Dato tells us.

And we will wait for this ballet. We might even find ourselves at the premiere in Saint Petersburg. If not, then the usual story will be repeated, i.e. we will hear great stories about Dato’s success abroad and be disappointed that it happened somewhere else. And we will remember that an artist needs support and a wide arena for performance, and doing a good job abroad does not mean that you love your motherland any less…

Incidentally, when Dato talks about his motherland, when he tells stories about his village and ancestors, the handkerchief from which he is inseparable looks more like a bashlyck  than a bandanna.

"I am standing, a lone soul on the sea,
On the verge of dotage and dreams,
At half past eight, p.m.,
Half way to sunset…"

" I think I’m at the half-way point of the sunset…" says Dato.
Well, the idea is expressed very well but it’s still too early to talk about the winding down of his career. People close to Dato know he can be sad and thoughtful, but in general he is a different type of person - full of energy and ideas, lively and boundless. He is a loving person, a big child. He is the father of a very warm family and the husband of a very tender and beautiful wife. This poem is dedicated to Nino:

"I’ve told you I love you a hundred times,
But I’ve never loved you more than at that time".
 
"I have restored the Canary times quartet. The name of the new piece is "10 Years Later". Our generation are like characters in a Duma novel.
I wish I knew what will happen in 10 years time.

I know what. We will probably have lots of new innovations but a lot of things will be exactly the same as they always used to be…
We will meet with Dato Evgenidze again, in the street. He will appear in fashionable clothes, strange and defiant. He will perform concerts that make you forget everything, at least temporarily, at least while you are listening to him…

...Or, he will arrange another performance, like the one held in the famous "Art Pictures" Gallery in Moscow; he will start with music, and when the notes are not enough, there will be colour, words and action….

His life is a never-ending performance as well… or a music score during which the themes and variations change: sometimes one theme prevails, sometimes the second or third variation, and then again the first theme…

And these variations, occurring separately or together, create the image, a strange and unique phenomenon that is Dato who proclaims "Life is my most difficult work"…

And it’s a good job that nobody followed the newspaper correspondent’s advice all that time ago.

It’s better to speak openly about our sins so I will admit that when I first heard about Dato’s poetic talents I wasn’t very happy…

I borrowed his poems with trepidation, giving him an awkward smile and then… I was glad. Then I wanted to show them to everybody. Even now, I want to show them to you…

 In one of his Western interviews, the correspondent asked Dato:

 "Is it difficult to be a star?"

Maybe it is difficult, especially when the sky is misty like here. We can’t help that, but in return even the smoke is very sweet here.

MARINA VASHAKMADZE