It’s that time of year when drinking a little more than usual suddenly seems normal.
Which is fine — until Uncle Geoff starts telling inappropriate jokes or Mum stumbles and sends all the roast potatoes flying across the floor.
Back in the early 1990s, I was fortunate enough to spend a whole week learning songs from the Republic of Georgia with two amazing Georgian ethnomusicologists and folk song collectors.
At the end of the week, we held a Georgian supra – a traditional feast sprinkled with poetic toasts, songs and a great deal of eating and drinking.
There were around twelve separate courses, and with each course came a toast (long and poetic, of course!). Drinks were downed in one, and then those singers who’d attended the workshop would sing a Georgian song for the other diners.
By the end of the meal, we singers were pleasantly merry, with rosy cheeks and a general air of good humour. Those who hadn’t been singing, however, had become rather rowdy and were either under the table — or on top of it.
So here’s my Christmas and New Year survival tip: if you want to stay merry without going overboard, sing, sing, and then sing some more. Oh, and eat plenty while you’re at it.
Chris Rowbury
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