After my father's death, as I was going through his archive, I found a Dictaphone in his drawer with an audiocassette.
   The tape, which I attentively listened to, included my father's thoughts about different popular figures, including Eduard Shevardnadze.
   I don't know whether they were intended for publication or they were just thoughts spoken aloud…
   At any rate, it seems to me that today it would be interesting for the general public to become acquainted with this record.

Vakhtang Kakhidze
Composer, conductor, pianist

   I first met Mr. Eduard Shevardnadze in 1956-57. This was the time when he was the Second Secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee and I was creating the Shvidkatsa ensemble.
   Afterwards, we followed each other's lives from a distance. I devoted myself to art, while Shevardnadze pursued political career.
   That was a rather difficult period for Mr. Shevardnadze. Opposing political forces were trying to oust him from the political arena. First he was appointed First Secretary of the First of May District Committee and then was transferred to Mtskheta. Years went by. The intention of certain people was to remove Shevardnadze altogether from party activity. He was appointed as the Minister of Internal Affairs which was a serious mistake of the forces that opposed him. The new appointment made it easier for Mr. Shevardnadze to disclose and combat corruption.
   In 1972 he became First Secretary of the Central Committee. I was watching his work and I became convinced that this extremely gifted and bright person was turning into a great politician by the hour.

   The beginning of the seventies… This was the period when culture and arts required particular attention. Already then Shevardnadze realized that it would be impossible to achieve transformation and restructuring of the Soviet establishment and without the revival of culture and arts. It was then that the renaissance of the second half of XX century Georgian culture began in all areas, becoming particularly apparent in the late sixties. We, the generation of the sixties: Eldar Shengelaia, Gia Kancheli, Givi Orjonikidze, Nodar Dumbadze, Niko Shengelia, Niko Chavchavadze, Zurab Kakabadze, Otar Ioseliani, Jansug Charkviani and many others have of course contributed to this process.
   Toward the end of the sixties I too began to experience pressure from the Ministry of Culture. This was the reason that made me decide to leave Georgia in 1971-1973 and go to Poland. Somehow, the First Secretary of the Central Committee, Mr. Shevardnadze inquired about me and asked what I was doing. When he found out that I was in Poland, he said: Do we have many conductors like him? Find him, speak to him and bring him back to Georgia. In 1972, it was thanks to him that I was appointed chief conductor and artistic manager of the Georgian State Symphony Orchestra where I worked until 1993. I think those twenty years were extremely productive in my personal creative work and in the life of symphonic music in Georgia. During this period the symphony orchestra made a great step forward as an artistic group. Promising composers of the then middle generation: Gia Kancheli, Rezo Lagidze, Sulkhan Nasidze, Bidzina Kvernadze, Nodar Gabunia and others, united around the orchestra. Today their works are included in the Golden Fund of Georgian Culture.

   In 1982, Mr. Shevardnadze called me and said: “Jansugh, we must take care of the Opera and Ballet Theatre”. At first I refused, I had my own arguments for that. I knew that enormous funding was required to implement the needed reforms. It was necessary to discharge many singers from the old generation and bring in new ones, to restructure the orchestra and choir, and so forth. That is why I said: “I feel my effort will be to no avail and why waste time in vain”. He asked me: “Does this mean that you are not interested in modernizing the Opera? All right then,  I too have many other things to attend to, so let our Opera remain a provincial theatre…" To cut a long story short, our meetings and conversations ended with me heading the Opera Theatre. Mr. Shevardnadze bore the brunt of all the problems with which the theatre was confronted, resolved them very quickly and created a very favourable working climate.
   The musicians we brought part-time from the Symphony Orchestra to the theatre significantly contributed to raising the level of the Opera Theatre. Paying due tribute to the singers of the old generation, young singers were invited to replace them. We established a board of producers, which included Misha Tumanishvili, Robert Sturua, Guram Meliva and me. That period from 1982 to 1991 can be considered as one of the golden ages in the history of the Opera Theatre. This was the period when remarkable performances were staged. At the Deisburg Festival in Germany we presented Prokofiev's two operas. I set a condition to the organizers of the festival that, along with the other plays, we would perform “Abesalom and Eteri”. This spectacle made a tremendous impression on the European audience and the reaction that followed resembled an exlposion!
   Mr. Eduard Shevardnadze has greatly contributed to the development of Georgian cinematography. It was thanks to his enthusiasm, backing and personal involvement that Georgian film industry acquired fame and recognition. Tengiz Abuladze's Repentance was made only under his personal responsibility and help in obtaining the funding, resorting to various guises  as if it was going to be a telefilm, etc. As soon as the work on the film was over, it was put on the shelf and I asked Mr. Shevardnadze: “Why were you supporting it, if it is doomed to gather dust.” He answered: “You are impatient people and the time for this film will come soon.”  And, indeed, in a few years, Repentance spoke for itself.

   The Georgian writers and artists of the younger generation of the sixties received much attention and backing from Eduard Shevardnadze.
   He attended meetings at the institute of philosophy very frequently and it was here that he met the late Givi Orjonikidze. At one such meeting at which Givi Orjonikidze was speaking, Shevardnadze remarked: “This man should be the chairman of the Union of Composers.” He did everything so that Givi could chair the Composers' Union. And indeed, after Givi Orjonikidze had joined the Union of Composers, their work became extremely interesting, revolutionary and progressive.

   Eduard Shevradnadze was transferred to Moscow. His appointment as the Minister of Foreign Affairs was unexpected for me. His talent and broadmindedness became quickly apparent and very soon the world held Shevardnadze in high esteem, recognizing him as a great statesman. This is a person with tremendous patience, capability, talent and an extraordinary ability to accomplish the set goals.
   During his short term in the foreign office, Eduard Shevardnadze was instrumental in bringing an end to the war in Afghanistan, bringing down the Berlin Wall and preparing Gorbachev to launch reforms.
   Dramatic changes in the system came at a high price for Georgia.
   Eduard Shevardnadze surprised me once again when he decided to return to his ruined homeland, embroiled in civil war and rampage of criminals. At that time I didn't have the chance to speak to him myself, but I spoke with Mrs. Nanuli Shevardnadze and advised her not to return in those adverse circumstances. But we were unable to stop him. Shevardnadze came back to guide Georgia out of crisis and became a member of the so-called Military Council devoid of any legitimacy. At that time I considered this step to be a political suicide, but I was sure that Mr. Shevardnadze would manage to revive his devastated country and play a critical role in the new history of Georgia.
   I know what his dream is. He wants Georgia to be a small but significant and advanced country, such as Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden or Finland, and I am sure that he will be able to accomplish his goal.