MGZAVREBI was founded in 2006 by Gigi Dedalamazishvili, an actor from Tbilisi, Georgia.[1] The grandfather of Gigi Dedalamazishvili was a conductor and he taught Gigi how to play piano and together with his mother supported Gigi getting a music education, but Gigi did not enjoy going to music school when he was young.[2] Already after the start of his career as an actor, Gigi formed a music band in 2006 with initially only three musicians in it.[3] The number of group participants varied within following years reaching 17–18 people but eventually MGZAVREBI included 7 professional musicians.[1]
The band released its first album "Me Movigone" in 2008. MGZAVREBI became popular after the song played in Davit Imedashvili's movie "Dream Town" (2010, Georgian: ოცნების ქალაქი).[4] In 2013 they recorded an album "Wait live wait" (Russian: "Ждать жить ждать") together with a Russian writer Yevgeni Grishkovetz reaching 6th place in the most downloaded albums in Russian iTunes.[5] In 2016 MGZAVREBI won a "Chart Dozen" Award from a Russian Nashe Radio station in the "Breakthrough" nomination; the group was also nominated in the category "Song of the year" with the composition "Let's break through" (Russian: Прорвемся) but eventually lost to the Russian rock band Animal Jazz.[6] In 2017, MGZAVREBI won the "Golden Gargoyle" award in the nomination "Best group".[7] In 2018, a music video of the song "Promise" Russian: Пообещай) directed by Ivan Sosnin was nominated by the Berlin Music Video Awards in the section Best Low Budget.[8] In 2023 a famous Georgian director Lado Kvataniya, who previously collaborated with Kanye West, Manizha, and Oxxxymiron, released a short music film called Waltz featuring Mgzavrebi.[9]
The name of the band means "Travellers".[1] The musical style of the group is a combination of traditional Georgian singing and the modern sound of national instruments, such as panduri. MGZAVREBI lyrics are mostly in Georgian but also include several songs in Russian and Ukrainian.[10] After February 2022, the group decided to cancel all their concerts and not to give any new concerts in Russia.[11]
Discography
Studio albums
Bejo AmiranashviliDavit Ugrekhelidze
Me Movigone... (Georgian: მე მოვიგონე... — I made it up...) (2008)
Meore albomi (Georgian: მეორე ალბომი — Second Album) (2011)
