Irma Sokhadze is a Georgian singer who gained fame back in the Soviet years. Many know her as the first performer of the Orange Song, popular in the Union. However, Irma also has many jazz compositions.
Biography: early years
Irma Agulievna Sokhadze was born on November 28, 1958 in Tbilisi. There were no professional musicians in the family: his father worked as an engineer, and his mother was a linguist. According to her parents, Irma had a love of singing at the age of two. All thanks to my uncle, who was an ardent admirer of the Italian stage. He could listen to Italian songs for hours. Little Irma loved to sing along. Hearing her singing, the relatives decided that Irma had vocal abilities, and they began to develop them in every possible way. In an interview, Sokhadze recalled that her parents often sang some melodies to her, and she repeated.
Soon she began to sing in a family ensemble, which included her parents and brother. They are taken seriously in Georgia. And Irma was taken into the ensemble not just to respect the little child. She sang on an equal footing with adults.
Soon Sokhadze noticed Soso Tugushi. At the time, he directed a jazz orchestra at the local polytechnic institute. Irma was then only four years old. Thanks to the efforts of Tugushi, the song she performed hit the Georgian radio, and then Irma was shown on TV. For the republican program, she sang two songs: one in Georgian and the other in Italian. Soon Sokhadze began to solo in the Tugushi orchestra. Despite the fact that the collective was considered an amateur, many well-known Georgian musicians and singers graduated from it.
Career
After the orchestra of Tugushi Irma began performing in VIA "Rero". Its artistic director at that time was Konstantin Pevzner. It was he who especially for Sokhadze invented the melody and arrangement of the song, which thundered throughout the Union and remains recognizable to this day. The poems were written by Arkady Arkanov and Grigory Gorin. The composition is called "Orange Song". Sokhadze is its first performer.
Irma sang it for the first time in 1965 in the Moscow garden "Hermitage". She was then eight years old. The song was an instant hit. The very next day after the broadcast on television, it was sung everywhere. Moreover, not only children, but also adults. More than half a century has passed. But this song has not lost its relevance. Children still love her, and the audience at Sokhadze's concerts sing it in chorus. Irma herself believes that "Orange Song" is more than just a song, it is a symbol of another, huge country and a common past.
In the same year the Melodiya company released a gramophone record with the debut mini-album of the young Sokhadze. It includes such compositions as:
- Orange Song;
- “It was in January”;
- "Top-top";
- "What kind of student is this?"
In 1967, Polish television filmed the musical film Recital. Its duration was only 15 minutes. The director was Konstantin Chichishvili. In this film, 9-year-old Sokhadze performed jazz standards. In 1969, Irma got a role in the musical television film by Larisa Shepitko "At the thirteenth hour of the night."
Sokhadze combined touring with her studies at the Tbilisi music school for gifted children. She graduated with a gold medal. After school, she became a student at the conservatory. Sokhadze chose the piano class, but at the same time she also studied at the musicology department. Irma graduated from the Conservatory with honors.
The famous Georgian opera diva Vera Davydova advised Irma to take classical vocals seriously, promising great success. However, Sokhadze thought for too long, and then it was too late. However, Irma does not regret this omission. In an interview, she noted that singing in the opera means being attached to her, and she loves independence.
Irma Sokhadze tried herself as a TV presenter. She worked for more than two decades on the First Georgian Channel. She began her career in television as a junior editor. So, she acted as the editor of such a well-known program in Georgia as "Musical Octagon". On her account, the organization and conduct of charity events, including various fundraising for orphans, refugees from Abkhazia.
Irma left television as the deputy general director of the First Georgian Channel. Only she did not leave of her own accord. She was asked to quit. After Mikhail Saakashvili came to power, new people began to "make" politics in Georgia. And on television too. It was said bluntly that everyone who worked on state television is not needed. And those who are over forty years old, too. After leaving, Irma longed for work on television.
Sokhadze continues to tour, not only in Georgia, but also in other countries. So, she gives concerts in Russia. Recently, not so often due to the aggravation of Russian-Georgian relations.
Personal life
Irma Sokhadze is married. She met her husband Rezo Asatiani back in 1973. Irma was then 15 years old. They got married three years later. They have been together for over 40 years. In one of the interviews, Sokhadze admitted that before her husband she had not fallen in love with anyone and after him she never wanted to do it.
Irma and her husband live in Tbilisi, in the beautiful Saburtal district. The couple have two daughters: Salome and Nata. The first lives in Prague, works as a journalist. And the second remained in Tbilisi and works in the Ministry of Education. Irma already has two grandchildren.
